Never felt less cared about by HR & company owner - Outdoor Educator Pali Institute Employee Review

2.0
May 31, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fabulous coworkers and beautiful location/housing. Pays well for outdoor education but you are so overworked it is not at all worth it.

Cons

You are not set up for success here. They are constantly overbooked with no consideration for staff well-being. Interview and such was very misleading--as it turned out we were working 7am-9pm (teaching) and then in cabin babysitting a different group of kids every night. Constantly changing kids so you never get to form a connection which would've made it easier. The HR department and company owner are completely separated from the staff and disconnected from their well-being entirely. This is an emotionally unsafe place for non-binary folks as well. During my time here, the entire staff worked hard to change discriminatory policies and take care of each other but it was met with no ultimate success. Their business strategy is to hire anyone, burn them out (to the extreme), and then hire an entirely new staff the next season. In this way they can continue overbooking and make money.

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Pali Institute Response
3y
Thank you for your feedback. We are glad you enjoyed your coworkers, housing and the area! We do offer competitive pay for the outdoor education industry! Our OE program does everything they can to try and set up our instructors for success and offers opportunities for advancement. It is a busy program, lots of kids coming and going, visiting during the school year! Sorry you felt unheard and hurt. We so appreciate our instructors, they work so hard! We have and continue to gather a lot of feedback from our staff and will continue to do so.

Explore other reviews about Pali Institute

5.0
Jan 2, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great community. Everyone is always willing to go on an adventure during time off. The classes are fun, and overall it is more fun than it is work. well paid for a seasonal camp esque job.

Cons

There are long hours and you occasionally work weekends.

2.0
Apr 12, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Many coworkers are amazing. Free housing. Most of your meals are provided. The people are the only reason so many people stay as long as they do- you'll probably meet lifelong friends here.

Cons

A very high turnover rate because people are absolutely worked to the bone. If you are in cabin, you only get 1.5 hours off a day. You're literally working 22.5 hours a day, on call for any issues in the cabin. The lack of time off and staff support is abysmal. Leadership is very cliquey and not approachable. Bed bugs are common in the cabins. So much of this job is behavior management of the kids. If you planned on this role focusing on outdoor education, it hardly does. So many people here lose their spark because there is simply no work-life balance. Also, some very weird people work here, and even with HR complaints against them, they are still employed because Pali needs the high staff numbers to have enough people to put in cabin. This company is very much focused on profits first. Never met the CEO during the season. Talked to the director Emily maybe twice. Very disconnected and doesn't feel like there's a purpose to working here besides making the company as much money as possible.

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