What is the salary like at Backroads?

High quality training, minimal micro-managing and overall great for learning or honing a wide variety of skills. Lots of travel perks and benefits including decent pay If you enjoy adventure it's a great opportunity to explore the world and get paid Very focused on guest experiences, high emphasis on guest experience

Culture leads to cliques - Can be a pressuring environment Lack of personal space/privacy living with co-leaders coming and going Company/HR will say they trust leaders and have their back, but I saw plenty of examples where that wasn't the case. Saw people get fired with "just not a good fit" excuse, and siding with "difficult" return guests over a good leader only because the guests spends a lot of money with the company

Good pay and benefits (including a yearly trip amount)

- People are very cliquey and don't let new people in easily - There is hardly any recognition of a job well done. People pretty much ignore big things you've accomplished, and basically say "why isn't the next thing done yet?". - I had another employee totally lying about me, and no one believed me because she had been around a lot longer. I don't know what her problem was, but she was just making things up (she had severe health issues so who knows what she was thinking). - My manager was not supportive at all, and when she'd ask me about various tasks and I would explain the status of things, she would say I was being defensive, even though she had just asked me for status and I gave it. - This was just the weirdest environment I've ever worked in. I felt like I was in an alternate universe that I just couldn't make sense of. Normally I'm the star worker of any team I'm in, but I felt like I was doing something wrong at every turn and I just couldn't get why. - I couldn't wait to get out of there!!!! I wouldn't continue working in that environment for any amount of money! - I wish I could give them zero stars

Working for the very best people, for the premier company in the adventure travel industry is a great opportunity, a true win if you are dedicated.

Super fast paced, no down time and average pay.

Travel the world with amazing people. Good money in the field with minimal personal expenses. Great community and potential to grow within company.

Lack of schedule control if you are in the field and low compensation for long term field employees and office staff.

Would be a fun job as a trip leader. Or MAYBE anywhere outside of the sales/service/guest focus teams for a first job if you live in Berkeley. The company is strictly in person aside from work from home Wednesdays. All departments outside of the ones I named above call Wednesday, "second Saturday."

Their leadership team is the worst. When people have personal issues, the leadership team, especially the founder and Executive VP, make those individuals feel worse. They don't care about hiring long term employees on the sales side since they can churn individuals and continue to pay them $52k. I knew employees who had been there 10 years and were making barely $70k. All long term employees are there because they've only worked at Backroads for their entire career and that's where their friends and entire life is.

- Clients typically tip better than industry standard - Clients are generally friendly and reasonable - Extensive travel opportunities (required) - Upward mobility into corporate roles possible - Schedule assigned farther in advance than industry standard - Room provided (often shared), some food provided - Work is usually autonomous, without oversight from bosses. Just get the job done! - Work in beautiful places with (generally) awesome coworkers

- Company is absolutely unyielding in many policies - Despite this, absolute flexibility is required from all employees - No flexibility given for arranging off-season work - Very difficult to have a life outside of work (best if you are single) - Time off for major life events is treated as a privilege - While the tips *can* be good, the base salary is far too little, especially given the difficulty and sacrifices of the work. Ultimately the pay is unreliable. - Company is having trouble navigating the turbulence of the industry over the last couple of years, and is passing that difficulty on to employees ie over-hiring and responding by firing/soft-firing many qualified employees - Very racially/culturally homogenous. Comes with the territory, but the company isn't doing much to change that. - Company is running into issues with their overseas operations and compliance with foreign laws. - Company expects employees to adhere to a corporate culture and policy set while treating those employees like low-level service workers

Fun people to be around

Bad pay and upward mobility

- Coolest job you’ll ever have - travel, 5 star hotels, food, etc - 0 expenses - AMAZING co-leaders. Friends for life

- closest thing you can get to being in a cult - you’re not allowed to have an opinion -management praises feedback but can’t take it, even when delivered in the way they mandate it be delivered - terrible base pay and they say it’s “industry standard” - I still work in the industry and it’s not even close to being true. Just a lie - lots of stress from guest scores. Success feels like a relief - the company is currently mandating leaders to work less hours so they can save money and not pay health insurance to as many people. Also gross

Travel, fun, good pay, benefits, social

Shared living, lots of hours, stressful

travel. fun, but easy to burn out. experience depends on what region you are based in.

company is becoming more corporate, less fun than it used to be and not sustainable, pay is not great plus no benefits, elevated positions are not compensated properly for amount of work.