Leadership change in 2019 ruined company and culture - Manager Rustic Pathways Employee Review

1.0
Sep 13, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Rustic Pathways used to be an incredible place to work. It was fun, had a high-performing and supportive company culture, and was truly mission driven. It attracted an awesome group of employees, leadership was transparent and respectful, and there was a real desire to expand our global impact. That is no longer the case. In September 2019 Rustic was acquired by a PE Fund called Sabot Family Companies. They are arrogant, manipulative, and micromanagers to an unbelievable degree. (The exact same thing happened to the one other company they took over, look it up on Glassdoor it's called Alert1. )

Cons

The truth is if you are reading this you missed the boat on when Rustic was a great company to work for. Walk away, it isn't worth it. They will sell you on a mission and a vision that is no longer real. The new version of Rustic's #1 priority is profit (not so it can grow, take care of its people, or do more in communities). Just good old fashioned "make the investors as much $$ as possible" profit. Pay - has always been low (and for employees they didn't lay off they actually decreased wages). My guess is salaries are 30% below market rate. No raises either. Benefits - some of the poorest benefits out there. No 401k match, mediocre insurance, and most of the fun perks that used to exist are gone too. Culture - it is nothing like it used to be. Leadership - current leadership drove the company into financial hardship, so much so that they basically forced themselves into selling out to the new owners. Then they laid off 30% of the employees but kept themselves around. Severance - in recent lay offs they capped severance at 4 weeks. Some employees have been here for over 14 years and they were let go with no warning and given 4 weeks. It's disgraceful.

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Rustic Pathways Response
6y
I’m sorry to see your negative review of Rustic Pathways. I agree with your comments that Rustic Pathways has always been “fun, had a high-performing and supportive company culture, and was truly mission driven. It attracted an awesome group of employees, leadership was transparent and respectful, and there was a real desire to expand our global impact.” It’s also true that like any company who’s been in operation for 36 years and experienced high growth, we eventually faced some serious operational and financial challenges. Our entire team worked extremely hard to create that growth, and I take personal responsibility for the tough decisions we made to recalibrate our financial overheads and restructure our team. Please know I’m always here for more feedback as my number one goal is to deliver on the vision of this company. Chris Stakich CEO

Explore other reviews about Rustic Pathways

5.0
Oct 14, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I built great friendships with people at Rustic Pathways. There are always people and teams you can get along with and have a good work/life balance. Fun to travel with your friends at work. Great fast paced culture. People care a lot about our students and our impact

Cons

Base salary was low when I started, but its getting better now.

4.0
Oct 23, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Everyone works together, made lifelong friends from this job. Really cool work perks, lots of awesome travel. Felt inspired every day. Had awesome leadership.

Cons

Pay is low, but they made up for it with the most fun job ever, making real impact on students, and great colleagues and lots of travel to unique places.

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