Negative Corporate Culture - Senior Manager AARP Employee Review

1.0
27 Mar 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Rare company that offers Pension but it is diminishing 3 weeks vacation in first yr..goes up to 5 weeks in a few yrs

Cons

1.Rampant Cronyism. 2. If you call the top 10 Workplace Lawyers in DC they will tell you AARP has one of the most checkered histories of ugly treatment of employees 3.Race is a big issue at AARP. African Americans will only hire African Americans. Caucasians will only hire Caucasians. Indians will only hire Indians. 4.Company claims to advocate on behalf of elderly americans but then is the largest partner of nation's top health insurance company...Clear conflict of interest. Makes millions/billions of its relationships with these companies 5. Have seen VPs/SVPs have so many questionable relationships with partners/vendors...all conflict of interest and possible kickbacks. They routinely hire friends and partner with friends 6. Rapidly taking away employee benefits 7. Stupidity is rewarded 8. People do sleep with management and get promoted--no one even bothers to hide it 9. Good luck trying to get promoted unless you know how to kiss up like no one's business 10. The company is referred to as the 'velvet coffin' You will stagnate and die. However, your pension and 401K might keep you warm up to death. 401K match is 4%

Explore other reviews about AARP

5.0
28 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

great benefits even for interns like free lunch, reimbursed parking, hybrid work. good opportunities to network, hone your skills, and potentially get a permanent role within the organization.

Cons

long onboarding. lots of hr training.

2.0
2 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

benefits are strong - pension, vacation, sick, caregiving work life balance is generally good

Cons

AARP suffers from a serious toxic work culture, particularly in the IT and Digital Transformation departments. Leadership is atrocious. People leading the 2 key technology functions for the business are incompetent and ego maniacs. Both departments are extremely toxic with burned out employees and contractors. Money gets wasted in the extreme due to these factors. Constant signal switching on projects and priorities. Everyone you work with is unhappy. Bullying and retaliation are common. Avoid these departments in particular, but the whole organization is top heavy, with terrible leadership all around. Still there are some great and talented people, but it's not the norm, and senior leadership is wrought with incompetence and arrogance. The organization flails around endlessly, and blows money with no discipline or rigor to their work and methods. Think someone is juicing the Glassdoor numbers with people saying the place is great. No opportunity for growth. The organization tries to do good work, and does in many ways, but it's so poorly run that it severely hampers its potential.

5
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