Pros
The women you'll work directly with are passionate, driven individuals. Occasionally, you'll get travel and guide trips (read: work,) but this will be seen as a generous gift instead of a job duty, so opportunities to do so will be withheld at the CEO's whims, and you will not be compensated for the time you spent away from your family. It was a remote job at the time, but the micromanaging CEO is looking to change that unfortunately.
Cons
In January ‘23, I was hired into the marketing “department” - comprised of two people including myself, lots of micromanaging, not a lot of progress made. I did my best in that role, tried to bring the skills I learned at a marketing agency to the table, and was consistently shut down. Previously, I'd worked in a high-pace marketing agency at a senior-level role. I knew that I had the skills to grow the department, but was gaslit and treated as though I didn’t know what I was doing. After I pushed back on this and against the additional customer service-related tasks that were consistently being added to my role, I was “transferred” to a new-to-the-company role under the same supervisor. My new job duties were comprised entirely of the customer service tasks I mentioned not wanting to be involved in during my previous quarterly review. I could sense that management was attempting to push me out and force me to leave voluntarily, but I stayed. Around that time, four people (nearly half the team) departed within 2 weeks of each other. They left for other companies after the CEO rolled out a new requirement of in-person work at a new office space (this was a fully remote team; everyone on it had been hired as a remote worker with the understanding that they would remain remote.) Upon their departure, the program (trip planning/management) department had a void that needed filling, so I was transferred again into a program manager role; a change I was genuinely happy about as it came with a refreshing change in supervisors and a shift in my career that I was optimistic about. Before the transfer, however, the CEO called me to rage about my outside-of-working-hours hobbyist business and the writing that I was posting on personal social accounts (a creative outlet that had less than nothing to do with AGC), implying that I wasn’t fulfilling my work obligation to the company… though all of these things occurred outside of working hours and had clearly not impacted my work performance. (Despite my pushback on the customer service tasks during quarterly reviews, I had high marks in every quarterly and even my annual review across the board for my productivity and work output.) Upon the transfer, I was given a modest company-wide “interim raise,” put in place to basically ensure that the company wouldn’t hemorrhage even more employees, and left that call with the clear message that I was only being kept in my role because I knew how to navigate the software and systems in place and was useful, not because I had secure standing in the company or the CEO’s trust. (All of this, by the way, occurred within 7 months of my initial hire.) A few months after that conversation and transfer, the CEO and her husband, the “operations manager,” rolled out more new policies: spyware (keylogging, screenshotting, etc.,) would be installed on all company computers, two workers (myself included) were switched from salaried to hourly, and the entire team would be required to track all working hours. Additionally, 4 personal days were removed from the company's annual calendar, and alarming language was added to the company handbook in regards to the personal browsing, activity, and biometric data of employees that AGC had a “right” to. I had a lawyer review the handbook, and was advised to not sign it. Because of that, and the CEO’s refusal to extend the “interim” raise, though my salary was below market value (and in the same breath the CEO bragged about the European holiday she was taking her family on for spring break,) I decided to leave. I sent the CEO my two week’s notice, and was fired on the spot. She immediately sent a threatening email to return the company equipment before “xdate” or the full cost of the equipment would be deducted from my final paycheck. I was also informed that the cost of the nonrefundable plane tickets I had reserved to move the company van between two trips would be deducted from my paycheck as well, though my notice period would have allowed me to fulfill that obligation to move the van. This was illegal, according to the Colorado Department of Labor after I inquired, but, the sum wasn’t worth the headache of small claims court. It's also worth noting that, two weeks after I left, ANOTHER employee gave their notice, was allowed to work the rest of their notice, and wasn't threatened as I had been. A couple months after that, two more employees either quit or were let go without notice. So, if you're keeping track... that's 8 employees (out of 10) that quit within 9 months of each other. It’s an absolute shame that a company so well-known in the outdoor industry is being run in this manner. Many people will be drawn in by the “values” of AGC, but will quickly discover that it’s a facade in the same, tired, bait-and-switch we’ve all experienced with terrible companies that profess values in the interview stage they clearly don’t hold. AGC used to be a well-respected company, run by women who were genuinely passionate about women-led adventure... but since it changed hands when the current CEO purchased it 4 years ago, that culture is gone. There’s absolutely nothing special about this company. Not anymore. If you have the misfortune of landing an interview, be sure to ask employees how long they’ve been with the company. The longest-standing employee had made it to just 3 years upon my departure. Most of the people on the team have been there for less than 6 months. Turnover is extremely high for a reason. Run, do not walk, away from AGC. There are too many great women-led adventure companies to waste your time and skills here.
