Pros
This is a travel job and nothing more. If you want to take a break from your career without your next employer questioning your resume, or just want to be paid to low budget travel then RY is the place to be for a year, maybe less. The company will try and sell you on it being the 'future of work' or it’s credibility as the next promising startup, however, it's more like a sinking Carnival cruise ship that you go on for the ironic photos you'll show your friends when you get back. At it’s best, it has attracted a small number of smart and kind people who just “need a break” for a bit. If you’re lucky you will meet some of those team members IRL if you cross paths on the road, or find them remotely in a slack alliance. Sadly our circle here is small and mostly built off the overall distrust of Remote Years unqualified leadership team and lack of strategic execution in almost every department.
Cons
Trumps America Works Here - Comments and situations women have encountered with the men in this company are beyond terrible. I could go into detail but I won’t out of the privacy of those women impacted. The culture is based on a hook-up frat culture and the stories from the female staff are gut wrenching. The company actually encourages you to "hook up with each other' as to avoid a lawsuit from mingling with the Remote Year customers. It’s a basic unspoken understanding female team members will feel demoralized, unsupported, and experience an old fashioned mansplain at any given opportunity. Toxic Culture:“It’s a start-up” card is often the response to all it’s dysfunctional choices, cruel treatment, and poor management. For those team members coming from previous startups or less formal environments, it becomes cringe worthy to hear and more terrifying to see others believe it. We remind ourselves weekly this is not normal. The COO has had one job before becoming the COO, and it was for about a year at Bain Capital. The residue of the Junior level Consulting Associate is alive and well in the RY culture. Often it feels as if they read a book on “How to be a Startup.” On your best day you’ll opt to close your laptop for the weekend to cliff dive in Croatia or go out dancing in Valencia, since you’ve “committed to the lifestyle” and some days even believe in the mission, and so you put up with the toxicity. On your worst day you hug your masters degree, cry for a few hours, while you text your girlfriend that you’ve made a huge mistake and start looking for jobs at Airbnb. Some teams started to bring on new blood and more experience management in the past year. Unfortunately those hires didn’t and don’t last long at Remote Year because they come off as a threat to the inexperienced leadership circle and some of their less qualified peer managers. The few that haven’t left have a weekly mental breakdown with accepting they had been duped in the hiring process by the Hiring Manager they now resent. Salaries: Compensation for most positions if not all are low and questionably legal. Contracts and comp are designed for the privileged few who can take out some credit card debt on the logic, "I can do this for a short time" or "I can make this work if I'm living full time in an RY city like, Mexico City (or equivalent) and if I can’t, I’ll call my parents for some help." The Leadership loves these type of hires, which is a top reason for its lack of diversity. They expect this to be your dream job - if you're not down to play for the insulting amount of pay you'll be offered then they will assume the next 300 people in the puppy mill will have no problem taking it.
