A masterclass is how quickly a new CEO can ruin a company
Pros
There are still a few genuinely talented and great people working there who truly care about the students. Unfortunately, these are almost all recently hired, right-out-of-college junior staff who haven't been disillusioned yet. All of the most talented staff have left over the past three years, since the previous CEO was fired by the board and Bob Gogel was brought in.
Cons
The pay is lower than any other major education abroad organization. The communication from management is absolutely non-existent and comically out of touch. You WILL get assigned way more work than you can handle. There is virtually no training and most people are doing work that they have no idea how to do. Mid-level managers have no training or experience managing. WorldStrides went through a bankruptcy during COVID and is (and will continue to) struggle until they are buried under the collective weight of management's incompetence, Bob Gogel in particular. The company is failing and management continues to blame everyone but themselves. The previous CEO was the nephew of the founder of the company, was well-liked by almost everyone, and grew the company to be the largest educational travel provider in the U.S. Then WorldStrides was sold to a new private equity firm, Eurazeo, who decides to fire Jim Hall and replace him with Bob Gogel. Since then, Bob has basically ruined the company, not a single employee has anything positive to say about him as he continually, unilaterally, makes sudden and completely out-of-touch changes based on nothing more than his own whims. Here's an example - when the Delta variant peaked in the U.S. a month ago, Bob decided that would be the best time to announce that all employees will be required to work from their nearest office again (those that still had an office after most were closed down) - with no logical reason provided. And if you value diversity, avoid this place at all costs. Every single member of senior management is white. They had to add a "Program Leadership" section of their leadership page to be able to show the ONE person of color that is in second-level management. Go ahead - go check it out. While you're there, look for the head of DEI - you won't find them.
