Expedition Trips Reviews

In honor of International Women's Day, I felt the need to share that this company has some serious sexism issues. The majority of the skilled, passionate, and driven women were let go when Covid occurred, and all of the male employees, regardless of their experience and work ethic, were kept onboard. Employees were asked to keep their layoffs silent to clients who they had built relationships with for years, and no justification for the layoff decisions was ever offered despite the clear preferential treatment for men which was not based on merit. New male hires with less experiences also received higher salaries when onboarding compared to women who had been at the company for years. The owner forces toxic positivity on his employees, refusing to acknowledge the reality of people's experiences, whether it is a challenging work dynamic or a global pandemic, and insists that everything is fine, their concerns are not valid, and they must force a smile. This is a manipulative place to work, with frequent gaslighting and micromanagement. As a previous reviewer said, this place also now has very minimal experience among its staff, since many of the long-term employees either quit to escape the harmful work environment or were let go. Minimal opportunities for upward movement and creative input, and you will frequently be reminded how fortunate you are to have received your work benefits, such as work trips and days off, even though those are clearly meant to offset the uncompetitive salaries.

The owner of the company is great at building relationships with clients and vendors, selling, and overall the ethos of the company is great. He also excelled at putting together a team of genuinely wonderful, talented people that were a joy to work with, and the trips we got to sell were amazing and fun to talk about. However, leadership is severely lacking when it comes to taking care of employees and cultivating a healthy internal culture. As another reviewer mentioned, the company is dominated by a culture of toxic positivity and this resulted in largely turning a blind eye to problems (both in the company, and the world at large) and a refusal to support employees during difficult times. The owner has a ivory-tower style of leadership where decisions are handed down from on high, with little input from employees or an understanding of the work they do on a daily basis. Even during times of crisis, his refusal to help employees with day-to-day operations even as hours and pay were being cut, workload was growing, and the team was growing smaller was very telling. True character is revealed when things get difficult, and unfortunately the sad truth of probably the majority of companies is that the owner will prioritize protecting himself and his profits over his staff. Loyalty from staff was frequently asked for and expected, even while layoffs and pay cuts were threatened. Ultimately, the owner wants to wring out the maximum enthusiasm, productivity, and hard work from employees, and then discard them the moment it's not profitable for him to retain them. If your business depends on you being able to take advantage of your employees' dedication and/or desperation to retain their job, then it's not a viable business and not a positive, supportive environment to work in, no matter what empty words of encouragement are given.