A good, growing company - Employment Specialist Community Alliance Employee Review

Even as an employee working on professional licensure I always felt respected and valued. I was given many opportunities to expand my skills beyond my immediate department. I learned how to fill out all kinds of government paperwork and was shocked moving on to a hospital setting that so many professionals don’t know how to advocate for clients this way. I was sincerely thanked for any volunteer projects. When I obtained full licensure I was congratulated by the COO and saw a pay rise in my next check. I assume my direct supervisor shared the good news. I absolutely had no expectation of that raise.

The company is a nonprofit; the pay is a bit below average. Clients have very high acuity so taking breaks and excellent self-care is critical. This job is not for someone who thrives on consistency. De-escalation training is provided - putting this into practice is the reason I haven’t been assaulted working 20 years in healthcare. I saw a couple colleagues fail at de-escalation, (meaning they didn’t follow the training recommendations) and get hit.

There are always shifts to pick up, so it’s easy to get overtime. If you’re looking for a job to show up, do bare minimum, and get paid, this is it (while there are several staff with improvement plans, there doesn’t seem to be much follow through and people are rarely actually fired).

Several unsafe practices (meds are not well monitored, singled staffed homes very often with clients who are sometimes aggressive, inadequate training, emergency procedures are rarely reviewed…etc). Houses are constantly understaffed and turn over is very high. Many promises are made/advertised by admin and not kept. The quality of care for clients is very low due to lack of consistency, communication, and support from management. Res supervisors are so stressed and they take it out on direct care staff. Staff are not properly trained for circumstances that happen (for example- violence intervention training is not provided, though there have been many attacks on staff which clients have had to sometimes intervene to help).