High-stress for low income. - Specialised Dementia Carer HammondCare Employee Review

From the beginning of employment, I got a bad vibe… was not given a proper orientation to the place, or guidance as the how the place runs. The mangager barely said a word to me, and left me in a room to do computer work, said they’d come back to get me…. Didn’t show up until 8 hours later and said they had forgotten about me. Was not provided a key to access and leave the facility, for around 6 months which was very stressful, as I would be trapped inside the residential buildings whilst other staff left (sometimes for hours at a time) this meant I could not access the staff toilets, my personal belongings such as food or water, equipment to cook, clean, I was not able to let visitors in, I was not able to escape or evacuate in the event of an emergency.. and I had been asking for a key at every shift… Micro-management are very cliquey! God-forbid if you have a life outside of work… you’ll be treated like the scum of the earth if you don’t live and breathe work. They gossip and talk about staff in a negative way. As soon as you walk into their office, they’d all go from chatting to dead silence and awkward. It Will be like drawing water out of stone to try and get a reference, if you ever try to leave... they’ll act like you never existed. They love trying to implement pointless extra tasks during shifts (such as baking cakes during the middle of the night whilst residents with dementia etc are sleeping- you can imagine how the smell and kitchen noise disrupts their sleep); on top of cooking for residents, cleaning, caring for residents, showering, etc (as micro-management sit in the office, or wander around, going for cigarettes, and lunching in the resident’s backyard together)… without considering how busy a shift already is without these “extra tasks” being dumped on staff (seems as though they're just trying to justify their position). If anyone voices their concerns about these extra tasks, micro-management request them to go for “private” meeting. They don’t want anyone to voice their opinions if it goes against what they’re trying to implement to justify their position. Most of the care staff are nice and feel the same regarding the “cliques” and the micro-managers. There are some care staff who have serious “god complex” for no particular reason. Night shifts, there is 1 carer to roughly 20 residents. And 1 RN on to supervise the whole place. It makes it very stressful when you’re also expected to bake cakes and pastries through the night, whilst trying to get residents back to bed, as well as change nappies for bed-bound residents and the rest. - also, lastly, NO BREAKS!!! If you do get a “break” you sit with the residents in their dining area , whilst still getting up to help them, or have them coughing over your food.. usually get about a 15 minute total “broken” break…. That’s in an 8 hour shift….