Okay, so this is pretty long, but I organized it as most important/biggest cons first.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- There is a huge lack of communication regarding individual clients. When going to meet a new client you'll be working with, you get barely any information on their needs and anything to watch out for. Usually, the procedure is that you meet with your supervisor/lead for 10-15 minutes and they give you a rundown of who the client is. Then you go out on shift with another employee who has experience with the client, and the client themselves. Some examples:
1. I was sent to work with a client, and one of the client's goals was to get a part-time job or volunteer position. I worked with another employee with this client 3 or 4 times, and helped the client send out resumes to different places. Then my supervisor sent out an email that whoever has been helping the client apply to different positions (me) needs to stop sending applications to places involving children or the elderly because the client has a criminal record. I was never informed of that the whole time.
2. There was another client with whom we were supposed to use certain phrases to stop different behaviors (e.g. if they started picking at their nose, say "no touch"). There were a lot of these phrases we were supposed to memorize. I went on shift with this client and another employee several times, and the only phrases I was made aware of were those used while I was on shift. There should have been an email or something in writing so I could know what behaviors to look out for and what phrases to use, but I never received anything like that.
3. In general, supervisors neglect to tell you what developmental disability the client actually has. I never really found out why they do this. I know that client privacy is important, but if I'm going to be directly involved in their care I need to know their particular needs and what to look out for.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- They tell you that the clients you will be working with will be near where you live, but this isn't true. I lived around Providence and was told that I wouldn't have to travel more than 20-30 minutes to get to a client's house, but then they frequently put me with clients who were 45-60 minutes away.
- They also tell you that if you're uncomfortable working with a certain client or feel like you just aren't a good match for that particular person, you can ask to be taken off shift with that client. But I tried asking this for a couple of different clients, and was reprimanded for not being flexible enough.
In reality, I am very flexible and accommodating. I didn't want to work with one client because he simply wanted me to clean his apartment, and had pictures of naked women all over his desktop; I felt uncomfortable and vulnerable with this arrangement. The other client lived about an hour away from me, and 3 weeks in a row they simply were not home, so I couldn't work with them and basically had to cancel my shift.
---------------------------------------------------------------
- They reimburse you for gas, but with a catch. When I was there it was something like 10 cents per mile. But this was only miles driven ON SHIFT. Meaning, you didn't get reimbursed for traveling to the client's house, or back home--even if the client lived an hour away.
------------------------------------------------------------------
- Oftentimes, your shift overlaps some meal time (lunch or dinner) and the client wants to go out to eat. At least half of my shifts were like this. You can't exactly bring your own food to a restaurant, so you either (a) don't eat or (b) spend money and eat. If you DON'T eat, the client often feels left out and they often prod you to eat with them; sometimes they become angry. If you DO eat, you just spent all the money you made on the shift on a meal. You kind of lose either way.
----------------------------------------------------------------
- When I was there, they were expanding like crazy and taking on many more clients. At that point in time they mostly had "easy" clients; generally individuals who weren't violent or very unpredictable. However, many of the new clients they were picking up needed a higher level of care. One client I worked with was incredibly hyperactive and defiant; I told my supervisor that this individual needed to have two employees with them rather than one, because you needed to have eyes on them constantly and couldn't even go to the bathroom while on shift or they'd wander away. My supervisor said that this wouldn't be possible, and that another employee handled them fine so he didn't see why I couldn't as well. Basically, you feel like you're kind of being thrown under the bus, and if you tell them you're uncomfortable working with a client then it's made to be your fault.
--------------------------------------------------------------
- Turnover is incredibly high, but this is pretty common in this field and isn't limited to Living Innovations. There are a handful of amazing employees who have worked there for years and love what they do, and to them I have to say that I admire their determination. I worked there for six months, and I was hired at the same time as about 10-12 other people. A little while before I quit, I checked and all the people who started with me were no longer working there.
