Brookdale Senior Living Reviews

Pros

Opportunities for advancement.
Mission driven company- can feel good about working for them; they practice what they preach.
The seniors!
Can have great staff, but may be luck of the draw depending on community and region.
Good resume fodder- name recognition working for the big dog.
Good reputation.

Cons

They recently made my position (sales counselor- i.e. #2+ sales person/non-managerial) a non-exempt position (hourly). This meant that I had to watch the clock and make sure that I was punching in and out at specific times and had to report variances to my manager. A bit annoying.

Their training needs some refreshing. I was required to complete obsolete systems training that hasn't been updated in years (small annoyance- time waster).

As a public company, you feel the pressure to perform- unfortunately, sometimes this comes in the way of threats from regional managers. (This may be an industry problem, where regional managers feel like they need to breathe fire down the necks of communities.) Unbalanced pressure to hit marks at end of month when average monthly is a better indicator. Small nuance, but poor evaluation metrics used here may have altered behaviors in less that optimal ways.

I've heard ED's with longer tenure complain about every new RDO/VP's new projects. The problem is that these change with the turnover of the position and those positions tend to turnover very rapidly (perhaps due to the nature/on-the-road lifestyle of the position?). This means that ED's don't have respect for RDO/VP's because they feel like they will change tomorrow and have new/reversed marching orders. I'm not sure that ED's feel like the Regional/Divisional people understand their communities and what it takes to make them run smoothly.

Advice to Senior Management

Do you really need to have pulpit-pounders for region/divisional managers? BKD does a great job at hiring loving, sincere EDs/other community managers, but that seems to go out the window with many of the RDO/RSMM/VP positions. That ends up filtering its way through the company and communities very quickly and doesn't seem to align well with the mission and cornerstones. I realize that some of these people may be able to lead well with carrots when the market is stronger, but when the market is down everywhere in the nation and they feel pressure for their communities to perform, it seems that they are suddenly leading through by fear and old-school militaristic tactics. I love how community managers tend to lean away from that type of management and I believe that corporate probably has it figured out as well, but I'm not so sure about divisional and regional players have it figured out.

Advice: Consider hiring outside the industry for these positions (RDO/RSMM/VP) if you can't find someone how can lead effectively (not just for quarterly numbers, but for long-term company health). Don't sugar-coat those positions- when they get burnt out and leave, it hurts everyone. Consider ways to make those positions better for families= longer stints for those positions. Maybe by reducing their geographic reach.

May also consider taking the teeth out of their position. This will force them to lead with carrots and perform in more of an advisory role.

Pros

Company seems organized and is laid back, cares about the employees

Cons

Many of the nurse aids are unprofessional

Advice to Senior Management

Be more careful when hiring

Pros

the residents, laid back job, love caring for residents

Cons

unequal treatment by management, i have seen management gang up one employee and hound them till they quit or find reasons to fire them.They have lied to employees about insurance,stating they were being dropped of all fulltime benefits because they did not have full time hours for a pay period?Staff are not team players and will not work together.Have seen staff on cell phones in front of management and they are reprehended why others are ignored.The management here is never available nor accessible to staff.Many employees have difficulty getting office mangers to fill or print off paper work needed for state or goverment use.

Advice to Senior Management

this company needs to pay visits to there communities and check out what kind of mangers they have working for them!

Pros

The residents and staff are great to work with

Cons

Its all about money. They don't care about staff. Often asked to perform Medicare abuse. Your professional opinion does not matter. Trainers do not know what they are teaching and you will get conflicting answers. Policies change without notice and it is impossible to get written ones. They claim to have open door policy but management doesn't follow through. Very high turn over. They emphasize speed of tasks over safety. Why would anyone want a person to rush.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a look at your RDOs and trainers and maybe make changes before you lose all your staff. There is a reason employees keep quitting and would not recommend it as a place to work. And get rid of Care 3. Why are you encouraging residents to hurry and Medicare does not even acknowledge it.

Pros

The residents become your family. They were the only thing that kept me going at that place. Some of the staff were really fun to work with.

Cons

Management, management, management! They take sides with certain employees and make everyone else's life miserable. They always seem to be understaffed. They only care about getting the money and put residents and their care last. That is the farthest thing from assisted living I have ever seen. The management treats staff with total disrespect and makes them feel like garbage.

Advice to Senior Management

Get people in there that know how to treat people with sympathy and respect. The managers they get in there have no idea how to relate to their staff.

Pros

The residents are the only good thing about this company.

Cons

Terrible pay. A workload that leaves no time whatsoever for a personal life. Salaried personnel are worked to death and in constant fear for their jobs. In the ten months that I worked for one of these facilities, the entire management team turned over. Sales, Nursing, Executive Directors, Resident Care Coordinators, etc. No one can make it for long. Some facilities burn through 2-3 nurses a year. I talked to Health and Wellness Directors across my region - they were all overworked and terrorized. This employer is toxic.

Advice to Senior Management

Overworked, stressed and terrorized employees are norm across this corporation's communities. I can only conclude that this is desirable and intended.

Pros

I thought it would be a good place to work, have worked with seniors and rehab,skilled nursingfor 20 yrs,

Cons

RN management works full time people from other depts, leaving me out, not right. I need more hours to make ends meet,otherwise I'll have to look else where, and I feel mgt does not give a flip, its a very closed atmosphere,

Advice to Senior Management

Keep you word to new employees,

Pros

Nice to help the elderly.

Cons

can't take time off cause I always have a deadline.
Other employees don't get along.

Pros

The residents were like family. Families were great to deal with and it was a very rewarding job. I loved going home knowing I made a difference in someone's life.

Cons

Communication between upper management and staff is terrible.
Upper management does not respect the staff as they should be.
There are too many "family" members working together in one building and then they all work together.
Too many people back stab one another rather than concentrating on the residents.
The management never says Thank you with out really meaning it.
Upper management does not listen to what we are saying. There are many residents in the facility that need a lot more care than we are able to give.
They are always understaffed.
There should be Med passers that do meds only. The caregivers take care of the residents and the residents only.

Advice to Senior Management

Respect the employees. Listen to what they have to say. Don't judge them about their opinion. Deal with problems in a professional manner. Don't assume something before talking to the people involved. Management needs to come in with a positive attitude so the staff can follow their lead.

Pros

Job security cause their are always old people

Cons

!No loyalty to emloyees, Pay is TERRIBLE. Understaffed in every department. Given little to no money and expected to work miracles and run a 5 star restaurant

Advice to Senior Management

Get real and open your eyes people can't survive on what you pay and you are losing some of you best employees because you treat us like CRAP!