Pros
First of all, this is the most meaningful work you could do. Working with the families and clients is so fulfilling and brought me so much joy. I got to work with the most wonderful clients and watch them grow every single day, and there are so many incredible moments from my time with the team that I will remember forever. I was on the ABA team, and the direct supervisors were unbelievably wonderful. They were always available to assist, thoughtful and kind, and truly went above and beyond to provide a positive and healthy working environment. They were also extremely knowledgeable in the field, which made me confident in their leadership skills and advice. Every week, we held a team meeting to discuss client programs, during which time the RBT's were encouraged to bring their suggestions and input forward. Not only was our input heard, but the supervisors/BCBA's would listen and often make changes accordingly, which made the team feel that it had a direct and meaningful impact on the clients. The team itself was cohesive, working together to support each other and grow. There was so much chemistry through the team as a whole, which made the challenges of the job bearable. The BCBA's and team lead were fantastic about checking in with the RBT's and make scheduling changes if needed to support RBT health and well-being. This team truly felt like a family, and it made work enjoyable, fluid, and productive.
Cons
As with most meaningful jobs, this line of work can be very emotionally draining if you don't care for yourself properly. ChildServe provides PTO, however, it does not provide sick pay or any paid holidays. So even though the clinic is closed on holidays, if you want to be paid for those days you have to use your personal PTO. If you're sick, even if your symptoms ban you from returning to work, according to the policy, you have to use your PTO for those days. These issues lead to limited PTO, which restricts the amount of time you can take off to care for your physical and mental health needs. In a job where you are likely to suffer from things like physical illnesses and burnout, this is not ideal and leads to low employee morale. I also grew very frustrated with the upper administration who, over the course of my three years with the company, made several decisions which were so out-of-touch with the needs of the employees who were actually working hands-on with clients. In many instances, they were dismissive and disrespectful to lower-level employees who brought their concerns or suggestions to admin. I saw this with myself and fellow employees. While this is a not-for-profit company, the pay for RBT's was demonstrable. They pay their RBT's notably less than other ABA companies within the area, and offer a negligible raise each year based on performance (literally pennies). Myself and two other employees operated as senior RBT's with several additional leadership roles, and we had to fight for a year before receiving a $0.90 raise. All this while the CEO makes over half a million a year? As you can imagine, this was incredibly frustrating. This is both a physically and mentally demanding job (there have been several injuries among the team) and they deserved so much more compensation then they're given. My final complaint is specific to the ABA field. As an RBT, there was no room for any growth within the team unless I wanted to return to school for my Master's degree (which I don't). This was a largely contributing factor to my leaving the company. I want to work in a field where there is room for growth and upward movement, but in this position, there was none. I think this is a crucial flaw in the system because while some people do want to pursue a career as a BCBA, many people cannot afford further schooling, and there is always going to be a need for RBT's. Within the ABA team, there was a single RBT Lead position (which offered a $1 raise). This person handled all of the team's administrative and training tasks, taking on a large amount of extra work while still having a client workload. There was a definite need for a second lead position, but upper admin refused to allow for this position, after debating it for over a year. While these are the primary cons to the company, there were endless frustrating nuances that made work-life more difficult than it needed to be. ChildServe is a smaller company, so I shouldn't feel like the administration is so out of touch that they can't make insightful decisions that benefit the hands-on clinicians and technicians. These are the people who make a direct and crucial impact on the families of our community, they should be treated with respect, dignity, and compensated accordingly. I will note, that while the primary deciding factor for my leaving the company were my lengthy commute time, the low pay, and the missing growth opportunities, all of these issues contributed to my decision to leave. I will also reiterate that my experience was specifically to the ABA team in Coralville, so I cannot speak for the rest of the company.