The list of items that takes a toll and drove me to voluntarily resigned:
- The agency, on paper/social media/etc, represents a great mission, but is run by disconnected upper management
- No consistent core values to help create a positive work environment - each manager/supervisor are just doing their own thing (most of whom lack managerial and leadership skills). Again, a hit or miss because a couple are wonderful among the mass of horrible leaders.
- Top management and top leaders (COO, CEO) - many direct workers don't even know what they do because the only time they see or hear from them are: for PR (public relations opportunities at the work sites), all staff meetings/events, or when various teams are not meeting quota.
- Leadership and management is run by a punitive culture. They might not admit this, but many direct workers AND clients have consistently expressed this behind closed doors. Due to the very nature of it, many are afraid to share this information openly. Punitive = You are more likely to be written up, punished or verbally warned than given the opportunity to grow/learn/etc. So instead of learning to become more effective, you work in fear by walking on eggshells to meet supervisor/management expectations rather than improving on the quality of care for clients.
- Not a positive or strength-based agency (as the leaders sometimes will proclaim). Clients, like the employers, are motivated through scare-tactics. It trickles down and seeps into how people are treated. I have worked here over long enough and gathered a good sample size of client and staff complaints.
- Lack of leadership = lack of clear direction, expectations, guidance = more opportunities to screw up and get written up. This cycle needs to stop and leaders NEED to take more accountability.
- High voluntary turnover rate = during my time there, I have seen a large amount of staff leaving. A recycling process of staff, where new staff comes in, experiences burnout (not so much from the work itself, but from the ineffective leaderships and subtle forms of employee abuse)
- Agency does do a good job in retaining staff
- Opportunities for growth is minimal and honestly very weak. You are provided some good trainings, but there are no real, lasting encouragement of staff development, education support, or educational stipend. The best way to climb the ladder here is to play favoritism and get close to the top dogs of the agency.
- Many clients share the same negative experience that staff experience from top management - again that trickle down effect.
- Lack of appreciation for staff and their work. At most, we get superficial, generic praise that comes off as fake, forced, and meaningless. Punishment often override any hint of praise.
- Some staff will use sick time/PTO to take a break from work culture RATHER than just purely enjoying vacation
