- No orientation is provided to new office employees until well into their tenure with the company (3-6 months until you get the orientation most companies provide on the first day!) On my first day, I arrived at 8:00 am, and by 8:30, I was answering the telephone, even though I hadn't even met everyone in the office. It was unsettling and stressful!
- Office staff/directors tend to be way too young and inexperienced to handle some of the complex issues related to the provision of quality services to the client and effective employee management.
- No room for creativity to handle issues on a case-by-case basis (Bayada is very rigid and "rule oriented", perhaps to provide excessive guidance to the aforementioned inexperienced management/staff)
- The "all hands on deck" mentality creates an environment that is very disorganized and chaotic and often too many efforts are duplicated. There is little guidance by management. All duties are the responsibility of everyone, so much ends up falling by the wayside and piling up with no one taking ownership for the completion of the less "exciting" tasks
- Adherence to "The Bayada Way" often seems rigid, artificial and rehearsed, as if recited by rote, without genuine belief backing the words... you will often hear employees regurgitating parts of the mission statement, even when it's not applicable to the situation at hand
- Field employees are undervalued and underpaid
- Little respect/consideration for field employees-- they are often treated like pawns... (schedules are switched without checking with the employee first, employees are pulled off cases with no real feedback given as to why, no overtime, no weekend pay, etc.)
- Technological tools are EXTREMELY outdated... the database used is a DOS-type system... probably not seen in any other company of this nature since the early 1990's! (Really, it IS that bad... the system is not internet-based, and relies on F-keys, tabbing and does not support the use of a mouse!) In the day and age of HIPPA, I am shocked that this company has not begun to utilize a more secure, sophisticated information management system
- The office is disorganized! All employee desks are pushed together in a "pit"... There are field employee paychecks, I-9's, direct deposit forms, etc. strewn about on the desks of the CSM's. It would be very easy for anyone to walk in and snatch a folder full of paychecks. Payroll information and confidential employee/field employee/client documents are left in an unlocked desk drawer
- High degree of error in processing payroll-- employees (both office and field) are often paid incorrectly.
- High office turnover is unsettling to field employees and clients. Even though office employees get paid on commission, no one specifically takes ownership over a client or employee, and this back-and-forth with anyone who picks up the telephone can be frustrating when calling in with an issue. In addition, the "sale" (and subsequently, commission) often goes to the employee who answered the phone and took the call first..
- High degree of burnout for office staff. It is normal to work 8:00am-7:00pm without the opportunity to even take a break for lunch.
- Little opportunity for work/life balance. Staying in the office well past office closing (5:00pm) is not an exception, but a norm (and also not optional.... in fact, leaving by 5:30 is often frowned upon, even if there are no pending issues). If there was greater overall organization, there would be little need to have to continue working until 6:30-7:00pm on an almost daily basis. This might suggest, to the trained manager, that either additional staff needs to be hired to assist with basic administrative functions, or that time is not used wisely/efficiently during the day. For office employees with family obligations, this could quickly become overwhelming and tiresome and should be a primary thinking point when deciding whether or not to accept a position.
- Benefits are very expensive for both field staff and office staff and not available for 90 days.
- "Feedback" is highly valued and is provided on an ongoing basis. It is micromanagement at its very worst-- feedback is often not related to actual job performance but rather on personal, individual characteristics and seems aimed at creating a staff of automatons. This may be an issue particular to this one office, but I have heard from other managers that "feedback is a gift" and should be accepted openly and without reservation or rebuttal. Any attempt to discuss feedback is viewed as "defensiveness". If you have any desire to work independently or have any problems with heavy-handed authority, you will be VERY unhappy here!
- BE WARY OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT OFFER IF YOU GET ONE VERBALLY! I would recommend to anyone to get everything in writing before accepting an offer! Your verbal "salary" will turn out, in your "offer letter" to actually be half base-half "draw" for six months. Only half of your salary is guaranteed, the other is a 6-month bridge. Additionally, you are not hired into the position you interview for. You will interview for "Management Trainee", "Director" or "Client Services Manager", but in your offer letter your title will actually be "Associate" and you will have to be PROMOTED into the position you think you're accepting.
