Pros
I worked with some fabulous, dedicated home health professionals who cared about their patients and the quality of the work they do, and I still call them friends. There seems to be a family atmosphere in sections of the company but I can't say I felt much cohesion in my branch; many staff meetings, new folks would sit there, and we would wonder who they were because they were not introduced.
Cons
This seemed like a dream job, good training, nice benefits and good fit seemed to be a priority. BUT, people management is lacking. Staff who do not produce are not well coached to either improve or eased out, they are just converted to prn and never used again, or kept because they fill a need, there are others who can take up their slack. Once the plug is pulled on them, they disappear and you end up with their caseload and yours without explanation or warning even to those directly working with them! It takes 2 months for someone else to even take patients because of the extensive training, that basically ends at six weeks and then there is little monitoring, little feedback and little opportunity to learn anything outside of what the expectations are for your documentation and new procedures. They have a team of experienced clinicians, but there seemed to be no sharing of clinical resources outside of the mentors whose sole function seemed to be orientation and teaching you how to do things the Encompass way. There was not even an avenue or time provided to do any sort of within discipline education or training, which is a shame when you hire young staff who need more clinical training. There is little work life balance, especially for nurses, and the company is so top heavy that I felt like I was paying the salaries of too many other people. I never even met with my supervisor unless I initiated the meeting, she handed me my review during a staff meeting and asked me to look at it and sign it, apologizing that it was late. The last aspect is probably the separation of staff who work in facilities and those who do not (or cannot) but work in people's homes. While there are different considerations for memory care in facilities, the skills needed there are absolutely needed in home settings, and probably more so because there are fewer supports when people living with dementia are at home. When I asked about all staff being trained in dementia care, this need was dismissed as unnecessary. Even though there are dedicated staff for each, all should be able to do both, it will help when staffing issues arise, short sighted.
