Meridian Services reviews

I don't even want to go into all of the cons. Eight years ago it was a great company. Then the company outgrew itself. Getting earned days off became a pain with the introduction of an online scheduling program. Direct Care staff are treated like they don't matter. I had several severe injuries working for this company. Concussions, severe bites, and horrible bruises to name a few. I watched a female staff member eight years ago get choke slammed onto a table. Police were called and wanted the said staff member to press charges. However, the staff member was encouraged not to press charges. Needless to say she didn't and found a new job soon after. I saw several staff in my eight years get severely assaulted and suffer severe injuries. I was constantly in dangerous situations in under staffed homes. There were a couple of instances where I wasn't sure if I was going to leave work or not. The company prides themselves on taking in clients other companies will not. I'm convinced after over 8 years there they take those clients for financial gain. They are reactive with staffing for dangerous clients instead of being proactive. This puts staff in situations where the police have to be called and staff are left to fend for themselves until they arrive. To top that off, the company hints that they don't want you to call the police. They won't come out and say it directly, but they sure make it seem like they don't want you to. They also do not take into consideration what types of clients they house together. You could have a client who is on the severe side of the ASD spectrum housed with a high functioning predator who is known for assaulting staff members and other clients in the past. Then they put it on staff, who there aren't enough of, to not let anything happen. Then when client to client assault/injuries do happen the blame gets put on the staff members who there aren't enough of to handle the acuity of the situation. I would steer clear! Honestly, I can't believe this company is in business.

Where to start? This is a company that started small and has long since outgrown their processes and procedures. Oddly enough, those processes and procedures have not changed. They follow statutes to the letter, which would not seem a bad thing on the face of the statement, but when dealing with a several mentally ill person who will take her "rights" (quotations, because this person has NO concept of socially appropriate rights or interactions, and anything she wants is a "right") and then keep making more and more unattainable demands (I.e., I shouldn't be in the room because it's my fault for getting bitten because I was trying to keep her from harming herself). This is a company that demands that you only use their interventions during periods of crisis. Again, not a big deal until dealing again with someone for whom a non-company intervention would work. Then, if you use it, you get written up and a VA investigation is completed. It's also a highly nepotistic, with the highest concentration of these familial connections remaining in administrative positions. It would be nice, and probably quite beneficial, for these people at the office to work at least one shift each month at one of the homes. It might help them understand what they're dealing with. All-in-all, a terrible, terrifying place to work. I took a pay cut to leave and I've never been happier.