Pros
The relationships you form with your clients. My clients are the only reason I’m still here.
Cons
And now for the cons...ohhh where to start, where to start. When I first started here, I had high hopes. I had been told by current and former employees to never take a job with Sunrise and at the time, I didn’t really believe they could be that bad. So I took a position as an Employment Specialist, assisting DDA individuals with obtaining and keeping their employment. That’s the part I love. Watching people learn new skills and discovering their own abilities, beyond their disabilities. It’s such a rewarding position to be in. What would make it so much better, is if the company I worked for cared about me as an employee. The social service industry as a whole is grossly underpaid and Sunrise makes zero effort to show appreciation for their employees and the people who are actually out in the field serving clients and bringing in revenue for the company. Have a family to support? Good luck doing it on a Sunrise wage. They don’t give care that you use your own car to taxi people around town, either. You know, the same car you put your own family in...They could care less how many miles you put on YOUR personal car, for THEIR benefit. Have a client throw up in your car? You’re on your own. Or maybe someone you serve just had a bowel movement in their pants, in your car. Think your employer cares? Nope. The cleanup and maintenance is all yours. I mean, they don’t even provide a box of gloves to keep in your car in case you find yourself having to clean up another persons bodily fluids. That’s a health hazard they obviously aren’t concerned with. Or maybe your car needs a little tune up because of all the miles you’ve put on it, they won’t help you pay for it but you could always head up to the auto shop they have a “deal” with and get your 10% off service. So, basically, they’ll take the tax off. That’s one of the “benefits” your loyalty will earn you. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of benefits, they also throw company Christmas parties, that they require the employees to pay for. That’s right, nothing like being told that the office Christmas party won’t happen unless we pay for it ourselves. Feeling appreciated, yet? Sunrise is the first place I’ve ever worked, where upper management actually asks their employees to give them positive reviews in order to offset the truth of the negative reveiws they receive. I’ve read those so called “negative” reviews and every single one of them are accurate. They even employ someone who actively watches for new reviews and tries to play down the negative ones with smartass replies or attempts to be funny and make the reviewer seem like nothing more than a disgruntled employee. It’s pathetic that they even need a person in such a position, rather than heeding the words of their own employees and attempting to make changes. Maybe then people would leave positive reviews because they truly have something positive to say, not because they were told to. Sunrise has a horrible turnover rate. Largely due to their flat out refusal to pay a livable or even competitive wage. They ask for educated, committed people to fill their positions. They require certain levels of education but don’t expect them to pay for what they want. Apparently, if you aren’t in good with Sue Closser, the CEO or related to someone high up, they don’t care about you. And as soon as you decide to leave and better yourself, you are dead to them. Give them your two weeks notice and they will forget your name before you’ve turned in your keys, no matter how long you’ve been here. I’ve seen it happen over and over. This company is riddled with unprofessionalism and if you attempt to point it out or suggest that things change, you’re automatically labeled as being negative, even if what you’re saying is true. The gossip around here is horrid and they will even attempt to fire you based on hearsay, they require no proof, they conduct no investigations; they recently did that to two employees and unfairly put them under stress and fear of losing their jobs simply because they heard from this or that person that something may or may not have been said. THEN they apologized for it because they knew that’s not how you go about things. It’s amazing that people with the levels of education that some of them have, would choose to handle things in such an unprofessional manner. There are pros and cons to every job, every employer. But when you lose 5 or more QUALIFIED employees at once, all for the same reasons, maybe you should rethink your business practices. And what’s really sad is the effect the turnover has on the clients. If Sunrise cared about the people they serve, they would pay their employees a wage that guarantees less turnover and disruption in the lives of the clients they provide services for. It’s really sad, actually. Some of my clients have had so many job coaches come and go from this office that they can’t get comfortable with their current job coach for fear of losing them months later. DDA individuals thrive on routine and consistency; Sunrise fails them on both. My advice to anyone who is looking to work here is: keep looking. Seriously. I can’t wait to be in a position where I can walk out and never look back. For now, it’s simply a paycheck.
