Pros
Helping survivors and their children -good benefits
Cons
-would make survivors leave shelter despite safety concerns or no housing. There were no clear guidelines to keep a client, so favored clients (who weren’t fleeing or in danger) would sometimes be able to stay over DV clients. -VERY relaxed work environment. The director was aware of employees coming to work high/smoking on breaks, stealing food, jewelry, clothes, and other personal items. They seemed more interested in wanting to stop other workers from talking about it rather than talking to the employee about their behavior -horrible pay. Would have to practically beg for a raise and even that didn’t happen. Their version of a “cost of living raise” was .25….. -40+ clients and their children to 1 staff member most times. If there were situations, it was like pulling tooth and nail to get the director in to help. There were many times where staff was put in unsafe situations that could have been avoided if there were more staff (but they can’t keep staff at all) -made clients suffer due to the directors inability to get their employees to do their job. Clients who don’t eat meat were forced to eat it because the director didn’t believe they were actually vegetarian and didn’t want to buy their “bougie” beyond meat. This client ended up leaving after this due to not feeling safe and going back to their abuser. This client stated that they felt like they had to pick between their safety or personal values (dietary needs) -extremely insensitive staff (not just shelter staff but also admin) -clients would point out how one or two staff members “carry shelter” (and both of those staff members were not management) -no accountability -treat COVID just like the regular cold. So if a client had covid, they would just be asked to stay in their room (which they wouldn’t) and they were not forced to wear a mask. - a lot of people would be left on their own during their first or second week working. This, of course, was not safe for the clients or the employee. -many times where clients would come forward about concerns for a staff member making inappropriate comments or being really rude towards them. Complaints were not taken seriously.