direct support professional

direct support professional ii

community care worker

therapist

licensed practical nurse

Access: Supports For Living

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was quoted as once saying:
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity".  A quote most apropos to the Access: Supports for Living working environment.

Management needs to realize that many of the people working for them are hardworking folks that just want to be treated with a semblance of dignity, integrity, and respect.  They don't want to be abused emotionally creating a very stressful, frustrating and unproductive environment, but they will continually refute any statements that they are the opposite.

If you don't ignore certain or perhaps many things that are in the nature of improprieties, you will soon see a gradual road to the exit door after fabricated disciplinary reports are created in order to make you look bad. It will justify their releasing you, and if you don't have any material evidence to prove otherwise, you just have to begin to search for a new job opportunity with a company that won't treat you the same way. In order to provide a means to provide for yourself, and if applicable your family too; and hope that you have enough liquid financial resources to take care of things until you find a new job.

You will not completely understand how this company works, until you've been part of their employee fold.  At one time when the company was once known as Occupations, people were treated in a decent manner, and employee retention was quite good.  It isn't that way now, there is very high turnover, and if there was another company to go to, many of their current staff would leave, leaving the company severely understaffed.

This organization can re-brand its company name often, but if they continue with their normal status quo, things will not be any different than what it has been for a long time, and changing the company name often won't make things any better. It will only provide a temporary mask of what their true colors are. I sincerely do hope that things change though. It's only going to happen with the right senior management in place, and positive actions, along with productive communication.

Access: Supports for Living as of today behaves more like a cut-throat corporate entity with an agenda that is self-serving, rather than a helpful, and considerate one.

When I was a "pierce-worker" at this place a few years ago, it was horrible. Employees do not care at all about the piece-workers at the slightest. It was like middle-school all over again except it was grown adults which was kind of disturbing. People who were piece-workers were severely developmentally disabled and would make inapproriate comments and it was drama every day! 

They are all basically rounded up here from the transportation that Occupations/ACCESS provides them which are kind of like school-buses but are painted white with the corporation's insignia on them. 

It seems that there is no greater purpose for these people other than to do the same repetitive tasks every day and even years by long-term individuals who aren't even aware of what is going on. Meanwhile, others whose IQ are slightly higher but still on the levels of being developmentally disabled are very cliquey and will bully you with no remorse while staff will just brush it off as they don't want to bothered. 

The bus-drivers who drove the individuals were just as inappropriate as they are; as they would gossip amongst the piece-workers who are favorable towards them who would slander other individuals including the piece-workers and other employees.

Upper-management is non-existant as they are too concern for their image and alleged huminatarian deeds that is a mere facade as conversely the company's management's true agenda is for themselves only and what benefits them while throwing anyone under the bus who oppose them, metaphorically. 

Employees who watch the piece-workers on each conveyer-belt were unsympathetic and snarling towards the piece-workers and most were foreigners from abroad who couldn't articulate proper English while most piece-workers do not have the compacity to even speak English properly due their developmental disabilities. 

It got way too toxic for me and I never came back here. Honestly, don't go here! You will be sucked into the void of this work-place's curse. It is a dystopian nightmare and none of this exaggeration but based off first-hand experience. It is rather ironic that New York State wanted to shut down the "work-shops" however the corrupt management pulled strings so they can continue to profit off this disaster while making exorbent amounts of money for themselves.

While the initial impression may suggest a positive work environment, employees are soon overwhelmed with an excessive caseload and lack of overtime to manage it effectively.  Management appears disconnected from reality regarding their expectations and lacks effective management skills. Although they claim to welcome feedback, they fail to address negative comments adequately. Caseload distribution is inconsistent, and travel demands are excessive; despite spending considerable time traveling, employees are still penalized for incomplete tasks. The expectations set are unrealistic, reinforced by constant reminders that job security is tenuous. This approach significantly undermines employee morale, particularly in a time of labor shortages. The information provided during orientation does not accurately reflect the company's operations, as regional directors and assistant directors often operate independently. New employees receive little training and are largely left to navigate their roles alone. There is a strong emphasis on meeting billing quotas, which can detract from addressing the needs of individuals. The organization experiences high turnover rates, frequent layoffs, and an unreasonable workload, with no work-life balance. Compensation does not align with the demands of the job, especially for bilingual employees. Despite considering myself to have a strong work ethic, my experience here has left me feeling like a failure; I now wish I had chosen a different path.

I'm only doing this I had the privilege of working for a great company for several years and I couldn't be happier about the experience. My former employer was an absolute pleasure to work for and I learned so much during my time there. The management team was incredibly supportive and always made sure their employees felt valued. I also appreciated the company's commitment to creating a positive work-life balance for its employees.

One of the things I appreciated most about my former employer was its dedication to fostering a culture of collaboration and innovation. There was always an open-door policy, and everyone was encouraged to share their ideas and perspectives. This made for a really dynamic and creative work environment, where everyone felt like they were contributing to the success of the company.

Another thing I loved about my former employer was its commitment to giving back to the community. The company was involved in a number of charitable organizations and initiatives, and it was really inspiring to see how much they cared about making a positive impact in the world.

Overall, I would highly recommend my former employer to anyone looking for a great place to work. They truly care about their employees and are dedicated to creating a positive and supportive work environment. I'm grateful for the time I spent there and the lessons I learned along the way.

I have been with Access for almost six years and work in the largest program. As with all companies there are benefits and drawbacks, but with this particular organization the benefits far outweigh their inevitable drawbacks. I see a few non stellar reviews on this site and would only like to say that they are the unfortunate few that seem to have had a bad fit with Access. My experience has been nothing but positive. I have been treated fairly, compensated for my efforts and have a great working relationship with my peers and supervisors. I would also like to point out that this is the first employer that I, personally, have worked for that cares about whether or not my job experience is a positive one. Through community events, staff luncheons, training opportunities and individual recognition I can honestly say this is the best job I have ever had. Is there stress? Of course, no place of employment is free of that. Long hours? Sometimes, although I am always compensated for it. A feeling of satisfaction for a job well done? Yes, there is, and I know that what I do makes a difference.

A typical day at work is clocking in and listening to gossip. arrive and either go do what you think your supposed to do or wait forever for management to show up to work and then wait for them to talk to each other about what should be done. no stability. no organization. no support from management. all staff are more worried about workers personal lives than they are about the people served. anybody can get hired at this place because they only care about the money coming in. more workers means more clients to bring in more money so you dont need experience and you dont need to know how to do anything. interview process is a joke cause none of it is real. worse job i ever had. highly do no recommend. only thing u enjoy is some of the people you serve you grow to care for so they make the job decent. but then you feel sorry for them that they are thrown in the building just as money deals. shameful

DSP'S are in general severly underpaid and Access is no different.  The workload is tremendous and if you can't get it done while you are working, supervisors expect you to complete paperwork without pay on your own time.  Workers are constantly suspended due to false allegations and there is literally no job security.  Experience and degrees are not very important when getting hired.  The wage is still very low even with many years of experience and higher degrees.  Much better off going into fast food, a grocery store, or really any job in the area.  Sadly, Just not worth it.
If you can get a job as an Administrator, definitely do that.  The culture is completely different and most of them are paid much better and overall happy with their jobs to sit in the office than a position actually working with the clients.  If you are working directly with the clients, it's like a completely different Agency, Little support and you're bottom on the totem pole, as well as easily replaceable.

There have been changes since last year. Specifically,  the pto that is given. The amount averages to about 2.38 hours every two weeks.  The amount ends up being 61.88 hours for a year. This amount is for employees that work below 40 hours, but above 30.  Because they are being forced to give employees ny state paid leave , they took away benefits. The agency keeps finding ways to determine employees from establishing a work life balance.  This emphasizes to the workforce once again, that the employers do not care about us. Even if the department were to unionize, nothing would come of it. 
Some more downfalls include how there is no help for the employees that work one on one with clients. A client could decide that they do not like you one day and fire you on the spot for nothing. Hence, no job security exists within this agency. 
Bottom of the line, this place is only seeking to benefit themselves and the higher ups. Unfortunately, it's not an ideal place to work due to the benefits. 

Occupations, Inc. spent a lot of money to come up with a new name for the company and is now Access: Supports For Living. Don't be fooled, this is the same old company with the same old management. Upper level management is making working here unbearable, all why they cash in.

Residential houses have very high turnover of employees. Some houses lack a supervisor. Workers are stretched thin to cover the vacancies. Raises for low level workers are almost non-existent. I saw a help wanted ad looking for a new COO. The company should maybe look for people to do the actual work, not someone to get paid a lot of money to make employee's lives miserable. 

I met a lot of great coworkers here. They have helped to comfort me with some of the stress that I feel. I will miss them when I leave. I can't believe how a charity can have management that doesn't care about people.

Each day is a little different so that helps to keep it interesting and not feel so routine.  My supervisor encourages creativity and will listen when we have concerns.  Although it takes time to fix issues, the staff and supervisors care and try to get us everything we need.
The best part of my job is the relationships I've formed with the clients we take care of.  They are happy to see me and it is great to see someone with disabilities be able to live on their own and have a normal life- with a job, girlfriend, nice place to live, etc.  It makes me feel really good that I'm part of helping them to live a happier life and get the same opportunities everyone dreams of.  Especially when they have had really terrible things happen in their lives.
Sometimes it can get stressful- but we laugh a lot and my co-workers have become my friends.  We have each other's backs and help each other out.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 101 salaries reported	$20.12 per hour
Direct support professional ii 4 salaries reported	$18.50 per hour
Community care worker 74 salaries reported	$18.68 per hour
Therapist 23 salaries reported	$76,239 per year
Licensed practical nurse 27 salaries reported	$30.19 per hour

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