in home caregiver

nursing assistant

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Agrace

This company does not care about their employees. It is a rapidly growing business that is concerned about numbers/money. Professionals are getting fired left and right on Agrace's home care teams for no good reasons, except for team reconstruction and advancement in business. Upper management is a joke. A lot of politics and backstabbing within the company. The CEO attends monthly meetings and reassures employees of their job security as the company grows and employees silently fear for their job as they watch their coworkers leaving unexpectedly, not by their choice, but because Agrace is not afraid to fire or demote anyone.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter if you’re a professional or not and love your job. Most people don’t realize how little rights employees have. So, in the state of Wisconsin you can be fired and not given any reason and that’s ok! It’s called being an at-will employee. It is not what you know it is who you know. Pretty sad. Agrace is so considerate they include in their handbook a policy that states no PTO will be given if involuntary end of employment occurs. Paid time off is earned each 2 week pay period, not just given to employees yearly. Hours roll over year to year and it depends how much you work on how many paid time off hours you accrue. Silly me, thinking I would save up my PTO for a nice vacation later this year. I lost all my accumulated PTO hours when I was fired. With the reconstruction of the Baraboo office happening this year, expanding the office space and Agrace Age at Home program new to the Baraboo office a lot of change is happening in the organization. Home care teams are constantly changing territories/patients/staff. There is a lot of poor/lack of communication agency wide. A lot of inconsistencies between Agrace triage and home care staff. When triage staff call their on-call nurses out I feel like the staff out in the field are expected to respond with, "yes sir/mam! How fast can I get this done and be available for the next visit" (they say jump you say how high deal). Home care nurses are not allowed to question triage nurses PERIOD. Doesn’t matter if the triage nurse didn’t triage the call or ask questions that you would assume a triage nurse would ask. Very little appreciation for home care staff. ALOT of traveling, most shifts close to 50-150 miles/day. Rain or shine, blizzard, or weather alert you are expected to leave home immediately when called out. Seems to be a very difficult organization to get hired, and a very fast and easy professional organization to fire their employees. I have seen co-workers have near mental break downs because of the stress of their job and how triage staff treat their home care nurses. I would not recommend this place of employment to any of my nursing friends. With saying that, I appreciate the years I spent doing home hospice care. I can’t thank Agrace Hospice enough for the experience they provided me! On to my next adventure. Hopefully appreciated and valued more by my next employer.

The work was meaningful and rewarding. Cleaning is not a job for everyone and is not "easy money" if you don't know the basics. You become close with the nursing staff and they are partly what makes you go above and beyond during your shift. Knowing that you are taking the burden of cleaning off of the patients and families that Agrace serves, is enough to make a happy employee.

The benefits of full time employees were great! PTO was generous. Company paid uniforms were provided when hired. 

Unfortunately, as with many companies, the Housekeeping department had a difficult time maintaining staff. Once the company provided phones for our department as a part of the "on-call system" life-work balance became nonexistent. You are expected to keep the phone on and respond to management calls/emails- no matter the time or your scheduled/off day. The supervisor will use this against you in your annual review if you do not respond accordingly or to her liking. 

The hardest part of this position is solely being the only Housekeeper for the facility. We would have staff sent down from Madison often to assist but very few would actually do the daily tasks and the ones who put their heart into their work, were rarely sent down to Janesville. I was told several times that as long 'someone was present in housekeeping' was better than nothing. Having that being said, it meant that management,  well the supervisor, did not care if sanitation was being completed and in most cases this was the situation. 

Once an employee feels undervalued and unappreciated and communicates that to management, it becomes a problem and you will see major changes but not for the better. When a company rewards and tolerates lazy employees, it destroys the good ones. Basically, when you stop letting management take advantage of you, you are no longer an asset to the company and they can terminate you for whatever reason they choose and will have complete support from HR. 

No investment in long term employees, they replace good experienced nurses like tissues.
I can't say the things I would like to say about the management.
I will say this..
The decisions that are made from "upstairs" (as we call it on the floor)  are uninformed, unfortunate decisions.
The employees input is not considered.  There are "listening sessions" which are just for show.
It is a hostile work environment, there is no support for the staff working on the floor, very often we have too many acute patients to give the best care possible to each one. 
Very Often we  stay 1-3 hours after shift, charting. 
Management response is: "You have poor time management." This response is purely based on punch in and punch out time, not on the events of our shift, or the way we actually manage our time.
it is heartbreaking, because the decisions made do not benefit the patients or their families and in the end, they are the ones who will suffer for it.
I have worked with some of the best nurses and physicians I have ever known at Agrace, I loved my co-workers, unfortunately because of the frequent overhaul of employees (long term experienced out, new inexperienced to replace them) and the turnover, very few experienced staff are left. This creates a situation where new nurses are training new nurses, and new nurses are in charge of the shift.

Teamwork amongst nurses and other visit staff is great. However the Rock County Office is severely lacking in support and leadership at the moment. Instances of managers speaking negatively about their employees to one another ( making lists of " trouble makers in meetings") , private meetings to berate nurses on their attitude in this stressful time after they have fired colleagues, suggesting to employees that other coworkers are spreading gossip, and just very immature behavior for management level professionals. Morale is very low. When support is sought, manager gets flustered and there is little follow up. Want things perfect but little help and no overtime allowed. Discussing concerns has been called being negative and pit stirring by regional director. Feels like you have a target on your back as they have recently terminated several good employees with no warning on the same day they warned employees to not clock overtime. This is how Agrace repayed one nurse who consistently did visits to Covid 19 pts over the past months, they terminated her for late charting supposedly. However, everyone knows it's due to poor budget management. Shameless manages 

Working as a CNA at Agrace was a pretty good experience. Like with any job in healthcare right now, especially in a long term care environment, turnover is really high and it can get frustrating to constantly be training new employees that usually quit so soon after. In general, I feel supported by my coworkers and management although there are times I felt belittled and invalidated because naturally a lot of workplaces have a hierarchy and CNA’s fall to the bottom of that. I will say though, management seems to do their best to take all staff’s input into consideration. Staffing is pretty consistent (usually between 4-8 patients per CNA, more on NOC) which is hard to find in most jobs. It is frustrating how hesitant management is to certify CNA’s with med pass considering how high the need always is and how overworked the nurses are, however, I understand it’s an investment. Scheduling is pretty flexible if you communicate ahead of time. Overall, I’d recommend Agrace to CNA’s looking for a good environment to use and enhance their skills. And above all, working in hospice is extremely rewarding and I always leave my shift feeling like I made a difference in the patients and families lives.  

Overall one of the most caring and compassionate lines of work. At times there are moments where Agrace shines during an experience that was provided for a patient. Front line staff shine everyday their efforts are brought to patients in need. Management has overall taken a turn, very corporate feel. Patients and nurses are just numbers, and caseloads are really high without support from management. More work than can be done in a day, regardless of hours put in after hours micromanagement is demeaning and joy is stolen out of the heart and soul of hospice nursing. Expect to work 60-70 hours a week for charting, care planning knit picky items, and taking on all work that is dumped onto nursing because, why not, no one else has to do it so the RN case manager has to. Highly do not recommend if you’re looking for a ‘team’ feel, the nursing staff on teams are so overwhelmed and unsupported a dark air engulfs the team and minimal to no comradery. Pay isn’t bad if you were working the actual 40hrs. 

There are many great things about working for Agrace- benefits and pay are competitive, the mission of hospice is amazing and fulfilling, and co-workers are great people. Management however as much as I think they think they understand the reality of us "worker bees" and do things to show that like offer year end bonuses and perks like fun care packages in the mail- there is a constant pressure to do everything perfectly (in addition to the natural pressure you feel when caring for people at the end of their lives) that it feels like what you do while appreciated by patients is not always by organizational leadership- you better just keep trucking along and making sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed all while having ever move you make analyzed and tracked. Its not the worse place to be, but there is also a reason we are in a hiring crisis at the moment (it's hard to explain until you are there). Nurses have it the worse at Agrace- they have so much on their plate! 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Teammates are skilled, dedicated, and passionate about the work. The community has high regard for Agrace. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Nonexistent work/life balance and having to work many hours beyond the scheduled workday just to keep up with documentation requirements is the norm. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work comes before anything else and must be your priority. Anything outside of work is secondary, including family, health, and sleep. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Required to start work at 7:30 AM, even though your scheduled work hours are 8 - 4:30 pm, and end the day 10-12 hours later, if you are a good time manager. Charting is repetitive, laborious, and takes up 70% of your work day. There is a lot of on call, and if you are required to work while on call, you do not get time back or permission to sleep/start the day later or accrue PTO on this time if you are a social worker.

It becomes deeply discouraging to give so much time and effort to work that is already emotionally demanding, only to be constantly undervalued, unappreciated, and underpaid. The real issue, however, is leadership. Superiors operate through fear and intimidation, creating a hostile and controlling atmosphere. Immediate supervisors can deliberately block sign on bonuses and refuse to sign recommendations, making it nearly impossible to receive what was promised. Multiple hidden conditions exist beyond simply staying six months, and many employees are misled and never receive the bonus at all. Attempts to fight for it lead to extreme stress, yet many still end up with nothing because of quitting or termination.


If you want to work with some of the most caring, devoted nurses, CNAs and social workers, look no further than Agrace.  
Rewarding work?  You bet.

But beware the work culture and extreme decision making, courtesy of upper management.  They've fired several long-time employees in the last year for reasons that could have been addressed first by a verbal or written warning...or even a performance improvement plan...nope, goodbye.  Only to find themselves still trying to fill these vacant positions, months later.  Maybe their reputation amongst healthcare professionals in the field is starting to precede them. 
It should also be noted that lots of staff (all different positions) have left for various reasons, including, but not limited to, upper management.  When policies and organizational decisions are being made by people who have not had "boots on the ground" for years, it's bound not to go well.    
Direct care staff who are promoted to team manager positions routinely leave their management role after a short time, in favor of returning to direct care.   Hmmm.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
In home caregiver 8 salaries reported	$18.39 per hour
Nursing assistant 1 salary reported	$20.50 per hour
Caregiver 1 salary reported	$17.75 per hour
Visiting nurse 6 salaries reported	$38.67 per hour
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$40.00 per hour

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