direct support professional

employment specialist

career counselor

licensed practical nurse

director

Arc of Monroe

My typical day is:
-make coffee for individuals
-plan and prep for 2 activities for the day
-toilet and maintain supervision levels for each individual in the core room
-facilitate or assist with facilitating 1st group run in the core room
-observe behaviors and goal progression with each individual (~15-18 people) alongside my team
-maintain behavior plans as needed and check for safety of the individuals
-prepare food to specific safety guidelines (food cut to size,  drinks thickened as needed, check cleanliness of food)
-maintain supervision guidelines and support levels per person
-facilitate or assist with facilitating 2nd group run in the core room
-toilet and prepare individuals for departure
-document on individual's progress in their goals

What I learned is that this job requires so much physical, emotional, and mental work and commitment. Physically assisting the individuals is the least of the worries at this job. Physically moving chairs, assisting each person with standing up, moving furniture, lifting and moving persons who have lost or are losing the abilities to move. It physically strains the body, even after you get the trainings to learn how to move people properly. Emotionally, this jobs can drain you because you become very invested in the individuals. You either learn to love them or learn to hate them, but either way, your emotions are invested and make the job very rewarding. Mentally, this jobs is exhausting because you have to be both clever and creative when planning and implementing. You must find ways to adapt "simple" activities to the skills and abilities of the individuals. You must also think fast when incidences happen or when individuals begin to need your support during the day. 

Management in my specific room is incredible. I have heard various stories from other core rooms, but I love my room. My team leader is invested in the original goal of the organization and is also invested to helping her staff as much as she can. If you ask, she will do all in her power to assist you. She puts the task and job first before friendships so that everyone remembers that we are here as employees first and friendship is bonus. Management in the building as a whole is not as great. The HCs of the building are stretched thin so it is difficult for them to visit and participate with the individuals as much as we would like. The director is upsetting to many staff including myself because she does not show that she is invested in doing the job to support the adults with disabilities that we service. She has been with the building for many years but does not seem to know the individuals in the building as well as she could. Overall, I feel as if she values the individuals for their billing purposes rather than for their actual presence (as I have heard, that value was instilled by the CEO). She does well in settling disputes between employees passively and privately. However, she does not show staff whether or not she values staff for their work. On the other hand, she demands proof of worthiness. Staff rarely see her around the building and staff do not feel comfortable talking and bringing up problems to her for fear of it being recorded and used against them in any meetings. She also has been known to shoot down friendly suggestions from staff by becoming overly defensive of her own abilities and taking suggestions from staff as personal attacks on her own ability. 

My coworkers are incredible. Despite the variety of personalities, the building overall has a nice atmosphere. My core room is friendly and we have a wonderful time working together. We keep the room moving and bounce off of each other's strengths and weaknesses. We are also not afraid to ask for help from each other because we work better as a team than as single entities. Even though rumors are spread as any workplace has it, you find a good number of people who do not play into it, and if you give it the cold shoulder, the rumors become obsolete and the day just flows that much better. 

The hardest part of my job is knowing I might or might not have the full support of my director. The days are always going to be different and the hardness of the job is always going to change. However, knowing that I am just support and do not have as many tools at my disposal to help cope with individual behaviors or staff issues in and outside the room is tough. Knowing that my team leader has her hands tied in assisting me with my concerns due to the fears of addressing it with an HC or the director is very disconcerting and has become the hardest part of the job. The work place makes me feel as if I am only worth my paycheck some days. It's tough.

The most enjoyable part of my job is that I have become a vital part in the lives of the individuals I service. They remember my name, they talk to me when they can, and I have built a level of love and trust with my individuals because of the 3 commitments listed above (physical, emotional, mental). It would be the most difficult part of leaving my current job for.

I love my job in the sense that I thoroughly enjoy working with the people we support. At its core, my job is fulfilling and the people I support make me laugh and smile each day. Each day brings a new challenge and it is never boring. 

Benefits are good, and PTO is plentiful. The pay is not great, but this is expected for a non-profit organization and out of the Arc's control to an extent. Many employees do not work here for the pay, they work here because they are passionate about what they do. Regardless, there is room for improvement. Unfortunately, this field is chronically understaffed, which can lead to an expectation of current employees picking up extra responsibilities. There have been instances in which employees have been expected to take on responsibilities of vacant or frozen positions without any financial compensation. Taking employees for granted in this way leads to burnout and further contributes to high turnover rates. 

My concerns with the Arc lie mainly with the executive management team (EMT). As an employee, I often feel like my knowledge and skills are taken for granted rather than appreciated. EMT overall does not have an understanding of what their employees do and they do not appear to value the opinions or perspectives of the employees working in direct care. Decisions with far-reaching consequences have been made without truly understanding the impact the decision has on the agency as a whole. Without a collaborative team approach to problems, decisions are often made that are not person-centered. Employees who challenge their perspective or offer new ideas are not seen as an asset but as a threat, a nuisance, or "difficult". EMT talks frequently about the importance of Arc's core values and emphasizes the value of teamwork and person-centered supports; however, their actions continuously fall short. If EMT was not so top-heavy and out of touch with the reality that so many of us employees face on a daily basis, the Arc would be a great place to work. 

This job involves running a deli while training people with intellectual disabilities, and writing up descriptions daily about the work they day, and doing time studies to make sure they make a very sub minimum wage. Upper management will make you keep testing them until they score below $5 an hour. If you talk to the people with IDD about anything - your coworkers will likely twist your words and write an email to your bosses claiming a twisted story and management will do NO investigation just take the story tellers word for it and you will get let go. They will talk a big game about inclusive culture and gift bags and sweetness when they first hire you but you’ll never get any of that. Instead you’ll get way undertrained overworked for the amount of training you might recieve. You will run a deli, but you will also answer to two or three agencies that will be scrutinizing you all the time. Your bosses won’t support you and you will be living paycheck to paycheck on a bi-weekly basis. 


If you live in a situation where you have other income from a spouse and you don’t mind working your tail off without any support and with lots of criticism. If you like working in a place where if your subordinates don’t like you that they can manufacture stories and as long as two of them sign their names you can get written up and fired within weeks of beginning. I would say unless you can get into the main offices. STAY FAR AWAR FROM THE ARC OF MONROE. 

When I first got the opportunity to work this job, I was very excited to work in the field, and looking forward to helping people gain life skills and progress their goals. However, that quickly changed when I was barely trained, and management was toxic. The Arc continuously overworks their employees and doesn’t compensate fairly for the amount of the work and love we put into our jobs. You get paid just barely over minimum wage to be tossed around like a rag doll as the company pleases. DSP’s are underpaid, supervisors underpaid, management underpaid. The main building who makes all the decisions for the group homes has no idea what it’s like to work in one so their decisions they make “in the best interest of the clients” are really doing nothing but hurting them, causing confusion and stress, and causing a MASS staff turnover. Hundreds of employees have left during covid, the ones who didn’t leave because of covid itself left because the company/the state does not care about overworking employees during this time and not compensating us. We only received covid pay for 2 paychecks, and that wasn’t until 6 months into the pandemic. After that, they cancelled it. Nurses are being overworked which ends up being extremely dangerous for the people in the homes who depend on nurses for hospital visits, scheduling appointments, etc. I 100% will never recommend anyone I know to work at this company, ever. 

I was an employment specialist/job coach at the Arc. It was a great start in the human services field after finishing up school. I absolutely loved the flexibility, management, my colleagues, and the culture. The clients I worked with were also truly amazing people and it was great to support them in obtaining and maintaining employment.
We often had team building activities and everyone who worked there was genuinely friendly and kind. 
Unfortunately, the pay was not the best but that is part of the human services field. However, I still got a couple raises while I worked there.
A huge perk is being able to make your own schedule and flex hours. Something to be aware of is that you WILL work evenings and weekends. Some clients ONLY work weekends, and some even do overnights; it is part of the job and blatantly advertised in the interview. On the other hand, working extra hours can give you time to flex during the week for doctor's appts or just getting out early on a Friday!
All of the supervisors were knowledgeable and helpful. They have all worked as job coaches, so they are not detached from the job and have useful feedback for staff.
If I had not needed to relocate out of the Rochester area, I would absolutely still be working here and trying to advance. I still miss the Arc!

Pre Covid I would have said the job was okay but not somewhere I’d like to be forever. Covid has shown that they really don’t care about the mental/physical well-being of thier staff and don’t appreciate the work of DSPs: Since implementing employee of the month not one DSP (who is putting themselves at most risk of getting sick themselves) has been given this honor. Another example: we were give a raise for 2 weeks sometime in May. They quickly took it away when the risk of getting sick had dropped but now that the chance of getting sick
Is worse than ever they have not given that raise again and our bonus was less this year. Pre covid I would have said it’s still hard to get promoted within, no recognition and the pay was not good but we don’t do this work for the pay  I would have rated the place to work at about a 3/5 as it’s rewarding and the people we support are amazing and some of mid level management can be great and supportive, depending on where you work. 

I was employed for the Arc of Monroe for over a year and, during that time, I often performed responsibilities at a management level without receiving appropriate compensation. Despite my tenure and contributions, I remained one of the lowest-paid employees in the department and was not considered for advancement opportunities.

Additionally, raises are not offered, and there appears to be a pattern of supporting and rewarding management practices that I found concerning. Individuals in leadership roles are frequently recognized and praised, despite ongoing issues within the work environment.

The department I worked in was a fully functioning business that employed people with IDD. Employees are also required to complete time studies on the people supported that, in my experience, do not accurately reflect the actual time needed to complete tasks. This can result in significantly reduced compensation for supported workers, in some cases bringing their earnings to below $5.00 per hour.

While the program itself is a valuable and impactful program, I cannot recommend employment there under its current management structure.

This is a great stepping stone place, but to me this job amounts to just that. I had plans to progress further and longer at one of the day hab programs, but changed my mind after 3-6 months in. I was burnt out before I had access to my pto (not accessible until after 3 months of working). The training and HR was very disorganized and all over the place. Staff are constantly leaving or quitting, which leaves the remaining staff to pick up the extra work which causes more employee burnout. The director of the building preaches to keep personal problems outside of work, but doesn't model after that when she has personal problems that affect her job and prevent people from getting their work done. There are lots of gossip and drama which comes with a lot of workplaces, but it's a small building so it feels more toxic than usual. The individuals are great, and it's amazing when you develop relationships with them. But overall, after a while the job does become emotionally and physically exhausting. It's just not worth the pay despite all the training and certifications you receive.

RN in charge of overseeing non-licensed (in-house) staff with minimal training to manage passing medications including narcotics and providing day to day care to residents in OPWDD group homes with (same) mandates and regulations. Odd hierarchy of management within group homes in that nursing has no real authority over staff , so counseling and/or disciplinary actions for unsafe practice(s) are not viewed as even a slap on the wrist -more a tap on the pinky. OPWDD's mandates are well meant, but can get in the way of appropriate best practice medical care.   No electronic medical record in place, so paperwork is not only redundant, but excessive to the point of ridiculousness.  Nursing on the whole is poorly respected as part of the culture .

I have worked at the Arc for many years and it has just been going downhill. The workplace culture is very childish and they will hold you back just for holding management accountable for their responsibilities. They will target you until you feel uncomfortable. They will also promise you things that they know they won’t keep. The hardest part is seeing all of the individuals lose great staff and not be able to go an do putting due to the management because no one wants to work here. I know there will be something everywhere you go BUT to be talked down to, to not be appreciated for showing up and doing the roles of 3+ people and to see favoritism coming from management onto staff is ridiculous. I am happy that I accepted another position with a new company and I cannot wait to leave! 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 8 salaries reported	$21.08 per hour
Employment specialist 6 salaries reported	$21.79 per hour
Career counselor 6 salaries reported	$20.96 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 5 salaries reported	$27.40 per hour
Director 3 salaries reported	$69,583 per year

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