direct support professional

paraprofessional

program manager

board certified behavior analyst

aba therapist

Bancroft

I am a current employee with the title One-to-One Education Aid. I work in the Bancroft school at the new campus. During the hiring process, I was deceived about this job and the responsibilities it entails. This job is basically getting physically attacked and injured all day by students ranging in age from 5-21 with ACUTE behaviors and mentally abused by staff/management. I love and take pride that I can say I'm making a difference working with children on the spectrum but I think a lot of the responsibilities that they place on staff is out of our expertise. I deal with head banging, spitting/biting, nudity/ inappropriateness, hitting/slapping, attacking, getting cursed at, the list goes on and on. I have permanent scars on my body and it's no big deal to anybody because this is what I signed up for, right? I can't walk down the hallway without a kid running me over, I can't feel safe in my classroom.. I don't feel safe ever at all. I am a small little girl who is responsible for a 200 pound young adult with raging behaviors because he's going through puberty and found his private parts. This might seem all like an unrealistic dramatic occurrence at work but this is the way of being a Bancroft employee anybody will tell you. Upon getting hired they made this job seem like cupcakes and rainbows - because no one in their right mind would ever work for this company if they knew the harsh realities of it. There is like 80% females for a general population of boys. Not enough men in the work place, females are sole responsible for acting out a 8 person restraint on a 200 + person. If I wasn't in the predicament of trying to find a new job, I would leave the company. I've been here for a several months and have witnesses several people quit. The turn over is ridiculous, there's not enough staff and the staff that they do hire is equally ridiculous. Nobody wants to work- but I don't blame them because who was to get injured, bitten, have feces thrown at them, or wipe butts all day while management yells at you for not teaching someone their numbers, colors, ABC's.. It simply can't get done. Everyone slacks, everyone is MISERABLE. The benefits are okay, they tell you they'll pay for your schooling which is around $5,000 a year and you have to have straight A's or you have to pay the money back. Their ABA masters program is almost the same deal but you have to sign a 5 year contract - which is tortuous to think you have to spend the next 5 years of your life at Bancroft. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally draining job. If you ask me no job is worth the risk of injuring yourself. Unfortunately, I'm stuck here until someone else will hire me. No lunches or breaks.. Forced to eat cafeteria food while feeding your student/class. Strict cellphone policy - which makes no sense because we use them to communicate with other staff/teachers, use the clock and timer to time activities, and check our emails because if we don't we get reprimanded, strict uniform - funny because they make you pay for it and you're engaging in physical demanding work all day I've gone through multiple pairs of pants.. Should be able to wear sweat pants or leggings for more comfort and avoiding the tearing and ripping of pants. Parking is terrible. Point system is trash - you accumulate points for every thing you do. Clocking in early, clocking in late - there's really no pleasing anybody. Salary is the biggest joke. I'm solely responsible for someones life and teaching them everything they need to know in the real world for $13.00 a hour.

Worst company ever...
My manager in particular was a flat out liar and awful human being. She would accuse me of things or throw us under the bus to save her job. She truly was selfish and only cared for herself. 

The ONLY reason I stayed for over two years was because of my amazing and special clients whom I felt did not receive good care from anyone else who worked for Bancroft. I thought they needed someone who actually cared for them and wanted to work hard to provide a good life for them. They deserve that. 

Management is terrible. They work you like a dog.. 12+ hour shifts, always asking you to work overtime because they're short staffed.. expecting us to drop everything in our lives for this job to make basically minimum wage.

I had a BA degree and relevant experience and they would not give me a raise or start me at a higher wage.

I was not valued, even though I was constantly asked to run doctors appointments and other tasks outside of my range of responsibilities. I was constantly asked to do extra work and more difficult work because I am competent and hard working. I was never compensated properly for doing extra work. I was never thanked or appreciated. 

Women in the office are catty and talk behind each others backs. They are not helpful at all either. I asked the woman in charge of compliance if I was in compliance at the time and she would not give me a straight answer because she apparently didn't know-- I kept on asking her about it..  She ended up telling my manager I was annoying her.. because I asked her to do a part of her job.

My final straw was when I was given a medication error from a group home they randomly sent me to last minute (a home I was not familiar with).. I take my time with administering the medication. I believe I do everything correctly. I get a call over two weeks later saying I had a medication error from that shift. They would not even show me the error or tell me where I went wrong. They just demanded I take a 2 day class (which I could not because it interfered with my second job, my other job I needed to work due to Bancroft paying so poorly). 

This company is a joke and I'm so sad I wasted so much time and effort for people and a company who truly did not care about my well-being, my professional and personal growth, and my overall life. 

My plan was to move up within the company and make a difference in this field, HOWEVER I could not stay. It was the worst experience of my life. I am so thankful every day I no longer have to work for this sad excuse of a company.

The single positive aspect of my job was the clients I had the chance to connect and build strong rapport with; and being able to make such  a positive difference in their lives! I pray every day they are receiving quality care since my resignation.

This company is a great place to get your foot in the door and to learn about various kinds of mental disabilities. This company has been around for over 100 years and has earned a reputable spot in the mental health industry. The staff that works for this company tend to be young and inexperienced working for around 10-11 dollars an hour for anywhere between 24 and 32 hours a week, 32 hours is considered full time employment with this company. 
     The pay does not get much better when promoted to a management position. I was promoted to a supervisor and only saw a 1.75 pay increase and was held responsible for up to 13 individuals with disabilities and only 2 or 3 (on a good day) staff for assistance. Higher management is awful and often do not acknowledge issues or problems faced by staff and first line supervisors. On more than one occasion my reporting director did not know or understand my job as a supervisor or did not know what was going on at levels lower than her position due to upper managements isolation from front line supervisors and staff while using horrible communication practices. On another occasion an upper level manager did not know how many people were receiving services and was shocked to hear we had 13 patients when the average program has 5 patients. 
     The most enjoyable part of the job are the patients that you get to interact with on a daily basis. They are full of life and are always pushing to become better than they were yesterday. Most individuals goals are oriented to get them to become productive and useful members of society with skill sets catered to their abilities.
The hardest part of working for this company is watching the company let so many talented and spectacular staff walk out the door. The turnover rate is extremely high, close to 60% at one point. This is the main reason I give this company such low marks. The compensation and benefits coupled with poor job security (the company eliminates positions randomly ALL the time) and poor upper management does nothing but increase the turnover.

I cannot recommend anyone to work here. Be aware that you are walking into an environment where attacks and physical restraints happen back to back to back. Person Served attack one another, Staff, and sometimes one person having a behavior sets off others to have behaviors. It’s chaos. There’s not enough help during day program. You have to eat with persons served (plural) in small classrooms, and in my experience if you do not share your lunch, persons served will either hold a grudge, aggress, and have a behavior.  Vans are very limited so outings are minimal. Person served are highly behavioral so more than not there will be an issue while you’re driving or reaching your community outing destination. It’s sad. Even in the morning when you arrive, they send you to whatever house they see fit with no training on who lives there. Ask questions to the staff. Sometimes they will let you know who might aggress or who might drop. If you have staff that doesn’t care anymore, they’ll try to make you do it all or ready everyone while they sit on their phones. Another norm with the staff is that staff does not respond to calls for help as seriously as they should. Either not at all, or they take their time getting into the restraints. This company should be better organized and professional. They should put you with the persons they’ve trained you on well and take seriously to staff’s perspectives. Management gives you attitude or is passive aggressive if you request a break. Whether they like you, or not, they throw you to the wolves! They paint a pretty picture when you’re new, but it only takes a few days to realize it was all a lie.

This company is extremely understaffed, and for good reason.  If you’re hoping to ease into the job, it’s not going to happen. Staff will say that they’re there to support you, but that’s just to cover their butts. There are cameras everywhere so some staff will not step in to help if you get aggressed on for liability reasons. Also they make you sign and initial your life away, so if anything were to happen, you’re held responsible. If you’re aggressed on, good luck because no one will help you. I’ve talked to other people that I was in training with, whom worked in different departments... they were thrown to the wolves. Also, a lot of the staff members are unfriendly and rude mainly because they’re fed up. Many are young and have kids to support so they stick around for the benefits.  Of course there are some really great employees... but for the majority, everyone’s unhappy, over worked and underpaid. Also, If you work nights, your nights will consist of cleaning sheets drenched in urine and feces LOTS of laundry (they won’t tell you that in training). Also, some workers won’t even help you with it.
The pay is EXTREMELY low for all the responsibilities that are asked of you. Bancroft offers benefits to its full time employees (that’s if you stick around for at least a year). The only people that stay at that job are the nurses, people in education (because it’s one-on-one) and people that work behind the scenes. They literally have to bribe people with gift cards and food to come and work the night shift. Im not sure what this company needs to do to improve, but they should probably start by paying their workers what they deserve or else they’ll tank. I believe in helping people, especially the disabled but this establishment needs to improve because no one’s happy.

When I first started I was getting out of undergrad and needed paid experience in my field. They started me off full-time at $10.25. Didn't care too much I had another full time Great paying job. My first house was awesome and I learned a lot and worked with great people until...... The drama .... Staff did whatever they wanted and no one said anything. Drama starts when you say you don't want any parts of their mess... Was asked to take on a supervisor position just when I was about to quit wow $13.50.  Had to snap out on them because i was doing work and not getting paid for it. So they had to pay me retractive....Started running two houses within my second month of my new position. Started losing my mind on top of that my Manager that was helping me out quit.... Left without a manager ..... When I needed help no one stepped in... The job became my life because staff and family would contact me all day and night. no peace of mind. No support its like walking around in the dark..

They are constantly hiring management that would steal clients money or didn't know jack about their position. When you spoke up they would place you under investigation. They don't care about the clients because for months at a time they would not have money or food. They fired awesome caring staff members just because ....they would ask for no communication with clients team members just because they were afraid you would tell them everything.... THE LOVE TO COVER UP ......They need to be reported to the state and before I put my 2weeks  in I surly will TELL IT ALL... AND CALL NAMES

Feel so bad for the clients because with all their issues they are so Awesome and became a part of my family....


BANCROFT SUCKS

Being able to assist someone with special needs creates one with compassion,empathy ,and hard work. As a program associate,one can begin to develop intuitive insight on each person served and reduce ones behavior with goal setting.When your person served reaches his/her goal there is much excitement and fulfillment on both sides.The most challenging part to the job is truly knowing your individual,building trust and meeting their needs.While documenting their behaviors/daily life skills the worker must always be aware of the environment they are bringing their person served into and by studying and creating goals that are suited for each individual we are creating a push towards their independence and to live a quality life.Team work is essential in this environment,there is no room for slackers or errors or drama! I recommend anyone to join this organization,its very competitive to get in. I loved being a Program Associate in the residential community,challenged when I became a manager to a group home,loved working in the vocational center in the craft room as an instructor to Sequoia Gardens,then worked as 1:1 in the educational Bancroft School.

The Bancroft campus is a wonderful stepping stone for those motivated to advance their career in a community of children/adolescents with autism and developmental disabilities. However, the staff that stick around are the ones dedicated to the people we serve. The compensation is low for the work we do. Laundry, cooking, cleaning up excrement/urine/vomit, organizing inexpensive/free activities, keeping high intensity individuals safe, working with stubborn or lazy staff, and undergoing a lot of emotional labor is up to us. However, the job can be fulfilling. The best part of the job is seeing the persons served happy or watching them do a new skill independently. The hardest part is having less than adequate support and an incredibly low pay. I've learned patience (not only with the kids, but with the staff) and I'm desensitized to things that seem gross or shocking. Another con is that some people I work with are unprofessional. If you're a humble person, you'll see the value of our work is priceless. You can take advantage of the great opportunities for overtime and moving up. Keeping a positive attitude and strong work ethic are imperative at Bancroft. If you can do that, you'll go far here.

Bancroft looks at you like you are replaceable. You can do a lot of favors for them but at the end of the day they really don't care about your well being or personal life. They wanted me to choose my child's well being over the company. They are unorganized. It's a high turnover rate because most of there facilities have a low pay rate. I was one of the few that had a higher pay rate because I was not working for the pennies that they were proposing. The Linden's is the most dirtiest facility that you can work in. It's not safe for the kids or the staff.  I picked up so many shifts for them but it still wasn't good enough for them. Almost all of there departments are unorganized expect for there EEP program from what I seen. I felt like management was there at the beginning but after 3-4 weeks you were on your own. If it didn't concern any of their problems they wouldn't get back to you in a timely fashion. When they say you can ask as many questions as you want, they really did not mean that. Oh and I am also still waiting for a few checks from December and it is now February....

What is the best part of working at the company?
The mission, the individuals you work for/who you support/the “clients”

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Disconnect of management from realities of day to day work, staff take the fall for that/blamed when expectations are unrealistic on so many levels.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Depends on where you work—the agency is so big. Every group home and shift has its own culture as well as classroom and team.  If you see lots of behavior plans— more stressful, more likely not to have a consistent good team.  There are some teams that really support staff development and where you love the impact you can have. Most managers and directors want to do a good job and make a difference.  People in administration have no clue about cultural sensitivity, inclusion, etc.  except those who came from program which is mostly recruiters.   

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Depends on the shift and location. Group home is like running a house—easier when you know the team. Most places give you training that is too quick but you pick it up as you go. You can get a lot out of this work. It’s not boring unless it is night duty.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 4 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Paraprofessional 3 salaries reported	$20.67 per hour
Program manager 4 salaries reported	$52,354 per year
Board certified behavior analyst 3 salaries reported	$72,364 per year
Aba therapist 3 salaries reported	$18.67 per hour

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