registered nurse

maintenance technician

mental health technician

social worker

dietary cook

Behavioral Centers of Michigan

I have written this several times, but it has been difficult to keep my emotions absent because I believe this type of facility is essential and BCM has the capacity to make a difference but falls short due to poor management and employees without compassion. There is a great deal of turnover which I attribute to the lack of raises/advancement and mediocre pay for most of the employees. 

I have a LOT to say about the other disciplines in this hospital but focusing on what it’s like to be a Social Worker in this place should be enough to help you decide if you want to work here. In the years I worked here, I never got any raise/bonus, or any performance reviews. I got zero respect. The hospital is constantly short-staffed so it can be dangerous because there aren’t enough staff to manage patients. 
 
If you are hired, you should expect to come in every day with a random discharge or two because insurance is kicking patients out who NEED to be hospitalized or the doctor disregarded your team meeting and will d/c the patient because they feel like it. Be ready to get yelled at my patient’s families and management when you cannot place a patient in a residential home/group home due to their history of aggressive behavior or lack of income. Be prepared to explain to everyone repeatedly that there are only so many resources and you can only do so much. You will not have your own office, or any privacy, and you will be kicked out of your space at any time because some other staff person needs a place to work. The doctor(s) will see the patients for 10 minutes, prescribe meds, and then disappear for the whole day. 


This is not an equal opportunity employer. The place has many many complaints of nepotism filed against them.  The coworkers are great, but I've had patients wake up and think they were in a foreign country.  They hire family and friends first and give them staffing and shift priority, and pay no attention to seniority whatsoever. The only thing good and the only reason anyone ever stayed was because the staff all became friends to cope with the terrible work environment and treatment.  The management discusses employees with other employees,  including personal details and private information.  The management is extremely bias and unfair and will give preference to contingent staff for scheduling.  They will take every advantage of using you every chance that they can for all the overtime they need for example,  but you will never be given consideration for scheduling you off for a personal need.  The intake department will take any medically compromised patient that the facility isn't equipped to handle.  The rounds aren't done by the staff. The benefits are very expensive and the coverage is terrible.  Staff and patients get hurt and if you are being assaulted,  there is little code assistance at times.

Not there for the patients, but in it for the money. They discharge actively psychotic people because their insurance will not pay or authorize. The nursing staff do talk to patients families, even when they call to ask about medications. There was a director of social work, whom they fired on the new director's first day. To make matters worse, the director they brought in was FIRED as a director of clinical services from another psych hospital, and she is rude, condescending, and was overheard, through a closed door, arguing with a delusional person for an hour. The physicians do not actually try to treat the patients. The one needs to retire, as she cannot remember who her patients are, what medications they are on, or why they are there. The patients are noticing that the doctor is no longer capable of working, and even with complaints, administration won't do anything about it. The first shift nursing manager does not even know how to place restraints on patients, and does not fill in as needed, instead will leave the units short when staff are on breaks. Some of the techs sit in the corner on their cell phones, while us others have to do the work of more than one person. The insurance companies need to come in and do a full audit on the charts, as most will find fraudulent documentation from nursing, some techs and the doctors.

Don’t get a job here. Severally understaffed units. Doctors don’t care about the patients. Patients are treated horribly by most staff. Most staff don’t care about the patients, only there for the money. Doctors hand out medications like candy but don’t listen to the patients needs or concerns. Management is absolutely horrible and incompetent. Everything is severally unorganized, from training to scheduling to admissions and discharges to staffing to communication. Complete lack of proper training or communication for staff. Management doesn’t communicate anything in a proper manner. Most staff lack complete common sense or are totally lazy and can’t or won’t do anything correctly, leaving the few competent employees to pick up the pieces. Management just hovers over staff on the phone but won’t help with anything. Most of the time you’re left to fend for yourself on the units, even as a newer staff member. Complete lack of support from management. They make an appearance and take off running when stuff gets tough. 

This is by far the absolute worst company I have ever worked around. Management out of touch with workers., if you even know who is in charge. Zero communication, zero leadership, zero information or help available. Safety and training is a joke. Advancement is seemingly given on ethnicity and gender rather than ability. HR is truly unorganized and a joke.Short staff is stretched even further to meet the needs of total care elderly with dementia. This place sets very few limits as to the kind of patients they accept. Staff-care very much about the patients and support each other.Work at your own risk. There is a lot of favoritism at this place and certain people are allowed to do what they want and others get reprimanded for doing things.Keep a low head, your mouth shut, & your eyes open is my best advice for surviving in this jungle.They hire family and friends first and give them staffing and shift priority, and pay no attention to seniority whatsoever. The only thing good and the only reason anyone ever stayed was because the staff all became friends to cope with the terrible work environment and treatment.

The job itself I loved I had some of the best coworkers ever. The pay was awful most times they had opportunities for overtime but once you pick up thinking the overtime would be extra on your check they cut you from your normal shift after you sacrificed to help them out in their time of shortage. Management was cool but definitely had favorites. Men in this field are valued more than women. The HR department is one of the most caring in the entire business! The lunch was cut from 1hour to 30 minutes which sucks because working hands on with people with mental illness I feel that hour break helps you to rewind and recharge your mind for the job. The coworkers were the best part of the job with the exception of a few sour apples. Some lazy people made a job that was easy for the most part very stressful.

There are too many responsibilities and not many staff to help alleviate and handle the work load. There is not much supervision and a lot is to be assumed without much direction. The hardest part of the job is time management and getting everything accomplished when working with other agencies such as the counties, APS, guardians, lawyers and other community partners. The most enjoyable part is helping a patient make a break through and find realizations about themselves. Workplace culture varies many do a good job and others show up for a paycheck, staff can be unmotivated and push work onto other staff. I believe I learned as much as I can about working with other community partners and coordination as a whole as well as with too much of a caseload good and meaningful work with clients does not get completed. 

This is one of the worst places to work but everyone needs a job, right? The administration here is a joke and the doctors here are no better. Old, feeble doctors that should actually retire but don't because they are money hungry. The worst people at this place are the administration. They don't know how to run a hospital. A lot of nepotism and hiring friends with no actual know how to do their respective jobs. A lot of favoristism among those who kiss up to the quality director. Backstabbing workplace that allows people to be bullied and retaliated against. 
They have a lot of turnover because it's a scary place to work for, and not by any physical means, but because you always have to watch your back for who is telling on who and there is no protection for your rights as an employee. Stay far away from this place if you want to keep your sanity.

Toxic work environment, unorganized orientation, employees are not properly trained, I never had one evaluation in the year and half I worked there.  I only received 1 raise the entire time I worked here.  None of my vacation days I requested off were approved, or denied, they were just left pending.  If I had a concern about something and brought it up I was basically punished for doing so. I was suspended and written up for other peoples mistakes and had co workers experience the same situations. However, I actually learned a lot working for the company because I taught myself everything and took initiative to learn everything on my own.  The most enjoyable part about working here was the friendships I made with co workers and helping patients during such a difficult time.

Management is horrible. Administration is EVEN WORSE. They treat their patients horribly and don’t care and if you think that’s bad they treat their employees even worse. They are supposed to treat mental health and their own staff needs the mental health treatment. This place is manipulative and vindictive in the decisions that they make. They don’t appreciate or care about staff just the almighty dollar. They’re liars and instead of wanting you to succeed they would rather watch you fail and laugh and point as they kick you when you’re down. DO. NOT. WORK. HERE. Avoid it AT ALL COSTS. Go somewhere else. Communication is garbage. Team work is garbage. No one is on the same page. Nurses are cutting corners left and right putting the safety of their patients at risk. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered nurse 2 salaries reported	$38.75 per hour
Maintenance technician 2 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Mental health technician 2 salaries reported	$15.75 per hour
Social worker 2 salaries reported	$40.00 per hour
Dietary cook 1 salary reported	$14.00 per hour

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