case manager

support specialist

therapist

office manager

enrolled agent

Benchmark Family Services

The job was great in the short term but ultimately is not built to be sustainable or longterm. Good opportunity to learn an introduction into case management and what to expect in terms of completing home based casework, but it will get old and draining fast.

 Foster parents struggle to be trauma informed and will whine over the most minor things their placement does in the home and will threaten to put in their 30 day notices if you cannot make a miracle happen. Having to use your own cellphone to constantly communicate with parents creates no sense of professional boundary and they WILL call/text you in your off hours and be angry if they don't receive a response, as well as alert you to emergencies without calling the on-call number provided in training. You will be working constantly and stressed out by the parents unless you have a work phone/great boundaries.

Benchmark requires employees to travel for home based visits weekly or biweekly depending on the kid's level of care; I put about 30k miles on my car in less than a year, with mileage reimbursement being below the federal average (40ish cents a mile). You will have to get creative to make it to multiple homes a day for visits, especially during the school year when foster parents all want their appointments after 4/5pm; you will be getting home some nights after 7pm because of this, so it is difficult to have a work/life balance. You are also expected to be available/working from 9am-5pm even if you're working late to fit in appointments. Additionally, Benchmark sometimes requires staff to transport clients in their personal vehicles without providing car insurance coverage; I was advised to "just not tell my insurance company" that I transport clients; this is a HUGE liability to take on the off chance you are in a car accident or the child is hurt in your car.

Overall, the experience did teach a lot in regards to case management and home based casework, as well as provided opportunity to work from home some days, but does not provide any incentive to stay in the role longterm. The benefits were okay and the PTO is generous, but unless you plan to take a week off at a time, you will end up having to do all your home visits/work in a shorter amount of time to make up for the time off. The people I worked with in my office were amazing people and the only thing that helped to hang onto the role, but it is not universal across each office or upper management. The stress of the job was very bad and I could hear my RD crying in her office at least once a week from the stress/ expectations put onto her. I had to up my anxiety medication and antidepressants to manage through less than a year. 

Ultimately, the company is struggling to find appropriate foster parents and end up taking ANYONE, leading to frustration and burnout from staff. The expectations are not followed through and foster parent recruitment methods are a joke. Get enough experience here for abput 6-12 months and move on to other agencies.

Where to begin, Benchmark is a good place to get your feet wet, it is one of those"take because you wont find anything elsewhere" kind of job. Benchmark is good, but they are far from perfect. Management is not the best and communication is lacked. Pay is nearly 35 - 50% underpaid(Depends on position of course). Insurance is pretty high, no 401K, No bonus structure, no employee recognition program unless your one of the 4 state directors, they tend to get all the glory. Again, this is a starter job, you take what you get if your looking for a entry job. Benchmark would have a talented team and they have had some brilliant people and they have let them go, as they don't pay well everyone comes in, works their way up to the top and then they realize all the companies that are out there who actually value their workers. Off they go to bigger better things.

One of the biggest benefits is the 4 weeks paid, lets face it no one does that now days unless your their for a while, but lets also face the fact - the fancy time off does not pay bills. 

There is also no retirement program, nothing to set you up for if you where to work there for 50 years, no 401K as I stated. Benchmark HR said they used to have it but no one used it, well what do you expect with 20-23K salaries, poor people couldn't afford to take anything from their check!

I have also seen some extreme poor management and people getting "Fired" or "let go" for extreme poor and right out aggravating reasons. I would not blame the workers at at all, I would blame management. There have been some sicking stories. Ultimately the brilliant of someone would plan to "Let go" of someone but you can hop on indeed and see a job opening for the position you are in!!! Post 30+ days before you are let go. What does that tell you. 

Everyone who is a professional knows what bad management does. If you do like micromanaging, benchmark is your place.

Benchmark does not pay hourly, they pay salary with no overtime or raise structure. You'll be working and you don't know what your working for. 

Expect to work far past your typical 8 hour shift, because of the 4 weeks paid the use that as a a buffer for all the negative factors. 

End result, if your looking for an entry level job to learn and move on, this is a good place - But don't expect to be happy, the company is high stress. If you are a professional with experience, i would move elsewhere - People with good experience deserve to get paid well and treated with respect, especially if your a hard worker.

If you have a job and want a place to stay, keep looking. If your in a pinch, take the job - at the end of the day a pay check is a pay check 

Benchmark pays upper management good money, but neglects rest of their staff. As stated in a staff meeting by an upper management worker "Each kid is a paycheck" its all about the money there. 

I hope this helps

Benchmark was great at first, the insurance is good and the mileage is good and feeling like you make an impact in the lives of the kids you work with is beneficial, however, you never really make an impact. Most of the time you are stuck waiting for a social worker to do their end and it results in you being held accountable for something. 

They are great with flexing and working with you when you are on call or working after hours but the stress isn't worth it. 

The on-call and after hours isn't what they guarantee, you end up working 80+ hours, with no help, even though they say they will have help for you and only get an additional $100-$150 for on call each week you work, when you may have 4-5 trips to Lexington and take 4-5 calls at once and you're usually left on your own with no help or guidance. 

It's hard to make a meaningful impact when your caseload constantly changes. There is no guidance or training and everyone gives you different information. You are on call 24/7 whether they tell you, you are or not, your foster parents will constantly text and call you, if they provided a work phone it would be more manageable but they don't. 

There are no bonuses, you will get a $100 gift card each year from the company as a thank you and trust me, the amount of work and effort you put into the job is worth way more than a lousy $100 gift card. 

You will get written up for things that are of no fault of your own but the fault of poor management and training. 

Supervisors will do everything they can to put their work off on others there and most of the time when you get promoted, it's never really a promotion. 

You will burn out very fast at this job, they will pile as much on you as you will take and even when you can't take more and you verbally state that, they will ask you to do more. 

IT is an absolute hassle to deal with, they are rude and treat you like you are stupid anytime you need any kind of help. HR will mess up all of your paperwork and paychecks and leave you high and dry. 

Despite how good the pay may seem, I assure you it absolutely is not worth the work load that you are given and are expected to complete. You will lose time with your family, you will come home crying because you are overwhelmed. There were many days where multiple people would cry in the office because of how overwhelmed they were. The people themselves are wonderful, but this entire company needs to restructure their pay and how they treat their employees. 

This company has some serious issues they need to resolve, their workers deserve more than they get and they don't care or even consider it as long as they can put money in their own pockets. 



I took on the role of regional director despite multiple warnings about how horrible corporate is. I took on the challenge because I love Benchmark and their mission. For over a month I was running the office with the help of the office manager since the previous staff quit due to hating corporate and lack of training. As a new RD, I hired new staff and juggled between training them and doing multiple roles including the RD role until they were fully trained. Despite all my efforts corporate turned against me when I suggested a different approach in training new TSSs, they said I was NO ONE to make suggestions about training and if my staff needed additional training then maybe I had to re-evaluate them and figure out if I should keep them on board. I voiced that their style of training is ineffective and a waste of time. A 6-hour training where someone reads the TSS manual verbatim is ineffective training as evidence that the whole agency is suffering in quality of work. Benchmark speaks highly of quality, however, training is a joke. So for speaking my mind, I ended up with the short end of the stick. Corporate took it as me being rude and not following their Benchmark culture. I also received a very rude and cynical email from the so-called trainer in corporate. Of course, there were no consequences for him despite his demeaning way of speaking to myself and my staff. They threaten to demote me to TSS for the simple fact of suggesting better training and speaking my mind. 
In my culture we speak up, we don’t let anyone disrespect us no matter of their position, we treat everyone equally, we value people and we don’t speak to anyone in a demeaning manner.  I resigned, I refuse to be part of this unjust and dysfunctional organization. The comments below speak the truth, stay away from this agency. They will overwork you with no appreciation or compensation, the moment you call them out they will push you out. The State Director will not have your back and is easily bullied and manipulated, which she has stated when she throws you under the bus. The little pay is not worth the stress!

A typical day at work can be as simple as you make it. Becoming employed with this company, you should expect minimal to little training-being a fast and visual learner will be a plus. There are many deadlines that come with working with this company that need to be met, if you are newly employed. As time passes by, you'll realize that no one actually meets the deadline but being new, you are a target. You will be expected to do multiple tasks at once which may result in you staying late on most days and even weekends. Time management will always be an issue due to the unrealistic expectations and lack of supervisory experience from the superiors in the office. Management is not concerned with your personal issues that may conflict with doing your job effectively (whether it be with your caseload or in your life) as there is minimal support and everyone gossips about your business. If you have a complaint or concern, your best bet would be to look for another job. If you make a complaint or concern, management will retaliate and you will be terminated. The mission for the organization involves providing service for families and children- but the employees are treated unfairly and are often burnt out due to the lack of support. The hardest part of the job is coming into a hostile environment where micromanaging is the style of supervision. The most enjoyable part of the job is making a difference in the children's lives. Even while working a position of passion, in some cases you are compensated appropriately for your work, diligence, and effort. In this case, compensation is poor and so is the office moral. I give it two stars, because the company wasn't founded with the intentions of employing unprofessional, unethical people without empathy or appropriate level of concern. There are other locations whom deserve more stars I'm sure, yet that isn't the case for the Jonesboro location.

It’s a great office to work in. I seriously loved my job. I loved the people there. The only problem that caused me to resign was a conflict between my values and ethical standards and theirs. I was promoted very quickly, and felt challenged in each role I held. It was very hard to leave. I learned a ton from the team there. My first supervisor was always available for me to talk to and gave advice when things got tough. The workload is very significant for the TSS role currently. You receive necessary training, but I believe that there could be a more local option for support during the first month of hire or changing positions. In the end the job gets done, but corners may be cut to meet a deadline. There could be more transparency in the budget, if there is one. I believe an annual report would benefit the employees as well to increase confidence in job security. The hardest part of my job was finding resources in the company drive. There are too many hands in that pot. It needs to be cleaned, but I’m pretty sure that is being addressed. There needs to be a team built (of current employees), to address the problem all at once. Some potential members of the team could be an office manager, a licensing specialist, a regional director, and the training director. This would address some of the big problem areas. Anyway, that is besides the point. The hardest part of the job was leaving. The easiest was coming into work. The environment is great. There is currently a great team that works well together. All-in-all, it is a great place to begin a career in social work. 

The workday is from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and lunch is from 12-1. While working here, I learned that this company's corporate, administration, and branch bosses are unlike any I have ever had. The bosses tell you to trust them and come to them when you have any issues, but when you do that, they reprimand you for doing so and even mock you (behind your back- but loudly enough that you can hear them through the vents). The bosses ignore addressing serious concerns that you bring to their attention because they don't want to risk a home closing and losing the kids in the home.  Yet, when a situation is brought up to corporate, the BOSSES are the FIRST to throw the case managers and therapists under the bus to make THEMSELVES look better because THEY failed to do their jobs. Corporate encourages you to come to them with any concerns you have regarding foster homes, foster parents, and the staff that you are working with. Yet, when you do this, nothing happens. When you express concerns to your bosses of a child being placed in a home, they ignore you because ALL BENCHMARK CARES ABOUT IS MAKING MONEY AND COVERING THEIR OWN A**ES Benchmark views kids as money, not as human beings.

Working for this company opened my eyes to just how poorly this (as well as other agencies) view the children in their care.  The children were a commodity and nothing more.

Upper management constantly cut our budget where we were severely under staffed.  However, we were expected to maintain productivity as if we were fully staffed.  There is a reason this is a salaried position.  You WILL work 65-70 hours per week.  Taking this into account, one could make more money working in fast food.

My direct manager was hateful and unhappy, I am sure due to the stresses of performing with no staff.  My direct manager's boss would frequently call me in the evenings at home, to ask me invasive, uncomfortable and personal questions about my direct supervisor.

Training sessions were unproductive and disorganized.  However, they mandated employees signed off after training.  When further training was requested by myself and my staff, we were reprimanded for the request and were threatened with termination.

My particular position's productivity outcomes relied solely on families becoming licensed.  I was constantly reprimanded for families not turning in documents on time, attending outside trainings, and other items beyond my control. Much of this position relies on third party participation.

This was an extremely stressful job.  Know what you are getting into in the beginning.

If you are looking for good pay, a stress free environment, and opportunity for advancement, THIS IS NOT THE PLACE. Do not expect to be commended for all of the hard work you do because the company as a whole will only communicate your faults and your need for improvement. Social Services is already a stressful environment and if serious issues arise, do not expect for the corporation to do anything except cover their assets. Ideas from employees are taken for their use to profit without a single recognition. Employees are told, "It's team building exercises", in order to create ideas so the company can utilize your ideas to increase profit. There is no recognition around holidays (no bonus, no holiday celebration) and just last year employees lost a payday due to leap year because the company failed to prepare for leap year.  Employees have not seen pay increases in years because they are constantly told you are not getting a raise. An overwhelming number of parents are in foster care for the money and children suffer in the end. The company is extremely focused on quantity and not quality which creates greater issues for employees who are overworked and under paid. The brighter side of this job is the children. The company overall would benefit from re-evaluating their mission and actually following through with the purpose of the mission to better service children in need.

A typical day would involve handling case by case situations varying from a child's defiant behaviors to issues with foster parents. Communicating with all team members; Department of Child Services, therapists, behavioral counselors, CASA, and other service providers. Entering important information in the data base system. I spend a lot of my time traveling to and from home visits, team meetings, emergency situations, schools, court and other necessary travels. 

My co-workers are very pleasant to work with, we try very hard to take lunch breaks, in order to "get away" from the stresses of the job. 

One of the hardest parts of this job is maintaining a separation of work and home, as well as being on call.

I have learned that working for a therapeutic foster care agency requires a lot of time away from family, and little time to handle paperwork and taking care of things in the office. There is very little time during the week that I am able to accomplish things in the office due to traveling; there are not enough hours in the day to complete all necessary tasks that go along with being in social work. 

I would have to say that the most enjoyable part of this job is knowing that I have a team of people to help when needed. Also building relationships with children in need and knowing that an impact has been made whether it is big or small.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Case manager 18 salaries reported	$39,917 per year
Support specialist 2 salaries reported	$31,000 per year
Therapist 11 salaries reported	$51,409 per year
Office manager 2 salaries reported	$29,000 per year
Enrolled agent 7 salaries reported	$15.38 per hour

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