nursing assistant

licensed practical nurse

cook

sales and marketing manager

recruiting specialist

Bickford-Senior-Living

Leadership roles in assisted living often mean inheriting communities that are already struggling operationally or financially. Many buildings are older compared to competitors, yet pricing expectations remain higher, which can create challenges with occupancy and family expectations.

A typical day involves balancing multiple responsibilities at once. Leadership is responsible not only for operations and regulatory compliance but also for hiring, recruiting, onboarding, and staff retention. Responding to applicants quickly, conducting interviews, training new employees, supporting caregivers, and managing resident and family needs all happen simultaneously. One major responsibility people often overlook is that the Executive Director is also responsible for the staff schedule. Scheduling alone can be a full-time job — managing call-ins, open shifts, and 24/7 staffing — on top of recruiting, operations, and leading the building.

The most rewarding part of the job is the relationships with residents and families and being able to improve quality of life for people who truly rely on the care provided. Watching team members grow and seeing residents thrive is meaningful work.

The hardest part of the role is the constant pressure to perform financially while operating with older infrastructure, staffing shortages, and high expectations. Leadership positions require resilience, strong problem-solving skills, and the ability to juggle many responsibilities at once. The back door is never closed, but expectations must match the compensation and leadership support provided.

To put it in perspective: a $70,000 salary with 24/7 responsibility breaks down to roughly $8 an hour across a full year. While salary technically doesn’t work that way, it shows the level of constant responsibility expected in this role

Overall, the role provides valuable experience in healthcare leadership, operations, staffing, and crisis management, but it requires a high level of commitment and the ability to handle significant operational pressure.

When I started at bickford, they gave me a week of paid orientation on zoom which felt overwhelmingly long and full of details mostly about the history and culture of bickford but still provided in depth lessons about Dementia. I requested to be placed in Memory care and when I started, the 2 girls there didn't want to train me or let me do anything because they were 'shorthanded", leaving me to just watch  the elderly for a few days. Another coworker did try to train me but I was later placed in assisted living since things weren't working out. 

I was well trained for the first 2 days in assisted living and was assigned to a hall of 20 rooms to assist any of the residents. We would answer callights most of the day to help residents with anything needed. Around 4, we would escort many resident down to the cafe for dinner and back and when dinner was over, we would help bathe residents listed on a shower schedule and later help them get ready for bed later into the night. Once the next shift arrived, we would report any changes to them before clocking out. There have been situations where we may have to work overtime since the next shift may be late or absent. 

The work was pretty routine and was easy to do most of the time although there were days where we were understaffed and had to work in a time crunch to finish everything in which alot of things didn't work out at times which was a huge stressor with double the workload. There wasn't much growth after receiving  your cna certificate and completing training. Bickford offers a black pearl medal Wich you can receive after getting the most amount of "tickets" which you get for demonstrating core values. Being a black pearl is nothing much of an advancement other than a raise and a medal showing workers that your an example. 

Working here at bickford has been a big stressor since the callights and the schedules will keep you on your toes and often lead to missing breaks because of the demand, especially if your understaffed. I really disliked being in a time crunch and not getting to spend time with the residents since you were required to answer callights within 5 minutes, often  having 3+ callights always going off at a time. Alot of the coworkers can be very dramatic adding to the stress. The staff will suspend anyone indefinitely without pay for investigations  if they  recieve any reports from any one which can be claimed with no evidence and be  easily used wrongly

The building is pretty clean and decorated beautifully. The resident's and their families are wonderful. The majority of the aides are wonderful however there are more than a few who have been hired just to fill an open spot who will turn on you in an instant. They are rude, lazy, and have no love for their residents. The pay is chosen by the director of the branch, and is done unjustly. Some aides make way more than others and have less experience and don't work as hard. The CRD, better known as the marketing director, point blank lies during her tours. Telling a client who is very worried about their animal allergies that there are no lose pets throughout the building, while said pets are laying the hallway outside their apartment. Half the time she is unable to answer questions during a tour without asking a passing aide. The kitchen manager is completely rude, calling staff and resident's names. The menu basically on a two week rotation, which is usually ham salad, egg salad, tuna salad, chicken/turkey salad sandwiches. The director is completely rude and disrespectful to both resident's (when their families are not present) and staff. Telling aides they are basically a dime a dozen and easily replaceable. Was heard telling one aide that she needed to make Bickford a bigger part of her life, once done, she turned around and told same aide that her children were going to grow up to be criminals because she was never home. She yells at her staff about following protocol, however she doesnt. She has been seen more than once walking around in sandals and flip flops, no open toe or open heeled shoes - too much risk for injury from wheelchairs and walkers. More than once both her and the RN have told staff not to report something as a fall because the resident "put themselves on the floor" or because the resident was choosing to slide out of their chair and onto the floor. The handbook says you HAVE to punch out for lunch but then you are not allowed to leave, which would be fine if you got a meal there, which the handbook also states you get one per shift you work. However there is never food left for staff, except management they get lunch every single day and sit together in a private dining room eating while talking about other staff, residents, and the resident families.

These communities are run so streamlined that it makes "enriching happiness" of the residents nearly impossible. It surely does not enrich the happiness of the workers. This company claims to be family owned and operated and to have only the best interest in their residents care had happiness. I find that to be very far from the truth. It is like any other assisted living company out there, all about the heavenly dollar and building more buildings. You have no life outside of this company when in the administrator position. You are to do staffing, scheduling, marketing, in-servicing, monitor all residents, dishes, cook and clean when staffing is short. You are to comply with state regulations all while having no support (basically administrators put their professional license on the line everyday).This company needs to realize that their blowing through the good administrators and good support staff because they have made it absolutely impossible for them to succeed. They have no balanced work-family life (you are on call 24/7 and that truly means you work 24 hours a day) and yet expected to keep the building afloat with the staffing ratios they carry and the ridiculous job classifications they work with. No Nurse or CNA for that matter has gone though specialized training in healthcare services to do dishes, wait tables, provide housekeeping on top of caring for the residents needs on a full time basis. Pitching in to help with services outside of their scope of expertise (healthcare) is to be expected now and again but at Bickford it is in the actual job descriptions. Bickford may have begun with good intentions to care for "grandma" and a good business philosophy. Especially when their facilities only had 20 residents vs the 50-80 residents they have occupying their buildings now. However, they are so far off base from where they started its hard to believe their sales philosophy and strategies of "enriching happiness" such a very disheartening situation.

I loved working with the residents and their families. They are wonderful and deserve better.  I worked with some wonderful nurses also and some great activity people.  There were CNAs who did care but often were driven out by those that didn't.

Residents pay a premium to live at Bickford and are promised quality care but they don't always receive it.  The Campus Director was afraid to demand high quality of care from her direct staff and instead let them get by with poor performance and disrespectful behaviors  The facility is also not maintained very well, considering the monthly rates and upfront fees residents pay to Bickford.  The food served to residents is only mediocre at best.  Even though Resident Council complains about it every month, it doesn't improve.

Regional managers say they want the truth so they can make it better but it doesn't get better. It has just been my observation that in the short time that one Campus Director has been employed, the facility has lost a qualified RN-Coordinator, an Assistant Director, a Marketing person, and a Kitchen Manager. In other words, alot of change over in management.  Kind of a revolving door!  If you are asked by higher ups for your true opinion about how things are going at the facility, don't tell them the truth if it includes anything that needs to be changed or you will be unemployed. They may act genuinely interested at the time, but they aren't.

Some of the job duties I was asked to do were not what I was told when I was interviewed and offered the job.  Especially the hours demanded. I was also told that I had the power to make various decisions and then was overruled much of the time by the Campus Director, even when I was following Bickford policy.  

Mary Bickford's grandson's now run the company and they have the best interest of the elderly at heart, but maybe just have grown too fast and no longer are in touch with what really goes on at their facilities.

Overall
There is simply not enough hours in the day to get everything done but hay the schedule is flexible. Dont bother complaing about because everyone is as overworked as you are. Aids come in late or call off repetitively with little to no consequences leaving myself and others to pick up slack. Staff are hard to train in the areas you are responsible for due to lack of staffing structure and they are under pressure to get stuff done. A lot of things break because staff are not using things proprly due to the consent rushing or they do not simply care. As the maintenance coordinator you will find yourself as the catch all for every odd job. Cook calls out you are cooking, short on aids you are running food and helping on the floor. After all that you will be asked why your work is not done even though there was cleary no one but you to do those tasks. A lot of your time will be spent on decorating, moving and assembling resident furniture, repairing residents personal belongings, leaving you little time to complete your routine tasks. The maintenance shop is no bigger than a closet and you find yourself sharing a computer with two other directing staff members. Maintenance is a complete afterthought for this company all that matters is projects, decorating, appearances and moving in residents leaving your equipment to break down whereby leaving you further behind. Branch support (corporate office) provides no support only demands. The few people I have had the displeasure of talking to there are condescending and unhelpful. Branch support will normally bypass you and leave maintenance decisions to an administrator leaving you the maintenance professional out of the loop and holding the bag for what inevitably goes wrong. Bickford would be better off hiring outside companies to handle maintenance and hire a somewhat handy janitor to fill in the gaps as they do not want spend the man hours or time to have a serious maintenance department. I met a lot of great people when I worked there but as a company they have a lot of problems that start at the top.

There is a disappointing degree of engagement from the administrative team, coupled with SUBPAR collaboration and extensive CRITICISM. Emotional investment is essential in any public service, particularly when serving our senior population. The LACK of ENGAGEMENT and COMPASSION exhibited by Bickford’s administrative team is DISAPPOINTING. The residents certainly feel the absence of administration day-in and day-out.
Communication, collaboration and cooperation are the cornerstone of any successful team. I was NOT afforded any HIGH-QUALITY TRAINING, GUIDANCE or SUPPORT. As an organization that prides itself on a solid family core, I had expected more mentorship and comradery from the administrative team. It was glaringly obvious that Bickford of Bourbonnais PROMOTES an atmosphere of SELF- SUFFICIENCY and INDIVIDUALISM.
A little appreciation can go a long way, but conversations with administration consistently focused on CRITICISM and NEGATIVITY.
Rotating door for the staff.

Advice to Management:
To the Upper Management all the way down (I believe this is a case of trickle down- bad breeding bad):
Behave like you are working in the human service industry.
Accept responsibility for your actions. (Yes the high turn over rate is because of you, and your horrible management style.)
Treat ALL people (staff, residents and their families) with respect and human decency.
Value the compassionate caring employees-Don't value the back stabber.
And remember you catch more flies with honey.
Everyone should read company reviews before placing their loved ones in any facility.

I have had over 40 years of life experience ,not only in healthcare, but as a professional athlete and highly respected leader!  During my interview the supervisor actually asked me "Why do you even want to work here with everything you have done"?  I simply said that I care for people and want to help.  I took an 8 dollar pay cut during Covid to get a job.  I have been there 2 months and feel completely unappreciated, I am over worked and underpaid.  The supervisor has favorites, which I could pick out within 10 days of working there.  The pay differs greatly!  So many employees have no clue about the medical field are paid a lot more!  They even set their own schedules and show up 2-3 hours late!  It is called "Oh he/she is on their time!  The supervisor takes no responsibility in even answering a simple question.  She races by and spews out an answer that leaves one standing there confused.  Just answer the question.  I was sent a one line email in all caps.  I asked her a question about how to take the CNA test online.  She would not explain it!  I was shocked!  She is not the person that I interviewed with over the phone!  She has no idea what the resident plan is but assumes that we look at the care plan and figure it out perfectly to get the job done,    I enjoy the residents and they love me.  I am so compassionate and caring, but my supervisor is always harassing me about anything she can.  Today she told me to take the garbage out!  I was working with a resident!  Why?  She can't find fault in my work ethic and it makes her mad.  I go above and beyond my job responsibilities but it is not appreciated.

No one listens. There can be multiple problems going on. You can report them, but they are ignored, overlooked, and never addressed or fixed. They think they own you, placing you on the schedule where ever they feel like it, even if it doesn't work for you, they know this but don't care. "You must find your own replacement," but there's no one to replace you, that's why you were thrown on the schedule, so their work is done. You're unappreciated for all of your hard work. No one notices. They hire teenagers with no experience that cause you more work then you should have, nothing against teenagers but they are not properly trained for the job, expecially as an aide in the memory care unit. They waste time doing a week of orientation. 75% of it, you're doing nothing but wasting company money and your time, while they figure out what to do with you next because they are clearly unorganized and clueless. Should've been a clear sign there! Alot of workers are lazy and you have to pick up their slack if you're a person that actually works. Long time employees are too busy complaining about the company, eating their lunch for breakfast, or playing on their phone, neglecting to do work, so you have to pick up their slack. Medications are on a laptop, day shift doesn't charge the laptop while they're on it during the day, so your laptop dies during your 3 1/2 hour night med pass that you do by yourself for the whole building, all the meanwhile, pharmacy comes, falls happen, there's emergencies, people not stocking your cart, meds missing, etc. It's a complete, chaotic mess! No organization whatsoever!!!!

I have never written a job review before...but this time I feel appropriate cause:
Plenty of availability for overtime because there is a severe lack of permanent staffing. Extreme dependency on temp agency employment which makes it difficult for full time staff and residents to build relationships. Poor kitchen structure, mismatched menus and extremely low amount of adequate help. When it comes to the production of the kitchen, the work load is way over demanding for the 1, yes 1, person they want cooking, cleaning, managing and serving 10+ hours a day. Do not let the sales pitch fool you. The kitchen staff does NOT work 7am-5:30pm 4 days a week. It has been my experience the kitchen staff works 6-6:30am to 6pm 5+ days a week. I was stupid enough to use my own money for resident needs. As of today, 3 months later... I still have yet to receive my reimbursement check. 
Perhaps it is just this branch, but with the standards, ethics, work load and attitude of most Bickford "family members"...this facility will continue to be a revolving door, and the census of the building accounts for it.  
It really it too bad, because the residents are the ones who suffer the consequences of poor corporate decisions. My short time at Bickford has definitely been a lesson learned. If I knew at the beginning of my role with Bickford what I know now... I would have never accept the job offer. 
By no means do I wish this company and branch ill will, but I do wish them a great deal of change!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Nursing assistant 3 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour
Licensed practical nurse 3 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Cook 3 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Sales and marketing manager 1 salary reported	$65,000 per year
Recruiting specialist 1 salary reported	$52,122 per year

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