caregiver

Care-a-lot

I have worked at Care-A-Lot Pittsford for over a year. This is not the first child care center I have worked at, but it will be the last. My experience at this company has so bad that it ruined my desire to work in child care. 

On-site management is a joke. They play favorites with employees. If you are not part of the "in" crowd you will be nit picked and written up. They will not let you use the vacation time that you accrue. They will find some stupid reason to deny your request even when you tell them months in advance. They will use your vacation time if you ever call in though so you have less to use when you want to take some time off. 

They do not value their employees. Their reaction to Covid was laughable. They do not pay a livable wage. The owner has zero idea about the rules and regulation of operating a day care in NY state and does not care to hear about them from his employees. 

This kind of employer will pretend like everyone is family, but anyone who treats me the way leadership at this facility has treated me is no family of mine. 

The director has zero interest in helping her team succeed. She will yell and scream when she has to get out of her office and actually work. She is a toxic person who will try to mentally manipulate you to get you to do what she want.

Please stay away from the Pittsford facility, I promise the stress you will endure working for these clowns is not worth the minimum wage they will pay you. 

At first, working with Care a lot seems like heaven. Decent benefits, especially for childcare. Plus all the management seems so approachable and open to new ideas. The perfect workplace, right?
Wrong. 

There’s more gossip here than a middle school cafeteria. Management might seem warm and welcoming, but the minute you walk away they’ll start making fun of or laughing at whatever you just asked for. Good luck trying to incorporate any new ideas you have for a classroom. Management is also very familiar with the process of soft firing (if you don’t know what this is, look it up and make sure it does not happen to you!) Coworkers will comment on your appearance, call you inept behind your back, or just outwardly ignore you. 

This job is hard enough, keeping children alive for not even a livable wage in this economy. Sure, you get some money to put toward your classroom every month, but how about some money to be able to pay for both rent and food without working 50 hours a week?

If you are passionate about working with kids and don’t want that to be ruined for you, I would not recommend this company. 

The kids and my co-workers were the best part of the job. I loved coming in and seeing my kids every single day and working with the other teachers that I did, but as fun as it was it was also extremely stressful at times. You'd frequently see kids being bumped to other classrooms to accommodate teacher availability, callouts happened every single day and it made things very stressful for the teachers who did show up. Taking time off was very difficult and required serious advance notice even just for two days. I worked a lead teachers position for about two months while they tried filling that classroom position and never saw an adjustment in my pay for doing that extra work. I didn't receive my 90 day raise that I was supposed to either and that just never got mentioned. Overall it was an okay time getting my first work experience in childcare and realizing I love doing it, but the stress that the position brought for the low pay wasn't entirely worth it either. 

Typical day at work come in at 8 am get children ready for breakfast, then activities and free play till lunch, naptime then get children ready for snack, do projects, and for the last hour either watch a educational movie or outside for free play.
What I learned from this job is that when you have a positive environment and great people to work with then it makes the children and your job so much more enjoyable.
Management was great I couldn't have asked for a better person to work for. If you had any concerns she was there to listen and try to come up with a solution and made you feel comfortable in confiding with her. They was never any problems while working there.
The hardest part of the job I think was learning to have patience with the children when they would bounce off the walls and learn how to keep a positive interaction.
I actually enjoyed all of my job, the co-workers were excellent, the manager was excellent and there is such a great positive environment and a blessing to work with such great people.

The day would begin with breakfast for the children, bathroom break and then  circle time. Once circle time was over the children would have free time to play with the aide while I prepared the days lesson. The lesson would be done, clean up and then play time again intil lunch. After lunch it was time for naps for the children. During nap time is when I would prepare and brainstorm lessons for the week. month, or year.After a 2 hour nap came snack and the free time till the children left for the day. My director was amazing and was there for anything you ever needed. My aides I loved and am still good friends with every single one of them. The hardest part of the job is when the children moved up into a different room and I was no longer their teacher. The most enjoyable part is the satisfaction you get from a simple hug or smile from a child when you know they have been struggling with something.

The managers were so personable at my interviews! I knew when I walked in that this was a company that values their employees- but the difference is they are good at showing it. Compensation and benefits are fair and my center director plans fun days to celebrate like "National Cupcake Day" (one of our families brought cupcakes for employees)! Employees are welcome to wear appropriate jeans and leggings which is awesome! I look forward to building relationships, learning from the directors and working my way up the ladder.

The job is fantastic and the kids are great to work with. The co-workers are great and we have a lot of fun throughout the day and at special events. The hardest parts of the job are that most days you cannot leave during the day unplanned (law requires a certain number of staff at all times),  and it can be pretty stressful when the kids are having a bad day. On the other side of that, the most enjoyable part of the job is working with the kids, teaching them new things, and having them be so excited to see you every day!

One of the best things about working here is making a concentions with the children. They are a hoot! Learning all their personalities and growing a bond. Teaching them new things and know that you are a big part of the thier lives second would be growing that bond with the parent and the trust they have for you. It's  also a very comfortable work environment. With room to grow from assistant teacher to lead teacher, director and so on. I've seen it happen and I can't wait for my turn! The possibilities are in your hands here. 

In my experience, there was tolerance of harassment, favoritism, gossiping and toxic culture here. I felt the mornings were too chaotic because there were times staff had to put up with being over ratio. The only good thing was there being some vacation time earned. I was treated differently once I had to call out because I lost my voice. In my opinion there was a lack of communication and guidance by management. 

Upper management bosses have ruined this company- they are unorganized, blame their employees for their lack of organization and are simply out of touch with daily life within a daycare. The pay is horrible while the job is difficult with little support from others, kids, co workers and directors are great but aside from that I would not recommend working here AT ALL. It’s a nightmare work place and not worth the headache of everyday issues that come up due to upper management 

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