direct support professional

janitor

crew leader

qualified intellectual disabilities professional

life skills trainer

Challenge Unlimited

I loved working with the clients and the other job coaches, but the poor management, lack of training, disorganization, and poor communication made it very hard to work there. Three job coaches quit during my short time there. They expect job coaches to be on call and have no set schedule from week to week or day to day. Work/life balance and a routine is very hard to achieve. Some managers were very incompetent and unprofessional toward staff and clients. Positive feedback from management was vague. They made constant changes without explanation. I gave feedback to my manager about what could be done to improve things and none of it was ever addressed. I had to harass managers to do their jobs so that I could do mine. And sometimes I had to do their jobs for them because there’s nobody holding upper level staff accountable. I even asked the VP for ways to provide feedback on managers for job coaches and the VP did not make this possible beside asking to have one on one meetings which can be intimidating. Even though upper level staff was asked to provide anonymous feedback about the VPs performance. They also don’t do exit interviews which is very telling. And when you quit it suddenly becomes very difficult for you to communicate with HR as you’re no longer a priority to them so they’ll ignore your calls and emails and if you apply for unemployment they’ll lie and fight you on it.

Residential Options, Inc. is an excellent program that provides residential services for individuals with developmental disabilities and mental illness. 
The staff (supervisors and direct care staff) are dedicated and work with challenging individuals on a daily basis and are what makes the Residential Program a success even though the leadership staff that manages the supervisors and direct care staff have no idea how to treat and grow the staff that are in the trenches every day.
Higher management of Residential Options, Inc. needs training on how to celebrate the staff that work under them. They need to provide an opportunity for direct care staff to increase their skills so they can improve their job skills and to manage their time when in the group homes working with some pretty challenging individuals.
Upper management need to leave the politics at home and understand each employees strengths and to make sure those employees know how much they are valued and needed.
Working in the world of residential requires long days, a kind heart and co-workers that share the same vision.
The hardest part of the job is making sure all the individuals and staff have what they need each day and the most enjoyable is hearing your name called out when you walk into their world each day. The individuals serve bring so much joy into your life.

The biggest problem at Challenge Unlimited isn’t the work—it’s the complete lack of support from HR and corporate leadership.

Repeated attempts to raise legitimate concerns were met with little or no response, and when there was a response, meaningful action rarely followed. Leadership from the corporate level felt nonexistent, leaving employees and local management to deal with ongoing problems without the resources or authority to fix them.

My immediate supervisor genuinely cared about the team and did everything they could, but it was obvious they received very little support from higher management.

Accountability was inconsistent. Dependable employees were expected to carry the workload while ongoing performance issues with others were allowed to continue. Rather than addressing problems, the company seemed content to ignore them until they became someone else’s responsibility.

I worked hard to improve a struggling department and made measurable progress despite constant staffing challenges and limited support. Unfortunately, it became clear that no amount of effort could overcome a corporate culture where employees’ concerns went unheard and leadership was largely absent.

Management is horrible, always playing favorites and allowed the laziest employee to do half as much much work as the trainees while the trainees are threatened with write-ups for not getting enough MROs written.  You spend your entire shift writing MROs for Medicaid billing, and you have to write 22 every shift.  But this leaves no time for you to interact with the clients that you're writing the MRO about, so you're told to make them up.  And if you only get 21 done, you'll be written up for not meeting your quota.  You have to lie to Medicaid or you'll lose your job.  The medical director wants more and more MROs written, and it's impossible to write so many if you're actually doing DSP work and helping the clients.  
No work/life balance.  If the person coming in after you calls off, you have to stay, even if you don't have childcare available because the next shift is 12am to 8am.  And at $10.35 an hour with $150+ deducted from each check for your high deductible medical insurance, it's definitely not worth it.
If you have kids, this is not the job for you.
If you have motivation and want to advance in your career, this is not the job for you.
If you don't feel comfortable lying to Medicaid, this is not the job for you.
If you want to help the clients, this is not the job for you.

The company is changing and growing all the time.  If you work hard and have a positive attitude there are opportunities for advancement. It is a chance to make a difference in the lives of people with disabilities.  Rules are enforced, but I find them to be fair.  Of course, as in any job, if you are more friendly and cooperative you are given breaks that some staff who are disrespectful do not get. There are lots of locations, with lots of different types of jobs.  Each location has its own culture.  I have worked in or with several locations.  There have been some bad experiences, however this will happen in any job.  Overall employees are treated well, pay is competitive,  and the majority of managers are good people.  Some of the work is hard,  but it is a non-profit organization that supports people with all kinds of disabilities.   You should come in prepared to go the extra mile, but in the end you know you have done something positive In the world.  I have recommended it to friends. Plus there is a bonus for staff who recruit others.  Best hours are at the skills training centers, but other areas have higher pay, but have to work weekend and holiday hours.

A Typical day: I'm picked up from the Shiloh-Scott Metrolink, I go and clock in at 9pm, we get our supplies for the night and go to clean up the childcare facilities until 6am the next day.
What I've learned: Is that you cannot trust the people you work around, because what you would say to one person in confidence, they would go behind you back and blab to the other person about their job performance.
Management: Management is fine and all, but under no circumstance can they be trusted, because in the end, they will let you go in a heartbeat just to protect themselves from getting fired.
Workplace culture: It was a bit too relaxed and I got to comfortable and complacent and in doing so, I dropped my guard.
Hardest part of the job: Dealing with my co-worker and their stupid smoking habits, they could not focus and get the job done in the time needed at all.
A good part of the job: their was nobody around that would overly criticize you about doing your job wrong, I just did it to the best of my ability.

This job was not your typical 9 to 5 kind of job, it was 9 to 5, p.m. to a.m. that is. The job was pretty much hardwork in a timely manner, but the more I learned about the places we cleaned, the more I got better at doing my job, whether I'd be by myself, or working with another co-worker. The management, don't get me started, but heres a hint, The management could've been better, but it wasn't. My Co-workers, I don't even want to get started with them, but another hint, Some people in general just don't seem trustworthy at all. The hardest part of the job, trying to keep up with the customer demands, whether your working with a crew of 5 at best or a crew of 2 the worst. The most enjoyable part of the job, would most likely be the last building to clean, despite the fact it smelled the worst of the previous 3, it was an easy job, get in, clean up, get out.

A typical day teaching, redirecting, encouraging assisting and helping each client with their job  in their production line(assembly line) with different type of materials and responsibilities.  I learned that each individual client has their own goals they want to reach and they have their own personalities I have learned to work with each client with a listening ear and a helping hand and to give them that chance to be apart, to change and to give them empowerment of what they already have but also to help them develop there goals.  The hardest part I say is really nothing because I enjoy everything I enjoy the challenge that I have everyday with each client  and with each task it may seem a little difficult but once you get you foot in the door I find it like an obstacle in my passion with working with people.  overall you can overcome the challenge with compassion of what you do.

Challenge will hire just about anyone unless you have a felony or a dcfs case.  Oh and don't think about calling off if you work here your Q at your group home won't care. If you work here get ready to be yelled at for others faults and work undone from past shifts. Save yourself some time and just do not interview here. The Q at my group home was nice just very unwilling to work on the floor if they didn't have to. The team lead was awesome. I just couldn't stand my Q constantly getting on me about things that were not my fault. I was sick and tired of it. If you want to keep employees maybe you should teach your supervisors to make others take responsibility for undone work instead of passing the blame because that is how good workers quit. Also VERY high turnover rate. I was at the group home for 5 months and saw a handful of people stop showing up after their first two weeks. Sad sad company. 

Challenge Unlimited has a great mission supporting individuals with disabilities; however, it does not live up to the true purpose of the organization. Turnover at this organization is TERRIBLE and management often blamed HR for their constant hiring issues. Employees either quit or were fired just as fast as they were hired. It's like a revolving door that never rest. Employees often cited not being valued and appreciated, as well as disrespected by supervisors. All of this went unacknowledged by senior leadership as they continued to retain poor "leaders" because they were good at their job but not managing staff. If senior leadership doesn't address these problems soon in this market, they will continue to have issues and lose good quality staff.   

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 115 salaries reported	$19.83 per hour
Janitor 74 salaries reported	$17.68 per hour
Crew leader 16 salaries reported	$18.66 per hour
Qualified intellectual disabilities professional 13 salaries reported	$63,652 per year
Life skills trainer 26 salaries reported	$17.69 per hour

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