caregiver

in home caregiver

physical therapist

occupational therapist

speech therapist

Disability Services of the Southwest

This company does important work and highly values great customer service skills. The staff, whether field or office, contribute to ensuring that people with disabilities across Texas receive the direct care and support services that they need. I am happy to be a part of an organization with a great mission and where I feel that my work is meaningful. The company has a great open door policy and encourages employee feedback and suggestions for improvement.
 
So, I was shocked to see such an unfortunate and misleading review left a few weeks ago by a member of the team who is no longer here. I’d like to contribute my own review of DSSW to clarify some of the statements made. Yes, this is a family run company and there are a few people in top leadership positions that are related by blood. However, this is not to say that there are not opportunities for others to enter and advance within this company. I am not related to anyone here and I do not feel that my growth opportunities are limited because of it. We also encourage employee referrals so that we can build a workforce of trustworthy people that get along with one another. This is hugely advantageous in cutting down on problems other companies face such as high turnover, fraud, and poor employee relations. So, it’s a family friendly work environment. There are several couples and family members working here that are not related at all to the CEO.
 
Yes, the CEO is part time. He is also in his late 70’s and a cancer survivor. The man just wants to retire, but wants to make sure that there is a solid foundation for future leadership to take over. San Antonio is our corporate headquarters, so yes, there are a lot of Administrative positions centralized here rather than scattered throughout our smaller branch locations. Benefits are comparable to other companies of similar size in the industry, if not better in certain respects. There are several medical plans, tuition reimbursement, bonus opportunities, an internal Wellness Program at no cost to the employee, long and short term disability is paid by the employer, etc. “Not willing to invest in their employees’ future”? I don’t even know where this comment is coming from. The company has made great strides in the last year to improve company culture, flow of communication, increase/improve benefit options, roll out new programs, expand training programs, etc. The whole strategy here is to invest in our infrastructure and employee base so that better services can be provided to our clients. This is just a factually inaccurate statement to make! 
 
In short: Ethical, hardworking people. Great place to work if you want a career in a field where you make a difference in peoples’ lives.

I think the company itself could use improvement. The supervisors never answer the phone when needed in an emergency (or otherwise) for neither attendants or clients.        They also change staff so regularly in the office that I never know who my supervisor is from one week to.the next. They also never answer the phone in the office ( they should have someone at the front desk at all times) so all calls go to corporate office in San Antonio,  TX because they are routed there if  no one is there to answer it, which is regularly.
In my opinion,  most of the  case managers really  don't care about the client as opposed as to caring about themselves and covering their backs. They have also made it a habit to lie to regular assigned clients when they make a mistake and do not get coverage for tier 3 clients (high priority clients), so they'll  send attendants to those high priority clients when needed and when that does happen, the clients are lied to as well as us attendants and it makes us look really unorganized,  unreliable,  dishonest,  neglectful,  & it compromises our integrity, & it makes me/us look and feel incompetent, etc..... 
I have been given a pay increase in May 2016 & it still hasn't been applied to my pay yet.  Everytime I ask, Im told there is a glitch, but the real truth is that I have a different supervisor every week ago the paperwork hasn't been filed yet (hence, the lies).    That is one reason, another is that there is no room for growth with the company & they do not offer any benefits as promised.  They label all their attendants as "part time" attendants so they do not have to provide us with proper benefits or incentives. 

I LOVE...LOVE....LOVE what I do and wouldn't change it for the world. Ok well maybe ill.progress in an upward position. Im going to ACC for my assosiates RN, so  it can only go up from here. I feel like this is my way to "give back " in a way..... But this company is ridiculous They can not keep their word to neither me nor the client and both DADS & APS has been called by both me and a few of the client's and/or their family members because of neglect..... I don't have security here and that's what I really want.  Im due to receive my 3rd bonus (ive only seen one), on my acct it states ive received it, but in reality I haven't & when questioned,  no one knows anything......

I have a unique perspective as both a parent of a client and an employee. We are currently looking to transition away from using because of my experiences as an employee. Once I became an employee I became aware of the massive issues. 

The training materials use outdated terminology that are ableist and offensive. We have been shuffled to multiple case managers and upon receiving a new one we are not contacted so we will continue to email or try to correspond with the previous one with no answers. If I need to adjust my hours I am given a procedure to follow and then when it is too late told I did not correctly follow the procedures. I've been been told that the original set I was given was completely wrong. Multiple paychecks have been wrong after a documented schedule change. It took over a month to get that corrected. There is no way to view or track your hours so if a paycheck is wrong you have to wait for them to tell you what day or days are missing. 

Upon hiring I was told I would qualify for benefits within 3 months because of how many hours I was working. When three and a half months had passed I contacted the corporate office and was told the person I needed to speak to was unavailable. Two weeks later I was transferred to somebody else who told me they had just started the job that day but that I was ineligible for benefits until after a year since I worked as an in-home attendant and didn't work in the office. They told me it didn't matter how many hours I worked, as long as I was not in the office I could not be considered full-time.

As a parent of a client I am incredibly troubled by how low the pay is for people working in home with clients. We used to be under a different model and the pay was almost $3 an hour or more. Both companies were operating under the same budget so the difference in Pay has to be being absorbed by dssw. I don't begrudge them earning money but I wonder why one company can afford to pay so much more than the other. The other one was also more efficient and much more user-friendly. We are in the process of switching back.

I have cared for an autistic boy for over 4 years now. During the school year, I would arrive early in the morning and get him up and ready for school. I helped him bathe, groom, and pick out appropriate clothing. I'd make breakfast and have him take his meds. We would then wait outside for the school bus to arrive. I'd also be there in the late afternoon waiting for the school bus to drop him off at the house. I'd usually fix him a snack and he'd either work on the computer or draw & color. Occasionally I would provide transportation to and from his speech therapy appointments. The most enjoyable part of the job was seeing him grow and mature throughout the years. He enjoyed my company just as much as I enjoyed his. The hardest part of the job was disciplining him. Verbal communication is very limited with autistic children and having him understand why he can and cannot do things was sometimes difficult. What I learned most from caregiving is the virtue of patience. Southwest Disability Services started me out at $10 an hour but as I continued to work for the company and given excellent reviews from the child's mother, my pay rate increased to $15 and later to about $20 an hour. I'd receive payment through direct deposit into my checking account every 2 weeks and was given a hard copy of the check to keep on file.

My experience has been different, my administration has created such a hostile work environment going back and fourth between her best friend who is the COO and making her believe they are still friends just to benefit  her own accommodations. Administrator has stated she absolutely hates the company and the COO. Also stating they can keep paying her while she’s at home living her life while her offices are risking themselves and family. Sadly it’s been stated that the COO is doing all the work while the owners don’t care about the company their father built. My team has been working to keep a professional and peaceful work environment while administration continues to bully and demean staff. There’s no appreciation, respect or care fore lives for in the office staff at all. No raises are given unless you are on your way out the door then they offer. Then bonuses that are given are not given appropriately to those that have been working hard for sometime to make sure the agency runs correctly. I personally had zero support but yet worked and did my best being understaffed and with no help from supervisor. I loved my job as most in our office but morally and ethically I absolutely cannot be in this environment. 


There is nothing professional about the Dallas location. The administrator works in the Ft. Worth office to so the atmosphere is probably the same. If you're looking for an unorganized, tacky, unprofessional, unfair atmosphere then this is the place for you. You'll walk in smiling and walk out mad at yourself because you put yourself in the situation. If you want to work somewhere where training sucks, then apply here. If you are looking to be stressed out every day, then apply here. If you want to sleep under mountains of work with little pay, then apply here. I left to save my sanity and to get away from the foolishness that goes in on that place. Corporate really needs to investigate this office. They have a very high turnover rate and it seems like they don't care. You would think that since they are spending so much money on hiring people and getting them in that they would try to revamp how they have been doing things to keep the people they hire there. That's not the case though. The company doesn't care about retention at all. They seem to not mind having to start over all of the time with new people. Poor business ethics.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at the company were the staff and for me the location. Working from home was especially most important to me; the challenges and changes of providing quality professional assistance from home took time to adjust but I grew to love it!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part about working at the company is like most jobs was the drive to work. I preferred working from home over working at office building. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I would say business casual. A diverse group of team members. All working towards one goal and making you feel as part of a team. Everyone was always supportive and encouraging. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typical day was mostly maintaining current cases as wells as staying current of policy changes if any.  It also included records management and everyday interaction with clients via phone, email or in person.

In the four years I have worked for this company, I have grown and learned a lot. I have been taking night classes after work for much of the time I've worked for DSSW and been able to apply a lot of my knowledge to the job I currently have in the billing department. The logic and documentation approach of CS has been a huge advantage in managing the heavy workload I have every day. I have several complex spreadsheets that I created to help manage all the data that I must keep track of like the clients' budgets who are rolling over at the first of the month, which are approved and which are not yet, the therapists who see them and their billing rates, the Medicaid #s, medical record numbers (that link up to our internal software), any ongoing issues that might need to be handled, etc. I have worked hard to improve protocol and make all the facets of my job easier and more efficient and I am ready to take the next step and pursue the career I have been studying hard for in the CS field.

During Covid-19 i was exposed to a POSITIVE patient because a caregiver tested positive for the virus and as the Case Manager, i had to go service the patient. I was sent home without pay because my dr had me quarantine for 10 days because I had been tested for the virus. I was let go from this company because I didn’t have childcare due to being quarantined after being tested for COVID-19. I tried to explain to the COO, and she laughed at me and hung up on me. Thus place is full of bullies and nobody in the office cares for your well being. They’re unprofessional and find every single way to NOT pay their employees especially right now during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. Do not waste your time with this company. They’re unfair and greedy. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
There was no good parts about that company at all. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The way they talk to us as if we were not human beings, and how they always try to cut back in lie on documents

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They are not very nice people, and that is from the corporate on to the HR department. They miss treat people bad and lie and keep forgiving them their money for vacation and the biggest hypocrite is the HR.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressed out. Don’t know which way to turn anything you do. It wasn’t correct and they always wanted you to lie on documentation so they can pass their audit with the state.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Caregiver 56 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour
In home caregiver 15 salaries reported	$13.00 per hour
Physical therapist 12 salaries reported	$77.43 per hour
Occupational therapist 10 salaries reported	$73.28 per hour
Speech therapist 8 salaries reported	$76.29 per hour

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