direct support professional

qualified intellectual disabilities professional

case manager

activity leader

coach

Lambs Farm

This is the worst social service agency I have ever worked for in my whole life. The Upper management is horrible and awful. They provide constant stress to any employee that has any awareness at all in their mind. The Nursing Department is terrible. I am sorry I ever took the position. It's the biggest mistake of my life working at this company. There is nasty mean spirited energy coming from almost everyone at this company.  There is a  high employee turnover rate, which is almost always a sign of a bad company. There is constant gossip. The Problem: Perhaps the most concerning sign of a bad company culture is a lack of company core values. These are the driving force of an organization — not having core values means your culture is likely to progress without any sense of direction. A bad work environment that affects employees by making them feel demoralized and disengaged. Lambs Farm has no core values and simply has direction. The subculture consists of management that gossips and a nursing department that abuses it's power over the employees. The nursing department will random suspend DSP privileges  to pass medications if they don't like you. They don't even tell you if you are being permanently being suspend or temporarily.  They simply enjoy having power over people and creating a negative environment here. There is no room for advancement here. People treat each other with contempt. The interpersonal relationships aren’t healthy.  There is no support for employee growth. People frequently feel gaslighted here.  People regularly experience physical symptoms of work stress when working at Lambs Farm.  All of these factors contribute to the high turn over rate and toxic atmosphere within the farm life.  The administration never addresses any of these issues here and continues to promote a unhealthy environment for anyone with any social awareness. A bad work environment that affects employees by making them feel demoralized and disengaged, which contributes to the high turn over rate. Lambs Farm demonstrates every classic sign of a negative workplace that a company can possible show within a work environment.  A negative workplace culture generally consists of poor communication, an unsupportive environment, a competitive 'everyone for themselves' mindset (the opposite of a people-first approach). This type of work environment defines Lambs Farm in every way that a work environment could demonstration. 

Started working at Lambs Farm between Junior and Senior year of high school as a Farmyard attendant (customer service, cashiering, operating rides, general animal care). Fast-forward 18 years, and I've had the opportunity to work in many departments in the operations division: marketing assistant, operations manager, events coordinator, farmyard manager, and purchasing/shipping/receiving manager. The director of operations is supportive and allows employees who show initiative and dedication the opportunity to grow and learn. The managers of the businesses are loyal employees who are in it for the long haul. The entire operations division works as a cohesive unit and everyone has a teamwork mentality. The amount of interdepartmental support is outstanding. Lambs Farm is my home away from home. Working in so many areas also allowed me to interact with many other departments and meet many people that I now call friends. The people who are meant to be at Lambs Farm stay. There are many (myself included - moved out of state and then back) who leave and return at a later date. A multitude of employees have been with the company for 15+ years. The people who aren't meant to be at Lambs often weed themselves out. Everyone is committed to the mission and the participants that we serve. 

The one downside is that the pay isn't as high as in the for-profit sector, but that's to be expected. But if you love what you do, you find a way to stick with it.

Lambs Farm Libertyville Illinois. 

Participants will make you smile. Some staff and management will make you live in a nightmare. 

What is the point of them hiring people if they are just going to let them go. This is the reason why they can not keep people, and the people they do keep work way too many hours. 

They grant training, but if there is something they do not like about you they will just let you go. Say or do something they do not like and staff will report to management. It is hard to help participants when the staff do not want to train their associates and just criticize your training. 

If i were to improve this agency, i would reorganize the agency, because what they are doing is hurting themselves by not training people properly, not keeping people around, and overworking their staff. Also, instead of at will employees, i would give out more contracts to employees as it gives more security; many positions require to be judged and involves being an advocate/role model. Contracts prevents management from overusing their power, and would make management think of training and helping their employees instead of just letting them go.

I worked with handicapped participants making sure they were driven to their scheduled destinations in a safe and timely manner.I worked in Transportation doing time study evaluations of participants working in our area cleaning vans, helping to pick up donations to the Farm from local businesses, and private homes to our thrift shop. I worked well with the drivers in my charge, and with the participants..I  learned to do Auto Wolf for vehicle inventory from gas millage, vehicle oil changes , parts and repair. It was an excellent way to keep updated on all vehicle records.I had ongoing training i first aide ,CPR, blood born pathogens,behavior and approach to participant behavior and safety .I enjoyed working with staff and employees ,it was a rewarding experience in so many ways.I still have friendships at the Farm and visit often.Working at the Farm covered many things other than my job description, shoveling snow, plowing snow .Helping other businesses at the farm,taking participants to Special Olympic events, helping set stage for plays put on by participant theater group, helping set up parking lot foe Bar B Q cook offs, bands, and many other social activities put on by the farm. Totally great experience to have worked there.Always liked the whole Farm Visit, Pet Shop, Thrift Shop, Magnolia Inn ,great food and service,the Farm Yard petting zoo,and train rides.Lots of good times as an employee ,or as a visitor.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The participants, hands down, are the best part.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Early mornings, cross-trained in residential and day programs as a vocational. 

PACE driver training is invasive and micromanages every move, bump, and stop you make or don't make. This was the most frustrating and stressful part for me. You must be extremely comfortable driving 10 to 15-passenger vans faultlessly. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
At least for job coaches started at 7 AM, helping in an assigned house, getting the participants ready for their day, which sometimes required making beds, doing hair, helping put weight dishes into the dishwasher, and any other things that housing managers may mean. Then you progress to whatever your flexible day placement is and continue with that until about 2:30, where you would have some time to do a large amount of required documentation, and the day rests at three. There are times when you have to be highly flexible and monitor your cellular device, but not half an hour in front of participants because it is a form of communication that indicates when your place placement may change and you may have to fill in somewhere else because there are no floaters to help fill in gas in other programming. We are those people.

The participants are the best part of working at Lambs Farm kind, sweet, an absolute joy. The relationships with them are amazing. Drawbacks Upper management is awful catty, backstabbing, untrustworthy, unprofessional. Hard to believe a place with such an honorable mission employs some real monsters. Over 30% of the staff has left over the past year, and a lot of those departures were because of administrative issues. The Management abuses their power and allows the nursing staff to abuse their power over the DSP's. The management abuses their power over the live- in renters on the farm. Those poor staff are mistreated more than the other DSP's on the farm. I was a live  in renter for awhile and management forced me to change apartment's because of something one client said about me and it wasn't even true. Advice to Management Start behaving like professionals and not like junior high students. Appreciate the staff who make Lambs Farm run. Reward their hard work and creativity with both monetary respect but also a pat on the back once in a while!

Working with the participants is wonderful, and what the company was meant to do is a cause worthy of helping! It's a shame the current company culture and management have made it an impossible place for employees.

From misleading job descriptions, lack or refusal to communicate, overworking employees, to management that either is incapable of helping or refuses to help but blames it on "forgetting"; but worst of all running so short staffed, as a usual practice, that a lot of employees are working long days with no breaks but still having time taken out of their paychecks.

I have a hard time believing this company has been around as long as they have operating this way and hope that this current culture and management can find a way to change because I truly believe in their purpose and want to see the company succeed!

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at Lambs Farm is the residents.  A few co workers as well.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Most stressful part is the management, all the way to the top.

The CEO needs to leave and let new leadership step in.  Very clueless and my way or the highway attitude.  Get over yourself.    Unfortunately the CEO is just the only issues there.

Departments like Human Resources, even though they have new employees working in thar department, have absolutely no clue what they are doing.  

The facility management is a joke and a lot of the residential management team is no different.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Very low morale.  It's just a paycheck to most people.  Staff constantly complain.  Lots of equipment, from there vehicles to things in the residents homes is so old that you question how Lambs Farm is still operational.

Being a waitress for this company was pretty fun. I liked that I learned something new every time. The staff was really small and it felt like a second family. There were some days it got crazy because sometimes I worked a 9 or 10 hour shift as the only waitress with one or 2 managers on standby. There were only 3 waitress at this restaurant and it was difficult to handle all the tasks between us. There were times where we had to stay really late just to clean up, and then show up really early to get things going. Myself and another girl were full time students so when we had those not so great days it was a hard balance. I didn't mind it that much because we all treated each other fairly, like we had a tip pool so we all earned the same amount of money which was nice, and the managers were very supportive and understanding.

Working with the residents, or clients, is the most rewarding and enjoyable part of the job. You develop good relationships with the people you care for. 
I've learned many tasks including being a team leader and organizing meetings. I've learned to act as the liaison between families, colleagues and medical professionals in communicating information regarding clients. This job has also boosted my confidence and helped me mature in my career. 
The management is very supportive. Most coworkers and colleagues are very nice. 

I love the company, but there are limited advancement opportunities.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 1 salary reported	$17.00 per hour
Qualified intellectual disabilities professional 2 salaries reported	$61,940 per year
Case manager 3 salaries reported	$20.10 per hour
Activity leader 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour
Coach 1 salary reported	$16.00 per hour

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