case manager

partner

mental health technician

assistant teacher

youth mentor

Olive Crest

What is the best part of working at the company?
Olive Crest is an organization with an important mission, and many employees are genuinely committed to supporting children and families. The work itself can be meaningful, and there are dedicated staff members who care deeply about doing right by those they serve. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There are noticeable challenges within the organizational culture that prospective employees should be aware of. Leadership practices can feel inconsistent, and expectations are not always clearly communicated or aligned across teams. Decision-making can lack transparency, which at times leaves staff feeling uncertain about priorities or how concerns will be addressed.


What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment may involve micromanagement and limited trust in professional judgement, requiring employees to navigate complex dynamics while managing high emotional and operational demands. 
Communication often feels reactive rather than proactive, and accountability appears uneven. Over time, this may contribute to burnout and a sense of being undervalued, even among highly committed and capable employees.
Olive Crest has a mission rooted in faith, and the culture resents itself as very God centered. However, in practice, the culture can feel self-serving and rigid. It tends to favor individuals who follow processes (without question) and meet expectations in a more timid manner. Leadership appears to favor personal connections over competence, experience, and education. This may make it challenging for professionals who value and desire to be trusted with their work and to be treated as adults- capable of independent judgement. Independent judgement and autonomy do not feel  aligned and fair treatment has been questioned.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day can vary widely depending on your role, but often involves managing multiple responsibilities simultaneously, balancing direct service with administrative tasks, and navigating organizational processes. Staff frequently interact and engage with children and families- which is rewarding and emotionally draining. The day also involves frequent check-ins, documentation, and adherence to structured policies and procedures. Decision-making can be top-down, so staff are often expected to follow processes closely, sometimes without opportunity for independent judgement. Communication is often reactive, and staff spend time clarifying expectations or advocating for support. 
While the mission and faith-centered values of the organization are highlighted, the culture may feel hierarchical and rigid, favoring employees with personal connections and who adhere closely to directives over competence, experience, and education. Leadership appears to favor timid personalities rather than independent thinkers who may challenge processes. Professionals seeking autonomy and trust in their expertise may find this challenging, whereas staff comfortable with clear structure and detailed oversight may adapt more easily.

A typical day involved supporting transitional age youth with life skills, housing stability, case management, and overall well-being. The work itself was meaningful, and I gained valuable hands-on experience serving this population.

However, my overall experience was significantly impacted by inconsistent management support, unclear communication, and a lack of structure in key workplace processes. In a role that requires navigating complex client needs, stronger leadership guidance, timely supervision, and clearer expectations would have been beneficial for both staff and clients.

Processes such as on-call responsibilities, time-off approvals, and workload management did not always feel consistent or transparent. Access to training and professional development opportunities also seemed to vary depending on the situation.

What was most concerning was the way my work performance was later represented after my employment ended. In my experience, the feedback shared did not accurately reflect my full contributions, work ethic, or commitment to the role. This was disappointing, especially after the effort I put into supporting clients and fulfilling job responsibilities.

The organization serves an important population and has a valuable mission. With improvements in leadership consistency, staff support, communication, and fairness in how employees are evaluated and represented, the workplace experience could be greatly improved.

I have worked for a total of 4 different nonprofits before Olive Crest and this was honestly the worst organization I have ever worked for. Management is terrible because they do not offer any support or proper training. My immediate supervisor was selective of who she liked from her cohort based on personal biases not because of their work ethic. If she did not like you she micromanaged everything you did and was often rude. Luckily I wasn’t on her bad list but got to witness how she treated my fellow coworkers. Management consists of a clique of fiends/2 sisters that only look out for their best interests. HR is also great at looking out for this group of people and ignoring the needs of other employees. The workload does not match well with compensation and benefits offered. When I gave my 2 week notice management responded very unprofessional, it is apparent that they took it very personal and expressed pettiness. Overall, there is no opportunity for growth unless you’re part of the clique and HR creates a new position for you to advance. Lead positions do exist however they are all filled and does not look like the leads are going anywhere. Also, they do not value if you’re bilingual as the pay rate is the same for a non bilingual facilitator.

Everyday at Olive was different because of the population that we served. I managed the Emancipated Foster Youth program that consisted of 18 to 26 year olds. The main task was to locate as many of the youth as possible to inform them of the services available to them. This required me being out in the community a great deal giving presentations, establishing meeting places, and putting on special events. The special events were majorly important because they created an opportunity to bring donors and sponsors to that helped grow the program. The culture was very fast pace because we have several different programs going on at the same time and many times these programs would intersect. The hardest part of my job was seeing a client really struggling in life due to mental health illness that resulted from past trauma. I learned a great deal about the balance of work and personal life. It is imperative not to carry work of this nature home. It is equally important to practice self-care.

I've worked here for a while and am passionate about what I do. I believe Olive Crest does make a difference in the lives of the families they serve. They do treat their employees better than most places I've worked but have burn out and high turn over is because management does not know how to identify ahead of time when they are burning people out and the deadlines and push for productivity is very difficult to achieve. Even when you do hit it and do it consistently the is little recognition or room for growth. It doesn't matter if you've worked here years or months you get the same base pay, and there are no incentives for being bilingual. It seems that management have their favorites and they keep it like that which is really discouraging.
However, the people you work with the kids and families are what makes the job better.

Worked in residential program and management does not care about mental health of workers or clients. Management makes working at residential hard. They will work you until you burn out. There is a reason for high turn over rate- it is a hard population, management see residential workers as replaceable, long shifts, favoritism, politics, and job is stressful. 

That being said, you learn to love the population/clients. The reward is building rapport with clients and watching them grow. Your team members get you through work. You learn a lot about social work, mental health, and probation, if you are willing to put in the effort. You get lots of hours and chances for OT is high.

Other sectors of this company do better. And I heard that other programs are better- Wrap Around, Foster, etc or other places, Inland/Bellflower/etc are better to work at. 

Also note, they do not take COVID seriously. 

As a case manager, I struggled. They were understaffed, had questionable leadership, and I never truly felt supported. I was required to do the jobs of about 5 or 6 people on any given day. Many times I was expected to do jobs that I did not have the qualifications for or previous knowledge to do. I received no training nor was I given clear expectations of my role. (Although, I asked many, many times.) I, also, spent much of my day in the car driving miles and miles a day. In 2 months, I racked up as much as 2000 miles on my vehicle. It became unbearable for me, personally. But, if you are willing to drive a LOT, be on-call all day, everyday, have hardly any work-life balance, and inadequate support from leadership, this is definitely the job for you!

Duties: You meet with children on a weekly basis for an hour and help them correct their behaviors. Also, meetings occur with the whole team, families, and children to discuss their weekly progress.

Issues: 
- The pay is low for the heavy workload- about 12 to 15 cases
- You are ALWAYS on-call. Whether its your day off or after work, a parent can call you because of a crisis and you could end up spending an hour or so trying to resolve the issue.
- You get a company credit card to buy the child rewards for their hard work. However, if you accidentally misplace the receipt from the purchase, you will have to pay out of pocket no matter how high the cost was. 
- Unless you like driving, you could end up driving as far as Indio just to meet with a child.


Organizational skills is a must as you are responsible for creating your own schedule. Typical work day  consists of seeing clients in the field and completing notes. Management for MH is alright, however if you are expecting to get direct guidance and support from your program supervisor you won’t get it. I was told to either look at the clinicians training manual or to ask a seasoned clinician. The work culture is chill and consists of collaborations between wrap team and clinicians . Hardest part of the job was the fact that you spend most of your time traveling across riverside county. The most enjoyable part of my job was the clinical  individual and group supervision.

My typical day was to aid in the daily life of a disabled foster child; with their homework, personal hygiene, chores, transportation, playing, etc. What I learned is that my life is great, and to appreciate the little things. Management was encouraging and supportive. My co-worker was encouraging as well, very fun to work with. The hardest part of the job was shutting it out of my mind after my shift was over, it was very difficult for me to separate home life and work life with this job. The most enjoyable part of the job, was working with the foster children, they were a blast!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Case manager 9 salaries reported	$26.67 per hour
Partner 12 salaries reported	$25.25 per hour
Mental health technician 7 salaries reported	$78,857 per year
Assistant teacher 2 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Youth mentor 7 salaries reported	$23.75 per hour

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