direct support professional

team coordinator

landscape technician

maintenance technician

behavioral health coordinator

Partnerships in Community Living, Inc.

A typical day at PCL depended on two main things; your ability to set strong boundaries with the individuals supported, and how well you could count on your teammates.

I learned more at PCL than I ever have in a job before. I learned leadership skills, I learned how to remain calm and even positive in a crisis situation, I learned how to train new hires as well as help them through crisis situations, I learned how to de-escalate clients and ensure health and safety for everyone involved.

The management was sometimes good, sometimes not helpful, really a hit or miss. Your coworkers become like family. You build such strong relationships and always have to maintain strong communication between your team and management.

I worked in the crisis homes in the company. The hardest part, I sometimes came home with injuries. I sometimes worked a 3 day shift without any sleep, food, or water because of these crisis situations. And sometimes, even after I came home, it affected me. It was, at times, emotionally tolling, there was no work-life balance at all, and they were in constant need of staffing.

The most enjoyable part, was how this company changed me, made me stronger. The relationships I developed with management, my teammates, and the individuals I supported made it worth it. I could choose any kind of schedule I wanted as well as build my own if I chose to. There is constant available overtime which paid decent, and sometimes the company would just hand us money to take our clients out for fun; dinners, beach trips, even a few Hawaii and Disneyland trips.

Leaving this job, though it was the right time for myself, was still hard for me. I very much care about all of my clients, and I believe I always will.

I have worked in a few different roles within the company. I have worked directly with people with developmental disabilities and worked in the administrative side of things. A typical day can look different depending on who you are supporting. A day could consist of driving the person to go to appointments and/or do errands, meeting with supervisors and co-workers, cooking and cleaning at the house, computer documentation, and medication administration. In the office a typical day consists of lots of emails, spreadsheets, and in-person and virutal meetings. 
The hardest part of the job is that you are working with people; people have good days and bad days. People have their personal journeys, biases, experiences, challenges, and growth. Each person requires a different kind of support and varying levels of support depending on the situation. You have to be mentally and emotionally resillient. The good news is that there are numerous opportunities to receive further training and resources. 
The best thing about working for PCL is the culture and PCL's commitment to make PCL a great place to work. PCL is family-oriented and hosts many events at which families are encouraged to attend. PCL emphasizes recognition, fun, food, celebration, and collaboration. 

I have been with PCL for 13 years, and I stay because the work is important and the culture is great. The pay is not awesome, like at many nonprofits, but PCL is constantly trying to improve. This is a great company to work for if you are in college (in a direct support role) because the hours can be very flexible. Many admin type jobs are not as flexible in hours. Admin positions are great, though, if you are expecting a child because you can bring your baby to work with you up to 1 year old. 
Benefits are not ideal, there are some things that are great, but other things that are hard to compromise on. The best benefit is paid leave pool, and with that as a new parent you get a good amount of time off after having a baby, or also for family emergencies. This company is super understanding about these kinds of things. The health insurance is Kaiser and you have to pay for it, not my favorite. The dental is a reimbursement pay which is tricky to navigate but works out well.
There are not a lot opportunities to move up/advance career.
There is often free food.
There are no assigned sick days off, you earn paid time off with hours worked... some people like this better.
There are a lot of fun event and activities to attend, often with lots of freebies.

During my time at PCL I learned a lot about the diversity of those we were caring for. There were so many different kinds of needs presented that you truly needed to be willing and able to adapt to your workplace as needed on a daily basis.The company is broken up into separate residences, each with their own dress codes and requirements. Some homes were more focused on behaviors, while others were more geared towards the medical needs. The residence I worked at last was a rather laid back house that was more on the medical end of the spectrum. We also had the most amazing supervisor. She understood that life happened and that if a family emergency came up, she would work with you to find coverage so that you could handle it. It was about providing the best care possible for our residents. Everyone who worked at that house was like a family. 

The most difficult part of the job was picking up extra hours if you needed them. Everyone was so committed to their duties that there was never really any shifts that needed covered at that house.

The most enjoyable aspect of the job was getting to know the residents and crew on a personal level.

Management is beyond horrible. They tell you that they are there to answer any questions you may have and handle any concerns, but when you have a question you get your head bitten off and talked to in a very rude and condescending tone as if you are an inconvenience and if they don’t do that, they give you the silent treatment. In regards to shadowing before you actually start working with the people you will be supporting, they don’t communicate that you must shadow for a minimum of 8 hours per day and do not bother asking what times you would like to shadow so you can get a feel for the persons or peoples routines at different times during the day. Basically they have absolutely no consideration for their employees personal life. On top of that, during training, if you have to go up to Monmouth or Salem for your training and you forget your lunch and you suffer from hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia and you have to take the driving test, the person doing the training WILL NOT let you eat first, even if it may cause problems otherwise. Also if you fail your OIS training, they will straight up fire you. They will not give you a second chance. 

A typical day at work for this company is insane. On top of supporting individuals with high needs/high behavior, you are responsible for every other house duty imaginable, as well as making doctors appointments, ordering meds, passing meds, taking people supported on multiple outings a day, and care for company vehicle. And don't get me started on the documentation. You can go a head and pencil in 2-4 hours behind a computer screen documenting EVERYTHING,  2 to 3 times, in different places. And you do this after very limited information is given at the orientation. If you need help, don't even bother reaching out to your "house manager " if outside the 9-5 hours, or if they're on vacation. And don't expect to EVER see them in the home they "manage". I now know why there's such a high turnover in  this company. They do not care for their employees or people they serve. Even after the murder that occurred in their house, they still find it safe to have 1 staff on shift with people who have a long history of violent behavior. 

they have great potential, but the maintenance team is constantly overlooked and passed by when other teams are getting raises to bring them closer to that of the industry standard. We are needed everywhere, all the time, for everything... but we are the last to ever be even acknowledged for our effort and help. Currently our salaries are in the bottom 3% of the national average even for non profits when you take our work requirements into consideration. We are paid like entry level techs, but required to perform the tasks of jobs of the highest level of maintenance techs, and we are paid as much as, or in many cases less than entry level DSP's. I've worked here almost 2 years and I know for a fact that every member of my team is currently looking for other employment because we are constantly asked to do more for/with less. We are paid less than 15% of what the director of maintenance makes, and less than half the salary of the current maintenance supervisor. It could be the greatest job ever, but the employee neglect is on a level like I've never before seen in my life

I lived working here but they don't really train you and they throw you to the wolf's. They put new people at the hardest houses in the state that they have to put managers because everyone quits. They under pay their staff and bring new people on paying them more than people that have been there for a long time. A raise is a joke. They have high turn over. My brother quit and then after me being one of the best and reliable workers I started receiving retaliation it was very obvious.... They don't protect their employees from angry threatening parents of the people we support. This is a small and trash company and alot of the people working do absolutely NOT care about the people we support and don't care about their quality of life. Management will report you to the state if it's your first or second day and you do something wrong, they won't tell you they file a state thing and get a investigation going. They don't train enough for real life agressions and they act like everything is all good when alot of the people we support are very dangerous and should have more people working in those houses.. I hope they get investigated

When I first had the opportunity to apply for this company I jumped at the idea. I went through the hiring interview process and was hired on when I came to my meet in greet I was told about the gap training before orientation I did not know it was absolutely required and i would see if I could come in for the next several weeks but I was having car issues during that time and was not able to make it for some of my shifts. Again I didn’t know it was required. I finally met with my supervisor and she made it very clear about attendance. Which I absolutely agreed with. The house I was put into I enjoyed my time there it was extremely chilled. But some of the dsp were rude because it felt like I was coming into thier territory. Long story short I didn’t get to complete my time at pcl because I didn’t know I needed to call a supervisor and I ended up missing orientation and instead of understanding I was ask to resign. I’m sorry I wasn’t perfect but nobody is and to be healthy and be able to do your job is a huge plus.

I enjoy this job, to a point. There have been weeks of great fun, beach outings, movies, Opal Creek, fishing, going out to eat! There have also been weeks that I've had to call the police 5 times because the kids I was working with were violent and destroying the home. This would not be an issue for me, admittedly, if the pay were better. I cannot be spit on, assaulted, and attempt to keep some semblance of order in the home for only 13 an hour. Others do it, and that's their prerogative. It's not, in and of itself, difficult work overall. But the staff can be just about anyone who can pass a drug test (you can use THC and still pass) and write their name. This leaves people who don't know what they're doing, cannot regulate themselves let alone behavioral youth, and the day staff manages to get away with doing nothing all day while kids are in school. So, upper management lacks structure.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 50 salaries reported	$20.92 per hour
Team coordinator 9 salaries reported	$54,800 per year
Landscape technician 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Maintenance technician 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour
Behavioral health coordinator 1 salary reported	$57,000 per year

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