direct support professional

residential manager

residential supervisor

recruiter

program manager

Penn-Mar Human Services

Working in direct care, you learn quickly that you wear many hats. Your typical workday will have you preparing meals, giving medications, transporting people to activities, helping with personal care, redirecting challenging behaviors, documenting health and habits, balancing finances, and the list goes on. 

All of that said, you need to have a solid company supporting you in order to do this varied, complex job to the best of your ability. Penn-Mar used to be that company, but right now it is a shadow of its former self.  The pay is still the best in the area and it's near impossible to lose your job, but everything else has taken a hit. Our clients, who are put above all else, have suffered greatly due to the pandemic and resulting staffing issues. Bottom rung staff are expected to do more than they're paid for as positions remain open for months or are eliminated to try to consolidate the open positions. Substitute staff are few and far between right now, and are not held accountable when they no-show to shifts they sign up for. Lower and middle management are being run ragged with no end in sight, as they are on-call and have little support from higher-ups. Health insurance providers change often, sometimes yearly, and the health benefits offered have become underwhelming in function and affordability. Aside from the basic EAP service that any company worth its salt has, there's no mental health support. Training of new hires at the office remains much the same, but lack of staffing in the houses means that these new hires are often learning as they go instead of effectively shadowing. Old, seasoned staff are leaving or completely burned out from the state of things, but Penn-Mar's retention efforts are nonexistent. 

Come on, corporate. You have to fix this. Our clients need stability and familiarity, and this? This isn't it.

Penn-Mar might be an overall okay organization to work with for other people; however, my experience with it has been less than satisfactory. Benefits are terrible; expect to pay $3,000-$5,000 in deductibles alone if you are the type that visits the doctor often. Management is more often than not poor, and Penn-Mar seems to have a history of hiring incorrect people for supervisory positions. The consumers are very challenging at times due to the lack of consequences for their negative behaviors; for example, a consumer could walk up to you and spit in your face and you would only be able to tell them how "not nice" that was. You are not permitted to tell the consumers "no", so many of them display learned maladaptive behaviors due to the lack of negative reinforcement. The consumers do not receive the proper education and learning through Penn-Mar's adjunct facilities, and are unprepared to immerse themselves in their communities due to this fact. Also, do not expect any reward if you are employed with Penn-Mar for any lengthy period of time. Seniority does not entitle you to promotions, pay raises, or transfers. A person with less experience than you will be hired on as your supervisor- this happens quite frequently.
Using earned vacation time is difficult as well; in order to use vacation hours, you must find coverage for every single hour that you plan to not work. Therefore, if you do not find the coverage (which is very possible here), you do not take the vacation.
Overall, there are better organizations where the employees are better able to truly make a difference in lives of people with disabilities. Three years was more than enough for me.

This place is a great place to work if you're focused on caring for others.  Some of the previous reviews though hit the nail on the head. The biggest was if you aren't in the management click you're routinely ignored, and if you make head way with a consumer as your patients are called your credit is given elsewhere, typically to the presiding nurse/manager.  The behavior plans were ridiculously written with positive reinforcement being used in such a delayed manner that it served no purpose, or used anything tangible for that individual. 
Yet the biggest gripe from working there is the management team and their lack of care for their staff.    As long as positions were filled in the more difficult houses they considered their job done and couldn't be found after 430.  If it was a holiday be prepared for the statement that if you have off you're going to be paid twice if you work that holiday, and when only making 22 thousand a year you didn't want to miss out on overtime.  Because if you decided to take the holiday off as already promised to you, you lost other overtime you might have recieved.  If a situation arose that their training didn't prepare you for be ready to face a review, where you do not get to defend yourself, or even know it's happening, because you are typically found at fault even though you aren't prepared.

A creative and active work environment. My shift runs 2PM Fridays thru 10PM Sundays. The two individuals that I care for expect dynamic adventures and are ready at pick-up on Fridays for a spectacular weekend. We usually enjoy activities such as dining-out, going to a movie, vacations, visiting the pet store, bowling or enjoying a play etc. Sometimes I entertain them at the group home with crafts such as making colorful sand bottles or creating and decorating various holiday ornaments, etc. They love listening to music in the van while on erranes to the grocery store, on medical visits or just riding around. I enjoy a extraordinary relationship with both individuals and their parents. I work alone (without staff support) and choose most of the activities that we do. There is little input from management to our daily routine but always quick responses to my request for help. I learned that individuals with disabilities develop a steadfast and loyal bond to people they come to trust. I also learned that they are far more intelligent then given credit for. The individuals I care for have daily chores and are encouraged to be as independent. I have come to learn that people with intellectual/behaviioral disabilities are rarely judgemental and very instinctive. The most enjoyable part of my job is that most times it doesn't feel like a job but....an experience.

I worked that this agency for over 7 years and loved the individuals I served. I would have stayed longer if it wasn't for the fact that no matter how long you've been there, the younger and completely not qualified residential supervisor are protected. I was able to withstand a lot in the first 6yrs because of my love for the individuals. This last year I had a supervisor who was targeting and harassing me for knowing more than her. She formed her own "clique" with certain staff and had them spy and lie about the staff she didn't like. It didn't matter who you went to even HR nothing was done. For 7 years they gave me praise for the care I gave the individuals, but when the supervisor lied about me they believed her over me. The supervisor has only been there 2yrs and has numerous complaints about her, I never had a complaint about me from other co-workers for 7yrs. Management is an absolute joke, they hire very inexperience people to be in the supervisory role. They will stand behind the supervisors even when they are glaringly wrong or abusing their staff all because they don't want to have to constantly train new supervisors. If you can handle a high school atmosphere and backstabbing by upper management and care for the individuals, it may be for you.

I am a former employee I worked with this  company for almost 4 years. They sell you on “turning life into living”. That is a lie. I have watched clients regress and not want to do anything for themselves when 
they are capable of doing so. The clients they house have rights but you as a staff have none. The program managers are nothing but young girls who are catty and love to gossip. They refuse to help out the programs they manage because they are salary and will tell you as much. They will work you endlessly when you refuse to work overtime retaliation then happens. House supervisors will skip out on shifts for hours at a time come back to work in pjs while you have been there Just to clock out. There is no accountability for the bad workers but the ones that work endlessly get walked all over Continuously . Higher ups in the company make endless promises that are never held up. The moment you upset someone In the company they will make up lies you will end up suspended and then told your professionalism is questionable. The pay is horrible benefits are horrible also. Christmas bonus have dropped to next to nothing. They stopped the yearly raise that they would do in October. WHATEVER YOU DO NOT WORK FOR THIS COMPANY.

My first 3 years was outstanding.  I had a young and creative supervisor who developed a strong team of support workers.  Under her guidance the group home was more like an extension of your own life as opposed to "just a job".  The individuals we cared for excelled as well (all were on behavioral plans when sent to the group home).  By the time she left, none were on behavior plans. A typical day involved medication administration, meal preparation and assistance with dressing.  I worked the weekend shift and planned  many of the social outings done with my individuals.  We celebrated holidays, birthdays and sometimes 'just for fun'. We rarely had a full staff and usually worked a lot of overtime hours. There was very little support from management but we didn't care.  For the most part we were self-sustaining and required little assistance. We loved working with our consumers and they showed significant improvement in social and other skills for mastery of independent living.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part about working at the company is the amount of support you receive from your fellow colleagues and the amount of opportunity to grow.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not having active coworkers and supervisors due to the lack of staff.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment was overall chaotic and did not allow for free speech in regards to the support the individuals needed. The culture was hierarchical and you will deal with a lot of seniority. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day would be administering medication, providing care such as hygiene routine, providing meals, driving a company vehicle to and from the day program/ doctor appointments/ community events, and ordering food online.

I worked at the company in 2011 - 2012 and the staffing was not good at all for the group homes. The supervisors were covering for staff more often than they should due to staff not showing up for their scheduled days and times. 

The company offered conflict resolutions for employees via group meetings and one on one sessions were people could talk through any issues and this worked well. I do believe a more communication based understanding between employees and upper management would allow issues to be resolved sooner rather than later. People were walking off because help had not arrived for several weeks and staff was working under staffed  far to long than they should under certain conditions. 

Overall its a great company

Evening gets started with dispense of PM medication, get tooth brush, mouth wash and mouth swab together. Put medication cup on the kitchen table, put the tooth brush/others in the bathroom on the counter top. Prompt to take medications and do teeth routine. Get a health snack prepared before resident would go to bed. Take out trash and clean up the resident apartment as needed. Wake resident to get up to use the bathroom. 

learned to slow down and be patient. Some people don't go as fast as we do. 

Supervisor is open to ideas and is available anytime.
My hardest part is getting the resident to do what needs to be completed.
Most put I enjoy is the closeness and respect everyone has for eachother and working together.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 4 salaries reported	$17.45 per hour
Residential manager 2 salaries reported	$22.56 per hour
Residential supervisor 17 salaries reported	$23.19 per hour
Recruiter 1 salary reported	$25.26 per hour
Program manager 1 salary reported	$46,507 per year

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