service coordinator

server

resident assistant

dining room server

culinary director

Sagora Senior Living

A Typical Day at Work
A typical day required managing full clinical operations for a 24/7 senior living community while simultaneously covering responsibilities that extended beyond the scope of a single leadership role. This included oversight of resident care, regulatory compliance, staffing coordination, documentation audits, incident management, and continuous on-call availability. Operational demands consistently exceeded the resources and executive support provided.

What I Learned
I strengthened my crisis leadership, regulatory navigation, and operational management skills in a high-pressure environment. I learned how to sustain performance standards despite structural inefficiencies. Most importantly, I gained clarity on how essential executive accountability, defined expectations, and proactive leadership support are to maintaining compliance and staff retention.

Management
The most significant challenge was systemic leadership failure at the executive level. Concerns raised regarding operational strain, staffing structure, and leadership conduct were not addressed in a meaningful or timely manner. There was a pattern of reactive rather than strategic leadership, limited coaching before corrective action, and insufficient collaboration. These issues contributed directly to morale decline and turnover.

Workplace Culture
Frontline staff were dedicated and resident-centered. However, morale was negatively impacted by inconsistent executive communication and a lack of transparent problem-solving. When leadership accountability is absent, culture deteriorates regardless of staff commitment.

The Hardest Part of the Job
Operating at full capacity while absorbing structural gaps without sustainable support. Prolonged high-stress demands without shared accountability led to burnout.

The Most Enjoyable Part of the Job
The residents and families. Supporting their dignity, safety, and quality of life was deeply meaningful and the primary reason standards remained high despite systemic obstacles.

Terrible management all the way from corporate on down. They twist your words, lie to you, find the tiniest things to write you up for, and they never have your back. The Executive Director spends more time harassing employees than focusing on residents.
The turnover is obnoxiously high. Usually people leave because of how messed up management is or because of the toxic work environment. Also, the pay is so low for all the work that's entailed. There's no incentive for employees to stay. Residents hate the inconsistency. There is no job security whatsoever. You know it's bad when the residents comment on the turnover. I had a resident tell me, "I don't know how y'all do it. I'd be scared to come to work every day."

Sagora and The Heritage, Do. Not. Care. about your loved ones! It is all about the money!  A lot of the staff, myself included, have witnessed some really shady things.

Most of the Resident Assistants in assisted living and memory care are absolutely awful. I cannot stress that enough. The RA's make fun of residents, neglect toileting/bathing, and feeding assistance. On a daily basis residents who need help eating are left alone, unassisted. Oten times helped by servers because the RA's are nowhere to be found.  They're most likely in the hall chatting or on their phones. Other people will flag me down to make me aware that so in so is spilling hot soup on themselves, or not able to get food in their mouths. Some are left to wait for up to 30  minutes to be fed. I've brought this and so many other concerns to the ED. She literally does nothing about it. 

Management puts on a huge show to get you in. Then once you're a resident your needs and concerns generally fall on deaf ears. $ is all they care about. They over charge the residents big time. For any little thing. There are hardly any activities. A lot of residents wander the halls all day until it's meal time. The only reason why I stayed was for the residents.

I worked for Sagora for 4 years as Business Director.  At first I loved it.  The associates I worked with were great and the residents are the best.  When Covid-19 made it's way to the area we were on "lock down".  Residents were not allowed to leave.  The Executive Director went on leave and corporate decided that I did not need any help.  I was performing all of the duties of the Executive and Business Director at the same time.  It was rough for the residents on "lock down" but everyone pulled together, residents and associates, and we made it work. The president of Sagora told everyone on a company wide call "do not let this virus come in to your community.  If you do , it's your butt's".  Every single associate in our community did whatever was necessary to keep our residents safe, even if it meant that some of us worked on average 100 hours per week.  We didn't mind working so many hours as long as it meant that our residents were safe and as happy as one can be during a difficult situation.  After almost 4 months of doing this Sagora sent in a  Executive Director Specialist that had only worked for the company 1 week.  In the 2 weeks that followed she managed to bring everyone's spirits down, fired our Regional Director of Operations, and made decisions that put our residents at risk.  The day after our RDO, who was an exceptional leader, was fired, my lead concierge and I were both fired.  Since then our Maintenance Director quit and I am told that many others are looking for other employment.  The president and also VP of Operations do not care one bit about associates, nor residents.  It all comes down to money.  Even going so far as to move a new resident in that tested positive for Covid-19.  So much for Sagora's philosophy of "Residents First".  If I had known then what I know now I never would have even applied for the position. 

When I started at Sagora I received minimal training. The majority of the 9 months I was employed as a housekeeper I basically taught myself how to clean with my own cleanliness standards. You get to work and you clean 6 apartments a day or 4 cottages a day. I was doing both as well as cleaning on weekends which entailed the entire building and all the staff bathrooms and public bathrooms as well as all the trash. They expected me to clean two days worth of work in just one day usually. They are short staffed and make the employees all put in extra work as a result of their insufficient poor hiring.
By far the hardest part of my job there was dealing with the mean supervisors and managers. They are all stuck up and rude and the other employees always seemed to look down on me as a housekeeper. Especially the servers. I did serving briefly also but was told I could not work more than 32 hours so I chose to only do housekeeping instead of serve. The kitchen manager is actually very professional and nice. I enjoyed working for him and wish I had chosen to keep serving instead. The most enjoyable part of work was my work relationship with both my favorite residents (I had many)and my co workers the maintenance guys there. They helped me and stuck up for me and are both very good people and great workers. I will miss them most of all.


Staff is minimal and overworked. Management in the culinary department is terrible, there is no structure, and there is an appalling amount of favoritism going on. I was asked to complete some training that was supposed to be done on site and paid, instead I was thrown into the job and every time I attempted to set time aside to do the training, I was told not to worry about it. I was told to do it at home (there was no way to log in and get paid for the training from home). 
The kitchen is constantly out of stuff, and you are told repeatedly not to tell the residents anything about being out of something. Scheduling is constantly changing, though not for the sake of the employees. You will constantly be harassed into working extra hours, and constantly being told that your schedule is a hardship on other employees (regardless if you were hired for that exact schedule). Don't expect empathy or understanding if you have a family emergency, you will be told that work is your priority and that you can't let your family take your focus away from your job. 
The residents are amazing, and were the only reason I kept the job as long as I did. It's like suddenly adopting sixty five grandparents. They were a lot of fun and if it wasn't for them, I would have quit after three weeks. 
Think of the culinary department as a high school group project; two or three people are working hard and carrying the others, who are taking full advantage of the hard workers. 

A typical day at work
A typical day was stressful due to poor leadership and lack of support from upper management. Staff were expected to meet unrealistic demands with little appreciation for their efforts.

What I learned
I learned how damaging poor leadership and toxic culture can be to employee morale and retention. It was a lesson in recognizing red flags and the importance of accountability in management.

Management
Management, particularly corporate leadership out of Texas, was very negative. One individual in particular was consistently rude, condescending, and unprofessional. Instead of addressing the behavior, the company excused it by saying, “that’s just how she is.” Accountability simply did not exist.

Workplace culture
The culture was toxic, with high turnover and low morale. Employees were bribed with “pep rallies” and a chance at a $50 gift card in exchange for leaving positive Google reviews, which says a lot about the integrity of the company.

The hardest part of the job
The hardest part was dealing with the lack of support and constant turnover. Almost no one from the original management team remained after Sagora took over, which speaks volumes about the environment.

The most enjoyable part of the job
The only positive aspect was working alongside a few good coworkers, but unfortunately most left quickly due to the same issues.


Working at Sagora Senior Living as the Divisional Director of Sales and Marketing has been an incredibly rewarding experience. The company truly values its employees and fosters a supportive and collaborative environment.

Sagora's commitment to excellence in senior care is evident in every aspect of the organization. As part of the sales and marketing team, I have the privilege of working with dedicated professionals who are passionate about making a difference in the lives of our residents. The leadership team is approachable and always open to new ideas, which has allowed me to grow both personally and professionally.

The company provides ample opportunities for professional development and encourages continuous learning. The culture at Sagora is one of respect, integrity, and compassion, which aligns perfectly with my own values. I am proud to be part of a team that is making a positive impact in the senior living industry.

Overall, Sagora Senior Living is an exceptional place to work, and I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to its mission of enriching the lives of seniors.



What is the best part of working at the company?
Understaffing, under paid, over working their RAs, lots of unfairness and managers don’t take care of their staff. And the only best part we’re the residents.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Do work that your not hired to do, working with 25 plus residents when theirs only 2 RAs on shift every day.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Stressful and no recognition, facility has lots of problems. With staff repairs and management 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
When getting to the facility you then have to see if the person working with you is going to make it on time. Then waiting for the med tech whose always late. We start getting the wheel chair residents up first, in the meantime chasing a few residents that walk around with sometimes no clothes so we stop and we deal with them. Then as we continue and we need help our mes tech nowhere to be found so the dinning room gets set up late with coffee and other drinks as we bring residents out to wait another hour til we are finish getting up everyone who can get up. So almost about 8am we are tired and now ready to make the drinks for these residents who have been sitting for an hour waiting to be fed.

Motel 6 has more of a budget to keep their doors open and clean. You get yelled at for spending the budget each month to try and make the blding nice, safe and livable for the residents. No-one should have to live with roaches, bedbugs, paint peeling off the wall, urine and feces stained carpets. I come from a resort background and was absolutely appalled at what I have seen that Sagora says is ok. I have never been so embarrassed to show my face to the residence and family about why certain things have not been fixed around the community. The type of service that corporate wants us to give our residence is 5 star service with no budget. My ED asked managers to bring food for the Christmas Party for the hourly associates cause there was no money for food. Sagora does not believe in compensation, recognition, or grace. You can work 13 hour days, 6 days a week to keep the place going and it's still not enough. Heed my warning. If you are looking for an entry level management chance this is your place. If you have any experience directing a dept and take pride in your work and worth.... look elsewhere. I didn't heed the warnings and now I have this stain on my employment record.

Working for seniors takes someone with a big heart and passion. This isn’t a job to make easy money- we serve the elderly. They need us more than you can imagine & not manly individuals can slow down to see & just listen or assist. There are 7-8 different departments in one building all which have directors. You don’t find that much support anywhere else in ONE building . COMMUNICATION & TEAMWORK go a long way to have a happy work environment & home for the residents. 

I see comments about high turnover rate-  being here for 1 1/2 years I first hand know this job isn’t for the weak hearted. You are either passionate about seniors or your not. In house directors are very approachable & corporate isn’t hard to get a hold of and will listen if you feel it needs to go that far. 

As a Lifestyle Director I only succeed with a supportive team of caregivers & culinary members. Without happy care & great customer service during their dining experience  - we can’t succeed as a community. We NEED hardworking passionate associates-  not the complaining & easy way to make money. 


Stick around and there are annual raises & many perks to working with Sagora senior living.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Service coordinator 1 salary reported	$34.00 per hour
Server 1 salary reported	$26.00 per hour
Resident assistant 1 salary reported	$12.00 per hour
Dining room server 1 salary reported	$13.60 per hour
Culinary director 1 salary reported	$65,000 per year

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