administrative specialist

sergeant

customer service representative

eligibility specialist

correctional officer

State of Arkansas

There is nothing "typical" about child protection.  An ideal day would be first checking my daily and weekly work schedule.  Then after completing any required office/case file work, I would visit clients in their home or wherever I was able to find them.  I might have to go to Court or a staff and/or Family Program meeting.  I learned to work with a variety of people with all kinds of backgrounds under sometimes very stressful situations.  At times I would have to make quick assessments, take immediate control of situations and make quick decisions that often related to people's safety and well being. Every day was a time to learn.  Good management skills were essential in all areas (time management, crisis intervention, working with people and other professional organizations, etc).  Necessity required a close and positive comradeship with all my co-workers.  Teamwork was an absolute must.  The hardest part of the job was to deal with adults who would abuse children, sometimes very young children.  Sometimes the abuse required hospitalization, if they are lucky.  Sometimes the abuse resulted in death.  Believe it or not there are times when one can find enjoyment in this job.  Those are the times when there is a positive ending, as in keeping families together or witnessing children who survive child abuse and succeeded to advance to a meaningful part of the society of which they live.

The was a great place to work. My day started off working on my website. I kept the website up-to-date concerning the programs information, newsletters and events. I answered calls from disabled consumers and/or familly members who wanted information about our services, how to obtain assistive technology/equipment, AT funding or questions about where to find services for the disabled. This job taught me a lot about federal grants, disabliity rights & laws, advocating and the vast amount of unlimited information concerning disabilities, assistive technology and how the law views disabilities.
Our program had daily high call volumes, lots of people dropping in and clients with scheduled appointments. My co-workers and I were all cross trained on each others jobs and that is what made this program function at 100%. The hardest part of my job was not letting the clients disability or problems affect me. This was a wonderful and very fulfilling job and it taught a lot about professionalism, how to deal with people and how to be a better customer service representative.

A typical day involved collaborating with a creative team, managing projects, and ensuring smooth communication. I learned the importance of team leadership, especially when stepping up during leadership transitions. The management, while strong at times, struggled with transparency and direction, which affected team morale. The workplace culture had its challenges, but strong camaraderie with immediate colleagues made it enjoyable. The hardest part of the job was dealing with low morale and unclear expectations from upper management. The most enjoyable part was working with a talented and dedicated team that made the day-to-day tasks fulfilling.

There is a high turnover of employees and management, so the offices are always short handed, and the rules change based on what manager is running the show that week.  You will work a lot of overtime and not get paid for it, but the overtime is required.  In place of overtime, they will give you comp time that you will never be able to take due to the office always being short handed.  The management's main goal is their own personal advancement, so your job is to make them look really promotable.  However, there will not be much advancement opportunity for you.  Truthfully, you will not get anywhere near as much respect from upper management as they expect from you.  If you have a spouse, children, pets, etc, you are expected to place them low on your priority list.  It's best to not have a life outside of work with this company.  They micromanage everything as well, so expect to have no privacy.  I learned a lot there, and worked very hard alongside some excellent coworkers.  In the end, it wasn't worth the stress and lack of family balance.

Working at DHS as a Family Service Worker was one of the most challenging and discouraging experiences of my career.

The management was disorganized, unsupportive, and often disconnected from the daily realities of the job. Communication was poor, and decisions were made without considering the well-being of staff or the families we served.

The operational systems were outdated, inefficient, and created more obstacles than solutions. Instead of empowering workers to help families, the system burdened us with excessive paperwork, constant policy changes, and unrealistic expectations.

The work environment was emotionally draining and lacked the mental health support necessary for such a demanding role. High caseloads, minimal resources, and a culture of burnout made it difficult to make any real, lasting impact in people’s lives.

There are many passionate and caring individuals in the field, but unfortunately, the structure and leadership at DHS make it nearly impossible to serve families with the dignity and effectiveness they deserve.

I work Monday thru Friday 8:00 to 4:30. At 8:00 I check my email to see if any work need be done or do left over work from the day before. At 8:30 I go down stair to do check voucher for payment.  I'm back at about 9:30 (depending on how many check we have) to start my scanning for the day. When I finish my scanning and attaching for the day. I see what other assigned duties I need to do. I have learned a lot on my job like Microsoft Outlook 2010, Microsoft Word and navigate though a computer a lot better. Management is a good team and very organize when it come to what they need from you. I get along with all my co- worker, we work as team. The hardest part about the job is staying busy after tax season. We are very busy between January and April and maybe until June. After that we slow down a lot. So we are either real busy or real slow no in between. The best of my job you are left along to do you job. No one is watching over back making sure you doing your job.

My first position with the State became intolerable due to a direct supervisor who became completely belligerent in her treatment of me once she learned of my political stance. 

Second position , I work with wonderful people and don't mind coming to work. 
However, The compensation plan is utterly ridiculous.
The Budgeting department is supposed to conduct realistic comparisons with Private Sector jobs in order to have a competitive pay plan. The Clearly DO NOT. Despite ones Education and Experience , they insist on starting people at the lowest possible salary. What they should be doing is looking at https://www.onetonline.org/  and be realistic. You cannot expect to pay someone with a Graduate Degree the same as someone with only a High School Diploma. Especially if that person has over 7 years of experience to go with that Degree.

I came into the State of Arkansas hoping to help others in a stable work environment. What I found when I was hired: countless incompetent supervisors that had no business being promoted, unrealistic work expectations and deadlines that set the agency up to fail, favoritism, libel, an enormous amount of entitled angry clients due to time restraints, and extremely high turnover rate leading to increased workload.

The only benefit that made work bearable was an abundance of paid leave that enabled a person to be able to escape from work. Depending on who you work for, you may have a difficult time taking the leave you have earned or be made to feel guilty for needing a personal day. If your supervisor has it out for you, don't even think about calling in "sick" when you aren't, because they will find out and fire you for 'misuse of sick leave.'

A typical day as a customer service Agent consisted of balancing the roles and responsibilities of juggling several tasks and problem solving with irate clients.  Over the years I learned to effectively communicate in intense situations, effectively problem solve in a timely manner and protect the sensitivity and privacy of my clients.  My workplace culture was very diverse and to some capacity chaotic and a little stressful.  The hardest part was being able to expect to function at maximum efficiency without the proper training when new assignments were distributed. The most enjoyable part of my career at the State of Arkansas was watching myself develop in time sensitive and multifaceted assignments.

Years ago, this would have been a great job. However, lots of changes have been made to lower salaries and you can no longer drive a State car to work. That’s totally fine, but people that took the job for those reasons were financially impacted without even an apology. Employees are now treated like hourly workers instead of professionals.    Everyone feels disposable, especially in the department I work in. Morale is VERY low throughout the entire State workforce. Lately, it seems like a revolving door. Some managers care about improving morale and home/work balance, but some only care about getting a 4 or 5 at all costs...those are the nearly impossible scores on our annual evaluations that are also demoralized. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Administrative specialist 165 salaries reported	$44,178 per year
Sergeant 252 salaries reported	$76,289 per year
Customer service representative 84 salaries reported	$48,572 per year
Eligibility specialist 112 salaries reported	$58,667 per year
Correctional officer 94 salaries reported	$63,048 per year

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