physical therapist

speech language pathologist

occupational therapist

physical therapist assistant

pharmacy technician

Symbria

Symbria used to be a nice place to work. Middle/upper management was great, and the environment was relaxed. There was not too much in the way of turnover. Unfortunately that has changed due to various promotions, retirements, and resignations within the company. (As well as inconsistency and turnover at higher levels of management.)

In relation to pay, it’s difficult to say if it is decent or not, because Symbria is secretive about what they are willing to pay (I have yet to see a pharmacist salary range on postings) which makes it seem like they are not interested in paying people competitively. 

In terms of culture, Symbria is a business, and businesses exist to make money. Management and HR will ensure that you are aware of this and that you do not forget that the company comes first (i.e. money=customer satisfaction). As a healthcare organization, more emphasis should  be placed on patient and employee wellbeing, but interactions with other employees as well as facilities make it seem as though that is not the case. 

Symbria is very organized on paper and has a place for everything, so to speak (in many departments). This makes following correct procedures properly fairly easy, job roles/responsibilities are so compartmentalized that if a particular person or department is unavailable, you are basically out of luck since such few people are cross trained. Off-paper, workflow is more challenging.

Job security. The most important thing in having a job is getting paid, which means you need to have a job in the first place. Symbria abruptly decided to close one of our pharmacies for financial reasons (sure, they are a business and if the numbers aren’t working then they are obligated to act). The closure itself was super unfortunate, but understandable if financially appropriate. However, the implementation was very poor. The employees losing positions were only given a month’s notice, when it was known among upper management that the pharmacy would be shut down much longer beforehand. The manager at the location itself was informed the same day the other employees were, which is insulting at best—a proposed reason for this being that the company was worried about employees leaving early. 

Symbria would not offer severance pay. The absolute best they would do was a retention bonus for those willing to remain until the end, and not everyone was eligible. Part-time pharmacists (of which there was only one…) were apparently ineligible for this, yet part-time technicians were.

Benefits are severely lacking for part and full time employees. The health insurance alone is very basic, and if you want an acceptable amount of coverage you have to pay much more than it is worth. I am not sure on PTO policies. Symbria’s tuition reimbursement is $600 a year and only applies to courses directly benefiting your role at Symbria. There is no paid maternity or paternity leave for employees. 

Symbria has great bone-structure (so to speak) but there is not enough emphasis placed on employee happiness, satisfaction, benefits, or appreciation. They could do so much more (or anything) and have happy, loyal employees. Even the most well-thought-out plan will fail without someone to execute it, and with employees coming and going with the same problems that go unresolved, they will not succeed. There are several members of middle and lower management who are thoughtful, intelligent, and kind people, but higher management seems to be lacking that. 


For me, there is no typical day at work, and I LOVE that. Each day is a new challenge to solve, a new opportunity to learn, and a new team I get to work with.

I have learned so much in just my first month here, and everyone I have encountered has been immensely helpful. There has not been a single person, no matter what business unit, who has not been immediately willing to take time out of their day to teach me about what they do and how they can help me.

Strong management is one of the most important parts of a company's success, and Symbria's leaders truly shine. From my direct supervisor, to all the other directors and managers I work with on a daily basis, they are the epitome of team players, and are not afraid to get their hands dirty and help whenever necessary.

The workplace culture is different from anything I have experienced in my career as well. This was one of the first things I had heard from nearly everyone I spoke to who came from elsewhere in the healthcare world, and I must say they seem to be right! Symbria's employees are so willing to help anyone at any time, and it is so refreshing to see.

The hardest part of the job is the steep learning curve to understanding all sectors of the business. Coming in as a new director,  learning systems, people, and as much as possible about as many business units as possible is not the easiest task. Luckily, I have received so much support from my manager and teams I have been working with, and it makes the process feel much less daunting.

The most enjoyable part of the job is getting to work with such a diverse group of people on a daily basis. I have already met and worked with so many people from so many different backgrounds with so much experience, and it makes me feel excited to continue to learn and grow as a part of this team.

This once was a good company to work for, where upper management showed their faces and seemed to genuinely care about the concerns of their worker bees and the well-being of the patients.   There are still some good people in lower-management positions (though their viewpoints mean next-to-nothing), but at this point, I don’t know the last time I even laid eyes on upper management.  Taking care of their employees, as well as doing what is actually right for the patients, is now the furthest thing from their minds.  The old adage ‘the customer is always right’ should not be the standard in health care, but is certainly the case with this company.  In a time when treatment minutes are being decreased by HMO’s and more is expected in less time, it is simutaneously expected by this company that therapists bow to the wishes of the patient, even if that means wasting the entirety of their visit on redundant activities that don’t benefit that patient.  You may as well let patients dictate their own treatments, regardless of logic and reason, lest you run the risk of upsetting them because they were physically challenged by the activity (which is, of course, what the point of physical therapy so often is).  And if you determine that patient isn’t going to participate, and therefore should be discharged... be prepared to defend yourself as though you’ve done something wrong when caseload is not as high as management would like.  Also, be prepared to be instructed to keep that patient on your schedule, regardless of appropriateness, to keep caseload high.  This company is all about numbers and image, and cares little about either their employees or their patients.

I began working for Symbria shortly after they acquired a local independent pharmacy.  The transition was rough and we were mostly left hanging to figure it out and get on our feet on our own.  It quite literally took years and multiple changes in Pharmacy directors before our pharmacy became not just proficient but a great place to work.  As Symbria grew and acquired more pharmacies, our team was tasked with helping these pharmacies get started.  We filled their cycle meds, we educated them and at times our employees even traveled to different locations (in different states) to help staff while these new locations were still learning and developing.  
Our pharmacy team is fantastic and would do anything to support one another.  We have created a work environment that people enjoy coming into everyday and we have next to no turnover.

Last week Symbria announced that whey will be closing our location.  Our employees have made a home here and everyone was very surprised by this news.  When asked about severance pay, we have been told countless times that they do not know if there will be any.  The expectation is that we show up to work, do a good enough job to maintain our clients that Symbria still plans to keep and then pack up the pharmacy to close without any knowledge about severance pay.  The lack of transparency in an effort to string along employees to the end is disgusting.  
The management and company as a whole has always been a mess, but we made a great team that will be hard to leave.  
I do not recommend working for Symbria.



- productivity is expected to be 90%
- no time off unless you find your own replacement
- management and corporate say that they care about their employees but they do nothing to prove it
- broken equipment is unsafe but it won't be replaced or fixed
- you are not paid for lunch and are expected to work through it. If you want a lunch you have to clock out for a half an hour.
- as a therapist you have many bosses. You have your director you have your manager you have a lead therapist you have the patient you have the patient's family and you have the community staff you're a nobody
- if you make complaints about the community staff that are legitimate the community can request that you leave their facility and you'll either be fired or you're sent to a different facility
- you will not have one facility alone that you work at. You are sent to any facility they wish to send you to. You have no say. If you have dual state license you are expected to work in both States. No pay differential for doing that.
- you are required to work every holiday of the year except for Christmas and Thanksgiving. That's it!
- you are required to work every other weekend. The day off during the week for working on Saturday or Sunday is not your option it is chosen for you.
- no annual raises. Not even cost of living races. I've been there for years zero raise.
- not enough computers for everyone to document on. The software has many many glitches.

As a whole, I loved my job. At a technician you can see the overload that a pharmacy can have on you. I loved that whatever had to be done that day, was done that day and we didn’t have to worry about filling into the next day which was a first. However when I joined the team it was going through a lot of foundational issues. I feel even though pay was not bad at all, it was not considerate of experience or skills, or even just structured. Either one could have made things a lot better. People were coming in with have the experience making more than people who had been there for years/coming in making more than other people who possess higher skills. I feel like they loved to show appreciation until something was done to make them feel like loosing you could be in jeapordy. That jeapordy feeling made a big switch in how you treated as a whole. Bridgeton location had a big turnover at one time and it was due to foundational issues or just not being fair from the get go, and getting caught up in it as time changed. However the job itself was decent. Clean and organized environment, straightforward expectations. Simply just come in, do your job, don’t get to close to a lot as some “playing both sides of the fence” situations take effect. I give it 9/10 during the working times and environment. I give it 5/10 for accountability, fairness, and consistency in appreciation. 

you are providing a lot of orthopedic therapies as an occupational therapist here. You do a bit of work on fine motor neurological Rehab, energy conservation, Coordination, balance, cognition. You get exposed to a lot of different conditions, which is nice. The productivity standard is fair, 80%. Communication is poor. Onboarding is even worse. you have no idea what the organization structure is, who to talk to, what’s expected of you, where to find important information. The company is borderline unethical. When I came in to do my I-9, they had me do an evaluation on someone with a cognitive impairment Who was sundowning. I had no diagnosis codes, I learned later that consent forms were not signed, the caregiver was unaware. I was seeing the client And I had no way to contact the caregiver. I did not have any training in the EMR And I had no supplies, not even paper or pen. Training, job, advancement, & education at Symbria is poor. The interview was full of a lot of false promises. I tried to give this company a lot of grace since I knew they were expanding. But there is no reason for them to have this poor of management. The work is fine as long as you can deal with poor management. 

If you could imagine the most cold-hearted people managing a healthcare related company, that would be the regional management team for Symbria. Not patient-centered care, and certainly not employee-centered. I loved my coworkers, and we had one of the best therapy teams, in one of the nicest skilled nursing facilities in Western PA, but Symbria found a way to make everyone’s lives miserable there. I guess it says a lot when 10 therapists leave in the span of a year, from one facility. They preach being employee owned...Do you know what that actually means? It means they can pitch the idea of no annual raises, because you know, that way they are saving “you” money. Congrats, you “own” a part of the company, and when you leave in 20 years you can cash out your benefits, which might amount to $1,000. You know what might have been more profitable? Just giving you a 1% raise every year. 
The best decision I ever made was leaving. Moving to a company where you actually hear the words “thank you” and know that you are truly appreciated makes for a more enjoyable career. Would I recommend Symbria to anyone, even new grads needing a job? Hard no. Waitress or work retail until another therapy job becomes available in the area.

A typical day includes entering orders, answering phones, collaborating with pharmacists and communities to resolve issues, and processing reports.

They provide dedicated and detailed training and a great deal of opportunities to grow within the company and as a Pharmacy Technician. For example, although I am a Data Entry Technician working remote, Symbria has provided opportunities to pursue interests and expand my skills in other avenues such as immunizing and assisting with inventory. 

Leadership shows great care for the team and provides plenty of support. The team is amazing at teamwork and work hard to communicate to provide great service to the communities. The most enjoyable part of my role is the connections and relationships I've cultivated with the communities and patients I service.

This company is ever adapting to provide support to the staff to provide the best care for the patients and I have witnessed the creation of new roles to accommodate for staffing needs.

I feel very supported in my career with this company. Symbria has helped me grow drastically as a CPhT. 

Expected to do the duties of a manager, staffing coordinator, administrative assistant, and rehab tech.  Worked an average of 70 hours a week at the facility on the clock as well as working from home in a salaried position. Continuously compared to their other facilities which had 80% less patients.  Shared staff with other facilities in the area which was good for staff because they could travel to get 40hrs a week but as a manager of the largest facility with more staff I was expected to rearrange my schedule to accommodate the smaller facilities. The company says providing the better patient care than other competitors in the are is their number one priority however they are concerned with productivity and revenue just as much if not more than other companies. 
I was blessed to work with an amazing group of therapists that truly cared for the patients that they worked with. Symbria has contracts at some great facilities.The management team at the facility I worked at was top notch.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Physical therapist 5 salaries reported	$43.03 per hour
Speech language pathologist 2 salaries reported	$43.03 per hour
Occupational therapist 3 salaries reported	$41.10 per hour
Physical therapist assistant 8 salaries reported	$27.50 per hour
Pharmacy technician 5 salaries reported	$21.17 per hour

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