Category: Government Asssistance

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I had just finished saying to someone the other day: “No, I think I’m ok attendant wise. I don’t need to put my ad again for a while.” Today, I put my ad back up on Facebook’s Job page.

I’m sure that a good number of people have watched my job ads go on and off DisabilityPride.net like blinking lights on a Christmas tree, or a store sign.

Just before Christmas I had a woman, who doesn’t know me from “Adam,” message me to ask: “What kind of employer are you anyway? You must be awful to work for. You’re always adverting. Why do your staff always quit on you?”

Wow! Not only did this cut me to my core, but it’s sooooo unfair, especially coming from someone who doesn’t know me or my relationships with my staff.

So, why do I sometimes have a significantly high turnover rate? Well, without using names, here are examples of reasons why:

• I hire a significant number of students. I love hiring students. I learn from them. They learn from me. We have great conversations. Most students have enthusiasm and energy. We have fun while doing what needs to be done. We laugh a lot. They keep me young. BUT students graduate. They go on school work terms/placements. They go on to other schools. They move away or move back to their home province/country.
• Many of my staff have one or more other jobs. Sometimes they get promoted in their other job(s), requiring increased commitment and increased hours. Some need to move closer to their other job, or sometimes their children need to go to a certain public school, which requires the family to reside in that district.
• Some, especially students, simply take on too much and suddenly hit a metaphorical brick wall, especially if they’re struggling in a certain subject. I try to watch out for this, but some don’t even know it themselves until it’s too late.
• Because of not enough funding, and because I certainly don’t need (or want) an attendant with me all the time, some work hours are short. Actually, they can be as short as one hour, (and yes that’s legal for this type of work) and rarely more than 4 or 5 hours, if people want to earn enough to live on, the need to work several shifts and even split shifts. Some people don’t mind this system. Some even like it. But some find out they don’t.
• In this job, it takes time to really see if an attendant and I are a good working fit. Sometimes it can be a rough start, but then we find our groove. Or sometimes we start of great, then fizzle out. It has a whole lot to do with how/if we gel.
• People also lie in interviews! “Sure. I love driving from Hicksville to Halifax. I’m always driving back and forth. I do it several times a day – in all kinds of weather. I love it! It’s no problem at all.” Then, the first snowfall happens. “Ohhh! I can’t come! I’m too scared to drive on that stretch of highway!”
• Problems in an employee’s personal life can lead to that staff needing sick leave, or a need to leave the job altogether. It’s sad, but sometimes the stresses in one’s personal life can be more than that person can manage. Trying to maintain a job on top of it all is like trying to control a tidal-wave.
• And sometimes people just “stay at the party too long.” I read somewhere that employees who stay in one job for more than 4 or 5 years, often end up taking their job and/or employer for granted. They subconsciously (or consciously) think they’ve earned the right to have things their own way, rather than how the employer wants things. I understand “staying at the party too long.” I’m a die-hard. I don’t give up easily. This can indeed be an admirable quality, but it can also lead to a down-slide. Burn-out and resentment can set in, with hostility becoming a pattern. It’s sad but true.

Now, am I “the perfect ‘boss’”? Hell no! In some ways I do expect a fair bit from my attendants. I expect them to be reliable. I expect them to be punctual. I expect them to understand that they’re here to assist me in living my life as I see fit, and that means respecting my preferences and choices. But I also make a point of letting them know that I very much appreciate their help. I thank them often during their shift and most certainly always-always-always, at the end of their shift. Always!

Have I ever had any employees leave on bad terms? Show me an employer who hasn’t. Yet so many of my former (and present) employees are friends with me on Facebook, and 2 of my blog’s Facebook Reviews are written (on their own accord) by 1 past and 1 current attendant. We may not always chat regularly, but they know I’m always here for them.

People outside the inner circle will always make their own assumptions and draw their own conclusions, sometimes incorrectly. I can’t stop them. All I can do is try to be a good employer, in the fairest way I know how.

As for the woman who wrote those opening comments, she also reported me to Facebook as “not being a real person.” Obviously, I am a very real person. Yet it is for that very reason why her remarks cut so deep and still haunt me. I value my staff immensely. I adopt them, care about them always, and my heart often breaks when it’s time for them to move on.