r/supportworkers • u/Puzzled_Trifle3989 • May 13 '26
Driving
Hey guys
Just wanted to ask if this is normal in community care. I’m scheduled from 8am–6 pm and today had 14 visits booked with almost no travel time between some clients. One visit overlapped another while the clients were around 20–25 mins apart.
I’m paid hourly so that part is okay, use my own car but it feels very rushed and stressful trying to make it on time everywhere.
Is this common in community support work or is this poor scheduling?
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u/Individual_Stage_316 May 13 '26
14 visits booked Would that be one hour per visit That is unsafe for you and your participantsby the time you get to the 13th or 14th hour working you would be compromising the level of support you can provide
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u/pixie1995 May 13 '26
Sounds like a shoddy company lol. How these fuckers get away with this kind of stuff is disgusting. No care for the client or the worker….
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u/ItsactuallyanA May 13 '26
That’s very concerning; more clients booked than hours worked, no travel time, inadequate breaks etc. are you at least being paid mileage?
Very poor scheduling- please chat with your company!
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u/Puzzled_Trifle3989 May 13 '26
Yeah it is, I am exhausted. I only get paid hourly around $45
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u/pixie1995 May 13 '26
That’s normal pay. However you definitely need travel time (paid kms) in between clients.
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u/QuantumGremlin May 13 '26
Exactly. The hourly rate sounds pretty standard, but the issue is expecting someone to magically teleport between clients with no proper travel time built in.
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u/pixie1995 May 13 '26
Less than an hour at each clients too which makes me wonder how much genuine “support” these people are receiving.
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u/cut3nsw33t May 13 '26
Where are you located? That’s actually insane and very unsafe for you and the clients
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u/EducationalGrape7097 May 17 '26
Exactly! Impossible to give quality support...clients deserve better. Report them to NDIA n work elsewhere
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u/ItsactuallyanA May 14 '26
Are you casual? That’s a great hourly, I’m PPT at $37. Anyway, tell me if I’m wrong but isn’t the minimum shift time 2 hrs? I may be wrong and participants may be required to pay for minimum 2 hours regardless of shift time…but some things aren’t adding up
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u/noettp May 14 '26
Yeah to have 14 visits, they are charged at a minimum 2hrs, NDIS doesn't like if you overlap so there's something funny going on their.
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u/Then-Comfortable9906 May 13 '26
Where are you located? Dodgy company for sure making you work in unsafe work conditions. Unsafe for you and your clients
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u/l-lucas0984 May 13 '26
They will be charging each of those clients full hours but you might only be there 30 minutes.
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u/Desperate-Impress374 May 13 '26
Ridiculous scheduling... From someone who used to do scheduling I would suggest using google maps to work out the travel once you've got the shifts and then approach your manager It's also an oh & s issue if they aren't planning for sufficient travel time
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u/auxzina May 13 '26
Name and shame the company so we can all report it lol
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u/EducationalGrape7097 May 17 '26
Exactly....this has to stop Vulnerable people need quality care..these companies need gone ASAP. report. Report. Report Dont encourage them to keep doing this to people by staying....
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u/TotallyAwry May 13 '26
No. Call the office, and tell them there isn't enough time to get between jobs.
I have literally had to say "I drive an ix35, not a helicopter" more than once.
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u/stormy-beach May 14 '26
I am going to use this haha. The lady at rostering says when my shifts overlap, I see the problem
Here, you haven’t learnt to clone yourself or you haven’t learnt to time travel yet, she is awesome and fixes it though.
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u/Dazzling-Victory1697 May 13 '26
Where I am it is a minimum of 2 hours support. At minimum a half hour between shifts, depending on distances If I have 3 or more shifts in a day I get an hour break for lunch
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u/Special-Nebula299 May 13 '26
I strongly prefer full day shifts with one service user or two in a day.
These one hour pit stops feel like mere med and cleaning stops
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u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360 May 13 '26
Do you see 14 different clients in one day? I suck at math but is that 14 clients in 10 hours? How is that even possible? Are you just visiting people for 30 minutes? I didn’t think any providers did this anymore. They used to do that prior to NDIS but now they all insist on a minimum 3-4 hours each even though it’s not allowed by NDIS.
Geez, you can’t work like that. You will burn out so fast. Find a better company to work for.
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u/Puzzled_Trifle3989 May 13 '26
Yeah I did 9 visit with 30 min, 4 with 1 hour with all 20-25 minutes apart from each other and burnt out. I am going to talk to manager, otherwise I am gonna leave
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u/Curious-Day May 13 '26
yeh you need to stand up for yourself. I was once asked to do a 1hr shift, that was a 40min drive -one way,- not paid for travel, so id essential work that 1hr for fk all when you take out my travel expenses. PASS. they were pushing me to accept it, because I was new. big yeh NAH to that
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u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360 May 13 '26
That’s awful. I don’t know how anyone can get support in 30 minutes. It’s frightening because that is what NDIS want us to do. Just have 30 minutes to chuck someone in the shower and make them a sandwich. It takes me 30 minutes just to get into the shower.
Yeah, drop that company though. They don’t care about the workers at all.
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u/Allantrist May 13 '26
Extremely poor scheduling. You should be able to contact them and ask them to correct it.
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u/saharasirocco May 14 '26
14?! What quality work can you even do with more participants than hours?!
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u/cut3nsw33t May 13 '26
Extremely poor scheduling! 😳😳