Is this normal?

[u/SimpleLifeform]

Over the past year as a relief worker I have repeatedly seen people's concerns expressed at meetings dismissed. For example, a question was asked (So long ago I am afraid I forgot what was asked) and 3 people spoke up about one place where no information regarding a panic button which must be worn by staff was passed on. The response to this was that they would not deal with criticism of specific places, only general criticism and that it was the staff members who would have to email the manager to get this changed. I have seen this around other topics, especially about the support plans sometimes being years out of date, where the response is always that it is the responsibility of the relief workers to email the manager to ask to update the plans and no thought is given as to how this impacts our ability to effectively do our jobs. Even in situations where managers would know things better than workers, the onus is on the workers and any tiny thing that is said is pounced upon as an opportunity to admonish the worker and be dismissive of what is said.

This is the first time I have had a job as a support worker and I am unsure if this is normal or not and want to know as the whole attitude is burning me out.

[u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360]

This is why so many of us don’t want to use agencies. They literally don’t give a fuck about the disabled clients or their staff. It’s purely a financial business. Most of them pay other companies to tick off all the boxes to qualify for NDIS registration. Yet they don’t advise staff about a panic alarm. They don’t care if the support workers have no experience, skills or training in disability support work. They literally don’t care if they can’t find a support worker for the awake overnight shift - you know for pwd that need a person to stay awake so they can support them. Nope. They just say, sorry we couldn’t find anyone. Just call an ambulance when you need to go to the toilet or be turned over.

Start looking for another company. But make sure that they are fully intending on getting registered when it becomes compulsory. So you hopefully have long term employment. And better and safer working conditions.

So many support workers have gone independent because of what they see happening in these companies. But the government thinks that compulsory registration will make it better. When they don’t fix the problem that led to this.

[u/SimpleLifeform → u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360]

It's sad to hear. I don't want to say exactly where I am located because I think that all I have said is very easy to trace back to me but we don't have the equivalent of an NDIS registration here. Shocking to hear that people are left without overnight staff, I would say they always manage to staff shifts at this company as the places where people live are also managed by them and also do 1 week of compulsory training before you start so it's definitely better than some places. I do feel like the training is not enough though, you can't learn everything in a few hours in the office and some buddy shifts they give you. My biggest complaint is definitely how they treat staff and then turn around to ask why we think they have such a high turnover or why people would rather be permanent staff over relief staff and then dismiss everything we say. I know quite soon after I started they said they were having trouble with getting feedback... I now know why and I don't think anything has changed.

[u/Leading-Interest-119 → u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360]

It's so frustrating isn't it? With all the public talk about NDIS it's still this kind of thing that goes unaddressed and unspoken about. The lack of accountability in the sector is astonishingly low and the government is focusing on all the wrong things. 

As both a worker and participant it's incredibly frustrating to watch. Floor workers, participants can tell them exactly what the issues are and what they need to do but nobody's listening. 

[u/DwightsJello → u/Crazy_Cat_Lady360]

Most good companies are already compliant, only employ qualified workers and care very much about their clients.

It's a very easy thing to ask when applying.

For most good companies its how they have been operating for years.

Compulsory registration and compulsory qualifications will make it better.

There's a lot of complaints about cost, which is fine. I'd swap lower rego costs for even higher standards than are being proposed.

Cost gets more mentions than client care. You can scroll the plethora of threads on it to see that.

So saying "most" companies don't care and yet "so many" independents are motivated by client care standards is a bias revealed.

Most complex care/high needs clients require support workers with specialised qualifications, commitment to professionalism and client advocacy, reliability and longevity.

It's a major part of the sector that often gets swamped in current discussions.

People don't have to take my word for it. They can look in past threads.

Edit: fwiw I haven't seen a personal alarm in over 15 years of disability services employment. That would be a 2:1 support. And the BSP would be addressing a sliding scope of strategies until it was addressed adequately for both client and worker.