call taker

senior administrative assistant

financial administrator

administrative assistant

family lawyer

Legal Aid Alberta

I've been an employee of Legal Aid for almost a year and I have mostly criticisms.  That said, during the Covid19 crisis, they have been flexible about workplace arrangements.  In spite of that, the work culture is fairly toxic.  The best way to explain is going through a brief timeline of my experience since I was hired here.  

To start, training here is abysmal.  I was hired on with a group that was taught in a class by a trainer who was disconnected with what was expected of people working in my position.  While they did refer quite a bit to the literature to guide those who work on the office floor, their hands-on training was incorrect and did not match the expectations of on-the-floor management.  Moreover, when finally given a chance to work on the flopr, this literature is often inadequate to instruct someone in this position, even though management expects employees to self-teach themselves the position, can mislead and lead to a bad call.  

Following the classroom, the training extends on to the floor and new hires take phone calls with managers seated nearby to "help" you.  It was during this time I started to experience the toxicity of this work environment.  It is here where I found out managers feel they have full license to treat new people very badly even going so far as to initiate and perpetuate passive-aggressive bullying.  I was personally harassed with childish cell phone noises, insulting comments directed at me from both employees and managers and a selective lack of support when I faced situations that were not brought up during the in-classroom training.  This bullying and harassment had continued post-training where, not only managers, but senior staff and even in one instance where an employee was looking over my shoulder while I was working.  

Stereotypical and ridiculous in-the-office behavior aside, if you survive the 6 month probation, you will be well paid and get full benefits. But you will still be challenged by management getting certain things wrong, a bitter workforce that, again, takes their frustrations out on new hires, racist, ageist maintenance staff and lawyers who passive-aggressively discriminate against certain members of the office and a lot of nonsense due to the constant deliberations between Legal Aid and the Union.  

Recent university grads and desperate schmoes with call center experience could get a lot out of this job.  But if you're the type that wants to work in a healthy office environment with good people who might treat you like a human being, look elsewhere.

I worked for Legal Aid Alberta for 7 years.  I absolutely loved it!  The support received from the first day of my employment was amazing.  I put in hard to work to prove my skills and I continued moving within the organization.  Workplace culture is evolving and before I left, it was getting better even during COVID however culture will never change if individuals are not open to the changes.  I have heard since the day I began there that is has always been about the client, if that were true, everyone would work collaboratively as one unit for the best outcome not only for Legal Aid Alberta but the client.  the Contact Centre makes amazing money and has many perks that other business units do not simply because they are unionized.  The pay increases, benefits that they receive are absolutely and that alone should make for an amazing culture.  The Executive and Leadership Team is an amazing group of caring, diverse individuals.  Legal Aid Alberta, to me in my opinion, was an amazing experience, opportunity to grow, opportunity to develop great relationships and be passionate about serving Albertans!

The work is fast-paced and there are frequent changes,  however,  it's good to know you're making a difference for people.  Intake Officers work from home. 

Legal Aid Alberta is a really great place to work. Competent and experienced co-workers who believe strongly in collaboration and are passionate about the work they do.

Organizational changes over the last two years have created a better culture here at Legal Aid Alberta, and with that a new vision for how to improve how the organization operates. 

This is an innovative place to work where new ideas are welcomed and encouraged. There is opportunity for advancement if you work hard, and show your value to improving the company overall. 

I would recommend working here to anyone.

The company has a fabulous CEO. It's lower levels where the management fails. Controlling. Rigid. Unimaginative.  Immature. The PMO is simply a text book, singular view, prescriptive and inexperienced one. Lacks vision and depth.
The IT team has some amazing front line staff. But mid management issues. Improved but with some major issues  
The business ops team is fabulous.  Open to ideas,  flexible but slightly disconnected from the front lines.

Clients are seen as just numbers by a lot of front-line staff (LSO's) and Management. The place is run more like a call centre with quotas. The margin of error is great because of it. LSO's who genuinely try their best for clients are not valued and in fact, are pushed out. It's a very hostile environment to work in. Little legal background, if any, is required and the service suffers for it.

I've worked at many toxic law firms. Legal Aid, as a non-profit, tends to attract a kinder personality type. People who are passionate about the work they do and the people they help.

Good hours and fair working conditions.  Excellent salary for the skill set required.  Management was out of touch with job requirements and staff were generally unhappy while I was there because there was a transition in their job requirements.

Overall it's fine if you want to be an office drone for life.  Challenging if you want to grow in your career though as they offer no skills training and extremely little chance of advancement.

Staff are bullied and intimidated on a daily basis by the management. Staff is over worked and many can't complain. You will do the job of 10 people, its that bad. Your health will deteriorate with this job- ask current and former employees. High turnover rate of staff because of how staff is treated by the management. DONT WORK HERE- YOU WILL BE FRUSTRATED. 

If all you care about are good hours then this is the job for you. It’s a horrible work culture. If I could give them negative on the star rating I would. They change things with no consult to the people that actually do the job. They treat their call centre agents horrendously. They have zero change management and really it’s like a bunch of toddlers run the place. I would not recommend this place. I made it 2 years and can’t wait to get out.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Call taker 4 salaries reported	$4,758 per month
Senior administrative assistant 1 salary reported	$20.59 per hour
Financial administrator 4 salaries reported	$47,065 per year
Administrative assistant 1 salary reported	$51,350 per year
Family lawyer 3 salaries reported	$126,500 per year

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