shelter support worker

support worker

engineering team leader

outreach worker

community care worker

OUR PLACE SOCIETY

There is a serious disconnect between what management wants and the reality of the job. Management and upper management very clearly have not worked on the floor, and do not care about the wellbeing, safety, or overall happiness of their staff. I cannot stress enough how little and blatantly they do not care about staff, despite the how open staff are of their issues. Clients are amazing, co-workers are fantastic. This could be an incredible place to work if management listened to their staff on the floor rather than themselves and the board. The work can be challenging, and you need to be able to balance being firm and having thick skin with compassion and understanding. I have loved working here but cannot do it any more due to gaslighting and complete disregard for staff from management. I would not recommend working here at all until changes are made. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
It is unionized. There are many wonderful people who work with homeless people. They often witness traumatic incidents and the union keeps them  and their job safe if they require leave to recover. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The management is egotistical and cut throat. I really got the sense they didn’t care at all about their staff. Some are ageist. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Unfriendly and superficial.  They have group meetings once or twice a year but most of the time it was go into your cubical and work for 8 hours and eat at your desk. No  lunchroom. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive at 8am and work on the computer until  lunch. Twenty minutes for lunch then work until 4pm. People didn’t do anything outside of the office and the manager discouraged team building  like birthday lunches, or helping other charities.

Management: They never supported me when I was new. Was threw into the job without any orientation. Management tells us violence is expected in the job and victim-blame staff for getting assaulted. Management also does not listen to when staff raised concerns or ideas for improvement. 

Pay: Used to be worse. Now that workers joined the union, it’s getting better. Of note, management were pulling us into “reviews” / “chats” when we initially tried to join the union. 

The Work: can be rewarding - working with vulnerable peoples. However, management enables clients who have more violent tendencies and behavioural challenges, which in turn makes the environment unsafe for other clients and staff. 

The Coworkers: met many great coworkers, but we eventually all left. We literally formed trauma bonds. 

I would absolutely love to work for Our Place Society again, and/or ongoing.
I learned how diligent this organization is around the security of information and financial transactions.
Management is amazing for their commitment to a lateral, inclusive, and empowered team.
My co-workers are hard-working, deeply compassionate, and absolutely committed to excellence in their work.
The hardest part of the job was the recent separation of the Fund Development office from the main complex; it seems that I am not alone in missing the constant contact with our Family.
Just being in that workplace, on that team, was amazing.

Poorly organized with little to no experience from upper management with leading figures having experience in hotels not non-for profits. The staff are very passionate and care but are burnt out due to complete under preparation for the role due to HR having no understanding of what the job entails. I learnt a lot from my co workers who work incredibly hard but the culture is toughen up. Hardest part is  Head of HR's opinion about the population ops serves, which is laughable at best but incredibly harmful at worst with their policies and practices leading to multiple deaths of service users but also high rate of ptsd amongst workers. One enjoyable is the company was recently unionized and the clients are amazing people. 

Classist, sexist and racist in hiring practices. No support is given and people from upper middle backgrounds who are white are given preference despite no experience or relatability to the population. Treat the homeless people of Victoria as animals and criminals. services are inconsistent and no support is given to staff. very much a toxic toughen up work place culture. The most enjoyable part was getting to know the homeless people of victoria but the workplace culture was very vindictive and upper management did not provide support or guidance to anyone. Days consist of policing homeless people, and sitting around unless emergency

Worked as a Support Worker within the TRC program. Never fully understood what the program achieved to help the residents. Very little communication from middle management. Personnel come and go, employees with little people skills, confusion with program objectives. Now after months and months of failure and anxiety for everyone a new ceo claims he can “fix” and change things. Good luck. When I left I gave notice, but not one management type came to say all the best, or shake my hand. HR never contacted me for an exit interview. Disrespectful and unprofessional from top to bottom.
Avoid this place.

The feeling of love and acceptance is palpable the moment you walk into one of the six locations this organization runs, caring for those turned away from many other places in our community. A new joint management team approach with input from 15 managers meets weekly, giving voice to the concerns and ideas from the 200 employees. People with lived experience are welcomed and supported in the "hand up" program for jobs. Special people take on this challenge and need to be commended!

A true gem, worked as a casual employee, from supportive housing to shelters, to driving clients, I was also a team lead, and I appreciate this organization. Rather humanizing, has its flaws like any, but its religious practice isn't forced on staff, there's appreciate to connect with folks instead of just calling 911, which is a breathe of fresh air, often family members will even help out staff which is nice, and welcoming. I used to access the Upper Room as a child with my mom, and the Open Door both as a child and later as a client, was, still is, a decent organization helping the Street Community.

Absolutely loved my coworkers at Our Place, and (minus the management) loved the job. I made connections with clients and it really helped me grow as a person. However management is horrible. Suddenly got fired right before my probation ended for reasons that made the union, and my coworkers upset and confused because it didn’t make sense. Tried to fight to get my job back but management keeps saying my claims are “untrue”. Julian Daly seems like a nice guy, he needs to take a better look at these managers working for his company.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Shelter support worker 33 salaries reported	$33.85 per hour
Support worker 9 salaries reported	$33.08 per hour
Engineering team leader 3 salaries reported	$35.25 per hour
Outreach worker 1 salary reported	$32.55 per hour
Community care worker 1 salary reported	$32.53 per hour

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