support worker

counselor

service coordinator

safety coordinator

payroll accountant

Regional Residential Services Society

Working at RRSS can be great if this is the field you're interested in! The culture, work/life balance and scheduling of each house really depends on the supervisor and the staff team, so if you don't like where you are, change houses! Some houses have a lot of staff drama and horrible supervisors, but some houses have INCREDIBLE staff, clients and supervisor.

The only complaint I have is that RRSS has very few full time staff, most of the jobs available are relief which pays VERY little and has NO benefits, or CA which has benefits and okay pay but is only part time unless you do multiple houses. There is not much room for advancement once you get to CA, and for the amount of work and the stringent training and policies they make you adhere to, they do not pay much at ALL. $19/h for CA/FTC, the very minimum identified as a liveable wage in HRM. For someone who has relevant educational training and a lot of experience, it can be frustrating earning only $19/h, the same as a staff who may have no relevant education at all. 

The worst part about this agency hands down is that they are SO BEHIND. Unbelievably so. Everything is done via pen and paper and takes weeks to months. Time sheets are filled out by hand by employees and you then have to trust that when it gets to HR the person who is then looking it over and working out your pay doesn't make a stupid mistake, or you don't, and you haven't missed pay. Schedules for your house are only available at the home (not online). OT is tracked separately, also on pen and paper. Vacation, case notes, everything... It's SO STUPID. I know they are nonprofit, but there are LOTS of cheap options for payroll and scheduling services and the like. This is just laziness on the part of the main office, which really does NOT care about the experiences of the front line staff at all. 

Other than my major complaints about main office and the lack of upward mobility, it really is a great place to work. Especially if you are just looking for a job with very flexible hours (relief chooses what shifts they want to take) and meaningful work experience.

Worked at RRSS for approximately 5 years. My immediate team of coworkers were amazing, and the clients I worked with were also fantastic. However, many of the staff at main office and in positions of management and power were very unprofessional and toxic. When at main office I frequently overheard management gossiping and making jokes/bullying at staff's expense. My vacation time was frequently denied/held ransom unless I went far above and beyond my contracted hours to cover shifts that my supervisor wanted me to work, even if I was in overtime. Advocating for client care was extremely difficult. Managers did not seem to care about clients mental health whatsoever. I would frequently be left single staffed in a home for a weekend or a couple of days while caring for multiple clients. When training, Management stated they welcome fresh perspective and want to address any concerns regarding client care etc- this is not true. More often than not, when inquiring about concerns with client care (getting a physio assesment for clients with new mobility issues, clients with new mental health symptoms or anything not deemed "serious", Management would be very passive aggressive. They do not welcome change, they only want to go to work to gossip. Benefits were very good though. And my immediate coworkers were an amazing team who genuinely cares about the clients they worked with- incredibly supportive, kind, and always trying to make the clients home a happy and safe space for clients. 

The only benefit I can see to working here is that they have a decent wage and always looking for people to work. Constantly hiring as well as paid training in courses you need to continue your knowledge of the work place. 

Expect to work evenings and weekends. Unless you are a full timer you will be working most likely 3 weekends out of a 4 week rotation. When you are called for a sick call you are often met with guilt to come in and "Help out the house" you work in. There are also times when you will be "stuck" at work when there is a sick call and no one can come in to relieve you.

Job security is basically there when you have a position because you are unionized however do not be afraid to ask for there help. They are there to protect you. If more people used the union the treatment of employees may not be as repetitive as it is now.

Management is very poorly run. They have not worked in homes for quite some time and almost forgotten what front line staff go through. It is quite sad. They are more concerned for the discipline of the employees then actual concerns that are raised. 

The Job is however a very rewarding job. I would just suggest looking for a different company to get such rewards.

I worked with Regional for 6 years as casual, day time part time and full time night awake. There are some really good supervisors and some really poor ones. Upper management is M.I.A. The company lacks consistency in its processes, and values, preaches open communication but doesn’t follow through when it comes to staff. They are very much for the residents inclusivity, which is excellent, but it is at the detriment of staff being allowed to be themselves. You have to be careful with your language, as the final straw for me was when a fellow co worker said the wrong thing and was let go, which could have easily been remedied through openly communicating. There is never a time we were not short staffed, you are expected to stay after shift if your replacement doesn’t show. Always overtime though. 
You need to be able to leave your individual beliefs at the door and not impose them on the residents, which I found was difficult for many people to do but never addressed by management, which often led to gossip and miscommunication amongst the team. 
I really think Regional has good values, but they are blind to the lack of balance and support for staff. 



I worked at RRSS for many years.  The clients are great, but management is absolutely terrible.  They encourage people to come on this site and put positive reviews on it to balance out the negative-and true reviews.  They encourage new staff to watch and tell on people who have worked in the agency for a long time.  There are many spies around in the houses, so if you choose to work there, be careful.

Management's education is also very outdated and their views on what is right and what is best for the residents is often absurd..(ie Let them eat whatever they want, whenever they want!) Pays are often messed up and many staff "lose" vacation and holiday hours and cannot usually be explained, therefore the staff lose out on hours they have earned.  

There is no respect for long term employees at all.  You rarely receive encouragement or recognition for a job well done.  It is a thankless job and is very taxing.  

It's not all negative, as there are some great people who work there in front line positions but if you want to work with this clientele, I would suggest trying another agency, maybe they treat their staff with more respect.

Great residents but can be challenging, dangerous at times.  The pay is pitiful, not on board for what front line staff do.  Main office is pathetic.  They are never wrong, you are, it’s never the residents fault, it’s yours, You have To watch everything you say and do.  The main office basically are BULLIES.  I would never recommend anyone to work there, someone once asked me what it was like, I told the truth, but they took the job anyway, but it turned out I was right, she left due to the fact that she felt harassed, her words not mine.  Poor and outdated management and Very Poor Payroll Management, you always have to keep track of your paystub always ,because you will see a lot of errors.  There is sometimes a poor excuse as to why you can’t take your vacation, and I think the supervisors must take courses on how to guilt your staff on the need to work.  They often send in “spies” to get ammunition on you, to befriend you or others in the house, and if Main Office wants you gone, they will find an excuse, and likely you can fight it and win with the unions help, but they will make you feel you are on trial for murder.

It really depends on which home you're placed in, each home is quite different. You support adults with intellectual disabilities in their homes (homes vary from 2 people to 8). You support individuals on their good and bad days so some days can be physically and emotionally draining while others you can't believe you're getting paid to go to the movies (or whatever else the individuals are interested in doing).
Your satisfaction will ultimately depend on the dynamic of the staff team in the house you are placed, as well as the home supervisor.

There are always hours available and you can work at multiple homes to get your hours. Positions vary from a few hours a month to full-time hours. You will likly work mostly evenings, weekends, and nights.

Your front line team will be amazing, and the clients you work with can be great but management and main office are horrible. They will provide no support to staff, blame front line staff for everything even when most mistakes are made from main office overworking what little staff they do have. Main office is the most unethical group of people, they will pick and choose when policies work for them, but expect you to be perfect. If they want you gone they will find a way, often transferring you to a house they know does not work with your schedule in an effort to have you quit because they know the union can't do anything about it. There is abuse from some residents to staff daily and when going to main office for support our instructions were to "anticipate the abuse better". They will tell you in training they are open to new ideas and ways of doing things but this couldn't be farther from the truth. I would never recommend someone to work here and would never put someone I care about in one of their homes. 

The clients are fantastic-that would be the only benefit. 
I’m relief at other agencies, and that has opened my eyes to how poorly run this organization is. 
*The process from house to house is ALL over the place. The HR department is poorly run. Often, you’ll find out that your training is expired, long after, and there is a scramble to get people up to date.
*We are so stuck in the past, it isn’t only our website. I believe that the organization is terrified about approaching things in a new manner. 
*Policies and processes are incredibly out of date. The entire management stream lacks continuity. Better yet, when the ED states in a meeting that she wants people to log on here and place good reviews, because she doesn’t like the poor (read honest) reviews, you know that the problems start at the top. 
Thankfully, the clients are incredible, but if you’re looking for a well balanced workplace, I would suggest that you continue looking.

I worked here for just around a year. I would say that the pay is wonderful and the experiences that you can have with the residents can sometimes be heart warming and eye opening all at once. The team you work with ~sometimes~ is decent and supportive. 

On the other hand, management is so self absorbed that they can try to fire you for proving they're doing something wrong or unethical. They don't accept any negative or constructive feedback without making it seem like you shouldn't be talking to them at all. Main office is a bunch of bullies. 

Some supervisors are very nice - most aren't. Some houses require a lot of personal care while others are very chill. 

I have made great friends but also been very stressed for several months working here. It seems it is less about actually helping those within the homes so much as the politics of the organization.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Support worker 39 salaries reported	$21.48 per hour
Counselor 4 salaries reported	$21.59 per hour
Service coordinator 1 salary reported	$77,500 per year
Safety coordinator 1 salary reported	$63,500 per year
Payroll accountant 1 salary reported	$64,000 per year

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