community manager

senior accountant

community engagement specialist

Silvera For Seniors

Company offers benefits, training, & feedback surveys. All talk, no action. Time & capitol is wasted in irrelevent meetings, travel offsite or outsourced training. Employee survey is done yearly, satisfaction rates drop drastically, nothing is done. No survey was given in 2019, maybe this was discontinued? Basic benefits plans with small coverage amounts. Most positions are less than 24hrs weekly & do not qualify for benefits. Hourly empoloyees offered extra shifts; working fulltime with no benefits. This is done to cut costs. Salaried Employees work overtime with no pay (lieu). High turn over, quit or fired for friveless reasons. Staff use sick days excessively due to low morale. Expect to work short staffed, alone or cover dual roles more often than not. 

Community Managers/Administrative Coordinators/Dining Supervisors are the largest downfall. Many managers/supervisors are long time employees who have been promoted to roles they do not have the skills to execute. Struggle with simple tasks, use of entry level software & maintaining a professional/confidential work environment is the result of unqualified leaders. Resulting in the hiring of more inexperieced managers/supervisors or equally unqualified 'friends' via referrals. When a qualified person is hired, they leave as quickly as they obtain gainful employment as it is stressful & uncomfortable to work in this environment. Polices are posted but not inforced, many lack compassion, excessive gossip. Some managers for housekeeping & dining at larger communities are wonderful. 

Frontline staff, much of the work is put onto them. They do it happily as they have love & compassion for the residents & thier co workers (unlike most managers). Unstable upper level managment requires staff to bond together, making the environment tolerable & close knit. Most are looking for other work actively. Expect to be thrown into your role with little training or review of policies. 

Head office & HR do not execute employer/enployee/human rights regulation/company policies accurately. Countless staff are terminated shortly after medical leaves or forced to a lower paid position. Many relatives work at the same location. Changes are either not implemented or done rapidly, with poor execution. Company direction is not based on majority, feedback or residents quality of life; rather it is to cut costs, gain capital & lessen managements workload. No growth unless you have family, are a long service employee (15+years), have a referral in upper managment or are favored.

I know that when you need a job, you need a job. However, this is one place you want to stay away from! People actually get so so sad that they decide to be unemployed than working there...terrible wage, terrible benefits, despite all they boast of on their website and promises during the interviews. They fly under the radar of being a not-for-profit and use that as an excuse to pay you a little above minimum wage, but expect you to have Harvard and M.I.T qualifications! Their technology is very outdated and they refuse to be brought into the 21st century.
Terrible senior staff and miserable poor management, if you have plans to advance in life and in your career, forget it in this company because there's no room for advancement. They actually do not like the word "growth". You are expected to be in a repetitive position and have zero aspirations. The Chief of HR is utterly clueless on what HR means as a whole. He violates every employee rule and can be very intrusive into employee's personal lives. A very two-faced place where management smiles in your face, then send nasty emails about you behind your back! You can count the number of staff on one hand that have been in this company for 5 years and up.They mostly hire contracts, so they can terminate you if you ever disagree with anything. Management is AWFUL. (Dishonest mostly) Any "Great Reviews" is just damage control honestly. Even in the communities, it's a toxic management system there too. People snitching, gossiping and plotting behind each other's backs. That is what you are going to find there, no matter how good or experienced you are, you will get fed up after a couple of months. 
If you must apply to this place because you are unemployed, do so BUT HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY before you work there!

If you are looking for a career, this place is not for you.
No advancements. 


There is no training, guidance or leadership. When you work here the number one thing that goes through your mind is trying to cover yourself. 
The place is very toxic, a lot of people want to leave. 

You get no answers from supervisors or managers.

Silvera has a professional company do an employee survey. 
You answer the questions and it all gets compiled few months later. With maintenance, the previous year had a very low score, but this year it was even lower than low! It is low due to treatment, no processes and procedures, no answers, no support and a polluted work environment. 

Upper management doesn't care. 

For a company that has been around a long time, it is pretty sad they can't get their act together. Constant changes and restructuring, managers managing managers. 

There is only one maintenance guy who has been there for over 10 years. The rest are lumped in between 6 months to 5 years. The experienced guys usually get terminated, forced retire or pass away. 

With this position comes on call. 
The benefits are not bad, you get a company vehicle you can bank up to 24 hours. 
Because Silvera is disorganized, they have no policies regarding working long hours into the night and morning. Should the maintenance worker be sent home? This can be used against you if you are tired from a long night of on call.

The enjoyable part are the maintenance workers.

Silvera is a non-profit, they use this as justification to pay their people poorly, therefore, most staff are entering their careers, ending their careers, or stuck because there aren't any better options in the market right now. This leads to inexperienced and/or slow-moving, over-worked, and underpaid staff. The real problem is Silvera is stuck in a cycle, because of the reasons above their systems and processes are ineffective and no one is willing or is in the position of making changes happen. Work has to pass through a lot of hands before anything can get done, a lot of talks and no action. When there is talk no one can agree or get things done due to their strict bureaucratic system in place. When minor change does happen low-level management is confused over basic processes being constantly changed due to continuous staff turnover.

I write this review because I enjoy Silvera, the culture, the work environment, and the cause and I think it could be so much better if management were to listen to these comments. Many people across the organization feel this way, it has been communicated several times. Maybe not communicated to the right people or it's simply the cycle they're stuck in.

I had my opportunities with Silvera in many communities. The problem I had was there was a major disconnect between community managers and the staff. From cooks, aides, housekeepers and maintenance everyone was not treated fairly. You hear complaints about certain situations and nothing ever changes. You talk to the chain of command and it usually ends up with human resources. Human resources have a tendency of protecting management and going hard on employees. 
Community managers are just long term employees who eventually get promoted but do not have any leadership, problem solving and organizational skills.  There were two community managers that everyone that I knew loved to work with and in their buildings. The rest were out there micromanaging every move that an employee was making. When it came to covid and other times when there were outbreaks. community managers were very aggressive and demanding when it came to processes and procedures for the safety for everyone. Unfortunately some workers could get away with things while the rest couldn't. A lot of favouritism. 
I enjoyed the benefits and working with the team members. 



Former Admin Assistant there for almost 3 years. Why I stayed so long, I am not sure. No raises, no advancement. Management may as well spat on people, because that is how they make you feel. I was even told by one of the 'new' managers that was just being hired on when I left that my opinion doesn't matter because 'I'm just an admin.' They make you work hard and tirelessly for little money, expect to take on other peoples full time jobs because they were smart enough to quit and deserve better. Toxic environment. Upper management at head office does not care for the people out in the field, your voice will NOT be heard. HR protects the company and not the employee. I felt beaten down, degraded as a woman, and worthless. By the time I left that company, I had no idea how depressed I actually was. They only care about money, way too many chiefs and top heavy, not enough workers for the work that needs to be done. Everything has changed to contract so they can let you go whenever they want to. They lost their vision a long time ago and what is most important, their residents, the awesome seniors. 

Management makes decisions that impact your caseloads to the point of burning out. Even after expressing concerns you are told to leave if you don't like it. If you want to advance in the company, you MUST fit their idea of a drone to follow management's every decision without question. Management style is very patriarchal and there is no opportunity for growth. Picture 1980's style of management. The wage is about $7,000 less than anywhere else for social workers. Expect a caseload of 60+ with a small team of 5 with 2500 residents... you do the math... 

Most community managers are great and want what is best for residents, but even they are burning out with the lack of empathy and respect from management. Remember, Heads in beds. That is what the bottom line will always be for Silvera - They pretend to play nice but really they are sneaky and will blindside you without warning. 

company?
Unfortunately, I did not find many positive aspects during my time here. The management often came across as rude and unprofessional, which made it difficult to feel supported at work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Almost everything—from training to the daily work environment—felt stressful. Proper training was lacking, and some coworkers were unwilling to help. At times, employees were expected to perform well without receiving the guidance needed to succeed.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
In my experience, the workplace culture lacked professionalism and support. Communication between staff and management could be better, and overall the environment felt discouraging rather than motivating.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day often involved dealing with stressed and sometimes unfriendly coworkers who seemed overwhelmed with their own workloads.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It's fulfilling working with and for the senior residents.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
They overwork you, giving you 15 different jobs, sometimes with no guidance and  are severley under paid and not appreciated. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It was fine, they do try too hard to push engagement in the office, but it wasn't bad.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Working a 9-5, but with a lot of overtime hours that were unaccounted for. I would start with emails and meetings. I was in charge of website management, tangible donations, event management, poster creation, internal communications, and intranet management. I would also be required to drive all over the city posting information in our buildings andbringing the seniors donations.

Silvera for Seniors delivers on their promise of being work/life balanced environment. I find the management to be supportive and kind, and encouraging of personal and professional development. I truly can say this is the best environment I have ever worked in and the staff are truly the best people I have worked with. 

Silvera for Seniors has a variety of work options from Front Line Service positions in the amazing Independent Living communities to supportive administration positions. There are 25 locations throughout Calgary. 

And as a Not-for-profit employer, their salaries are competitive and their service is above and beyond expectations. I can not believe the food they make from scratch in their incredible communities.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Community manager 3 salaries reported	$59,000 per year
Senior accountant 1 salary reported	$87,500 per year
Community engagement specialist 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

Working at Silvera For Seniors: company overview and reviews

Silvera For Seniors

Silvera For Seniors ratings

Popular jobs at Silvera For Seniors

Salary satisfaction

Job seeker tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected