special assistant

respite worker

administrative assistant

support worker

educational assistant

Childrens Autism Services of Edmonton

This organization has the best intentions of serving the community however they don't take care of their staff and this results in high staff turnover which creates stress for other staff and the families which they serve. 
The company continues to prioritize money over staff well being and family services by accepting families that they don't have the staff to serve. 

Upper management and leadership does not see or appreciate the hard work the staff does and continues to expect more from them leading to burn out.  Middle management type staff are motivating and caring but do not have the power or authority to take care of the staff by hiring more, incentivizing less preferred shifts (evening shifts), and offering raises or doing anything to value the current staff they have.  What is worse that they hired a speaker who shamed and ridiculed the approach that many of the behaviour consultants take (ABA) comparing these therapists to "voldemort". It was a punch to the gut.

On top of that, CASE is notoriously understaffed for psychology, occupational therapy, speech therapy, behaviour consultants, and in-home consultants. 
Despite their strong effort to be the number one organization for families with children with autism, they continue to over promise and under deliver both with in-home services and also respite. 

This is one of the most poorly managed workplaces I have experienced. Management is disorganized, unsupportive, and completely disconnected from the realities of frontline work. New employees are given little to no training, minimal guidance, and unrealistic expectations, then blamed when things go wrong.

There is also a complete lack of feedback or transparency. I did not receive a three-month evaluation, ongoing performance feedback, or any indication that my job was at risk. Instead, I was suddenly let go with no cause or explanation. This speaks volumes about the lack of professionalism and accountability in leadership.

The organization prioritizes money and optics over staff support, ethical practice, and sustainability. Staff concerns are ignored, burnout is normalized, and turnover is constant. Employees are treated as disposable rather than as professionals doing demanding and important work.

If you value clear communication, mentorship, or basic respect as an employee, avoid this workplace!

This job seemed good from the interview. But you'll soon find out they can't keep people. They will either quit or get fired for something unjustified. That's why they are always hiring. The benefits are okay. The pay is horrible, you can’t make a living off of it. They also state they will fire you if talk about wage. Which is because they don't want people to find out how poorly they pay. There is cameras everywhere, even in the lunchroom they don’t trust anybody. they constantly listen to your conversations on the video camera. it’s very clicky and you can’t voice your concerns. Basically there is favoritism. They say that there is not but there is. huge disconnect between upstairs in the front that half the things you’re saying you don’t even know if it’s true or up-to-date. there’s a lot of side picking especially with upper management. Also it’s obvious that there’s tons of fake reviews that are giving  five stars. get real if you don’t write a negative but only write a positive. It’s clear that it’s a fake review. maybe learn to work with people instead of firing them and maybe get actual management who doesn’t pick sides

The positive is that my co-workers really care about the children and their families. You can learn a lot while working here as they promote a lot of Professional Development especially when you work on the Education or Clinical Teams.  ( I am unaware of any admin team provided with training)

The workplace culture is toxic and the leadership does not promote a positive culture, specifically the Executive Director whose behaviour is toxic.  Previous leadership teams have attempted to change the culture and the same seems to be happening with the current leadership team. They take 2 steps forward then 3 steps backwards. Technology needs to get better they did give us newer phones  and that was a positive but the laptops really need to be replaced iPads would be great for clinicians as they have to chart from their laptops would be so much easier to take their notes on iPads and lots of clinicians purchase their own. There is never money for supplies for staff only for families. If you are a family member or friend of the executive director, its easy to get a job at the organization. 


My time at the company was not a happy time. Although working with the kids was amazing, as an employee you are told that the thing that matters the most is if the kid connects with you. What they don't tell you is that if the kid does not connect with you, you get in trouble and are hauled into meeting after meeting being told that you didn't do a good enough job. When there is a kid that you can not handle and it is not a safe situation for you or the child, you get hauled into meetings. When you ask for support when it comes to dealing with a more difficult kid, you get hauled into meetings or are told that you aren't trying hard enough. I also had a number of parents that would always ask me when the rest of their support team is going to get back to them when it came to their questions or funding. The longest it took anyone from the office to get back to them was THREE MONTHS! All in all, the company needs to be completely revamped with new staff and manager. But working with the kids, although in the end too much for me, was extremely rewarding and I miss the kids everyday.

Where do I begin? This organization lacks professionalism in many ways. Due to the pandemic, I was not adequately informed that I no longer had my position. HR and my direct supervisor told me that I would be given a call when it was time to return to work (expected to return in June). I had signed a document saying that my leave was temporary and I still had my job, but I never received a call. Since I did not hear anything in June, I decided to call to see if I still had this job, and the response I got was that they "forgot" to call me and let me know that I no longer had a job with the organization and that I can reapply if my job decides to be filled again. I lost so much respect for this organization. I never got the proper notice or a reference from my supervisor. When I tried to reach out, my supervisor ignored me more than once. I can go on and on about things that Children's Autism Services of Edmonton can improve, but do yourself a favour and avoid working here. They do not care about their employees, and management is terrible, and the workplace itself is very cliquey and isolating.  

The job descriptions do not accurately represent the actual work being done as a Primary Consultant. You are required to drive around the city and outside the city to see clients, you also have to work 2 evenings a week. This is masked as a " flexible work schedule" 

The company does not adequately provide resources for consultant to support families on visit. many if not all consultants purchase their own games/ supplies to do their job. Although this is not a requirement, it is definitely the culture of the organization that families have come to expect. Therefore leaving new employees in an awkward positions who do not wish to use their own finances to fund the job.

The company says it is flexible, but consistently monitors employees hours and how they are allocating their work time. They require a 70% direct time with families vs 30% direct time, which is unrealistic with all the paperwork that is required to be done.

The companies extended health benefits program is decent, it could be better.

Families are amazing, and frontline staff are great.

 It isn't worth the pay

I love their values and the way they work with kids, but those values are only skin deep. Management loves to put on a big show about valuing staff, but make constant changes that they claim are ‘new policy’ as they see fit. The culture is toxic and tries to take advantage of people- expecting work for free, buy supplies for the classroom with your own money, and to push yourself into toxic stress for them. They’ll ask you to come in sick, short staff the classrooms, berate you for minor mistakes and start rumors about you, then deny wage increases. Management continually acts shocked at the high turnover rates that have been happening recently as if they aren’t the cause of it, and will blame staff for things that couldn’t possibly be anyone else’s fault. While the children are wonderful, the directors, CEO, coordinators, and consultants are just awful and show absolutely no appreciation. Heads up that if you apply here expect to be paid a low wage for a lot of work. 

I love working the summer camp but respite has been difficult. The pay is way too low. The other respite staff and middle management are extremely caring and I always feel comfortable going to them for my concerns. I have never seen the other respite staff be anything but friendly, caring and accepting and it's probably the main reason I am still working here. The hours are flexible which is a plus but if you care about working lots of consistent hours, that is not guaranteed. Upper management has made life a little difficult. They are hard to reach, sometimes rude and I don't believe they care about their staff. I have had and seen physical injuries and other staff having their mental health deteriorate because of this job and there seems to be almost no support from upper management. It is understaffed and it's a high turn over rate which leads to a lot of confusing schedule changes and too high of a work load sometimes. 

When I first started, I felt as though I was making a difference and had support from management. That being said, the work environment became so toxic and abrasive that there were times where multiple staff eventually left abruptly. Service teams were constantly changing due to this. Which would affect client's services and support. Miscommunication was rampant due to these constant changes. If you ever voice any sort of concern. The higher ups will hold it against you but they'll say "they're looking out for you". This all culminated in me getting let go abruptly even though families I was supporting would tell me that I was making an impactful difference in their children's lives. All that matters to them is funding. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Special assistant 13 salaries reported	$19.85 per hour
Respite worker 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Administrative assistant 11 salaries reported	$19.73 per hour
Support worker 3 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Educational assistant 4 salaries reported	$21.25 per hour

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