travailleur des services de développement

community care worker

Cornerstone Community Association

It is quite funny that they keep raising the pay here for Shelter Staff (Community Service Worker) since the turnover is so high. That's the position that they're always hiring for. It wouldn't matter though if they paid 30 bucks an hour, it STILL wouldn't be worth it to work here. You are overworked to the bone. You get hired on as a shelter staff but they dump a TON of CRF work on you as well and you're expected to do both. Not only are you dealing with up to 40 clients in the shelter program but you're also needing to deal with the 15 men living at Cornerstone through the CRF program (and there's only two staff on at all times) You are doing the work of 3 or 4 people at all times and there's no empathy, gratitude or respect from management at all. You can do a hundred things right and work really hard everyday and you will be shown no appreciation at all but as soon as you make a mistake, they punish you hard. You're expected to master every task and every aspect of both the shelter program and the CRF program in a very short period of time. The management here is actually quite scary and you're always walking on egg shells. It's very anxiety-inducing. You also have to put up with the toxicity and abuse from the senior shelter staff that have been there for 5, 6, or 7 years. These women are completely burnt out and have no business still working here. They have NO patience for new staff and they go out of their ways to make new staff feel as uncomfortable as possible. There is a reason why turnover is so high and it's because Cornerstone is a horrible place to work. Avoid at all costs.

Where do I even start? Management here is a nightmare. Goalposts constantly move, expectations change daily, and rules are applied inconsistently. What’s enforced one day with one staff member doesn’t apply to others, and there’s clear favouritism in how both staff and shelter guests are treated. Some guests get “special treatment” while others are held to arbitrary standards, leaving staff confused and frustrated.

I’ve seen colleagues be targeted for minor things while others get a free pass simply because they’re favored. You’ll spend more time worrying about whether you’re “in trouble” than actually doing your job. Policies that are supposed to apply to everyone feel like suggestions depending on who’s involved.

If you thrive in chaos and don’t care about fairness, you might survive here. But if you value consistency, transparency, and respect in the workplace, this is not the place for you. Take the experience, learn what not to tolerate, and move on.

If that’s not your day, you’ll likely be followed around by management, micromanaged, and told “we appreciate you” while their actions say otherwise. Clear favoritism exists — if you’re not part of the inner circle, you’ll quickly end up on their bad side, and they’ll make sure you feel it.

While the experience you gain can look great on a resume, the stress level is extremely high and can take a serious toll on your mental health. This workplace runs on fear and burnout. Use it as a stepping stone, trust no one, and go home at the end of your shift. Honestly, this organization needs to be taken over by the Region to be properly managed.

Upper management here is awful and they truly don’t care about their employees. I worked there for a while and would not recommend working there if you don’t want to work in a hostile environment. The 2 higher-up managers are all talk when it comes to promoting how great Cornerstone is for the community, but when things start to get ugly they show their true colours. They don’t care about the safety of their employees. They are more worried about whatever next media event they can show their faces at and pretend that everything is all rainbows and sunshine at Cornerstone where they do so much for the community.  The executive director always talks about how great they are and how they “stand with the belligerent” and partner with them to do great things. But as soon as someone is belligerent and making Cornerstone look bad, he is phoning intake staff telling them to call the police on the person out in the parking lot who looks unbecoming because god forbid they might represent Cornerstone poorly. Not like he would leave his office to go out and try to talk with with the belligerent person himself of course, because intake staff don’t already have enough to do. There was a huge change in the energy and feeling at cornerstone as soon as the old executive director left and the new one took over. They push all good employees out because they care more about policies than actually working with or caring for their employees. There is less feeling of safety and community now more than ever. I hope for the sake of Oshawa's vulnerable population and the staff employed at cornerstone that management gets a major overhaul.

Being a cook at cornerstone would be going to work, checking menus, preparing and cooking whatever is for lunch or dinner. Then serving it to clients. 

The people I have worked with at Cornerstone make you feel at home at it's a fantastic team. They are easy-going, friendly and always ready to help.

Management is wonderful for the most part. The kitchen manager is extremely friendly and helpful and no matter what I can always trust that he's there to help. He tells you your mistake and shows you how to correct it.

I feel like at Cornerstone everyone's friends and they're comfortable with each other and as a result it makes me feel comfortable to be there. 

Cornerstone has a specific type of clientele being a shelter; we have clients on occasion who are difficult and rude but the majority are nice and understanding.

Sometimes specially the beginning of spring it's usually quiet so at these times to me it's a little boring and I find myself not having anything to do. 

Their kitchen is small but there are usually only 2 people working so it's not crowded. We have to make food for 25-35 clients everyday and serve them over the counter. I learned how to multi-task and work under a short period of time (15-30 minutes) to prep everything for serving.

Do not work here!!!! The management is extremely toxic and corrupt and only wants to cover their butts. The shelter manager is completely oblivious to the clientele she is working for. She does not understand what the clients are going through and you can tell she truly does not care to learn about them and their story. She talks to the clients like they are children and belittles with the way she speaks. 
They expect these shelter guests to come and save money, find housing and become stable when they are dealing with other circumstances that makes it impossible to be stable. Instead of really providing supports, they kick them back out to the streets. These individuals and struggling and this place tears them down more, I’ve seen it so many times. The clientele really was the only good thing about working there but you can find something much more healthy and positive , so save yourself the headache! 
They want their workers to be naive and vulnerable and have no voice of their own so they can’t realize the horrible environment they work in!! Although it does take a specific person to work here, the turnover rate really is so bad. I worked there nearly 3 years and watched over 20-30 staff come in and out whether they were fired or quit. This place overworks you, underpays you, and burns you out. I hope they can get it together for the sake of the clients as it really is them who lose out in the long run. 

Cornerstone does alot to help the men and women in the Durham community. Let's face it shelter work is hard, you are abused by the guests, spat on and called all sorts of names - the nature of the addiction and mental health.  However, the management are awful!   There are a lot of safety issues that you face every day and when incidents happen often you are brought into the office and told to go home. What is very interesting is that management tolerate intimate relationships between the staff which makes the other workers feel uncomfortable.  Pay- at the time I was there it was barely $17 an hour, which does not encourage anyone who is verbally abused most shifts to stay. If you are sick you have to arrange your own coverage. Someone mentioned in prior posts a union, this was a joke when I was there, the head union guy was a nice guy but when it came to helping those who were being targeted, he was useless. Lastly, there was never an exited interview to address why people left. I wish that the funders of CCA - the Region of Durham would investigate this organization. I can only speak to the shelter, not any other housing connected with CCA.

Working here was worse than I ever could've imagined. First off, the union here is beyond useless and does absolutely nothing to deal with the corruption and abuse that takes place. Us shelter staff have the hardest job and biggest workload and yet we are by far the lowest paid employees in the whole company. We also have horrible hours and have to constantly go between day, evening, and overnight shifts.

The staff in outreach, CRF and housing-first get paid a ridiculous amount more than us and get cushy 9-5, Mon to Fri schedules with every weekend and holiday off. Shelter staff are looked at like garbage, by everyone. I can honestly say that never in my life have I felt less respected. The shelter portion of Cornerstone is the backbone of the whole agency and yet it's the most poorly treated by everyone else. Working at Cornerstone was awful, the worst experience of my entire life.

I think the problems here are exclusive to Cornerstone though so I don't want to scare anyone off from working at a shelter altogether. I've had co-workers here move on to other homeless shelters in Toronto and York and the staff there get treated 100% better. It's just this place that's horrible.

I've been with Cornerstone for over 3 years and can say it is the best job I've had in the field so far. I have experience at different shelters and with different areas and CCA is by far the best. Intake staff do have a ton of work BUT thats the position where you will learn a bit about everything. Other agencies always commend Intake staff, and agree that this is where anyone should start out. You'll deal with mental health, addictions, homelessness, housing supports and corrections. While yes it's lots of pay with low money the team is great. No one says to stay here for ever as Intake is very much an entry level position. If you have a degree there is a chance to advance. The agency overs educational assistance,a job shadow program in other areas and GREAT benefits and an RRSP fund for those who stay. It's sad that a few previous employees would ruin the reputation of an agency all of it's workers are so passionate about.

The organization is not equipped to handle the opioid epidemic that is happening in the local community. With a housing first approach many community members are left wondering around the city without any real solutions to their issues and this is having a direct negative impact on the city of Oshawa. 

When clients have sever mental health and addiction issues, simply pushing them to secure an income and find housing is not only illogical but an unacceptable social service and that is detrimental to the city of Oshawa.   

If these clients could secure income and housing they wouldn't need Cornerstone in the first place. If you give a person a fish you feed them for the day. If you teach them to fish you feed them for life. 

Cornerstones housing first approach is an outdated attempt at giving local clients a fish. That is not going to help their issues nor the local community.


Working in the shelter as a community service worker was very stressful. We are treated really badly by management and shown no respect. Out of all the different departments at Cornerstone, the shelter workers are treated the worst by far. We have the biggest workload and the most responsibility and yet we have the lowest pay by far of anyone at the agency. We also have the worst schedule by far (you're working overnights as well as days and evenings, it's all over the place and you're working holidays) This is one of the worst places you can work at, avoid.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Travailleur des services de développement 2 salaries reported	$24.79 per hour
Community care worker 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour

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