conseiller

directeur d'accueil collectif de mineurs

youth counselor

financial analyst

employment counselor

JOhn Howard Society

The JHS is a reputable company and offers a lot of diverse programs for its clients. The company does a lot of wonderful things for those at risk in the community. There is room for advancement and many training opportunities available for professional development and personal growth. The pay is fair and the benefits package is a good one. Most employees were enthusiastic and hard workers. Many positives but a also many negatives. Due to the nature of the work, it can be mentally draining. The management team claims to be understanding, supportive, and non judgemental but that was not always the case with some difficult clients and staff. At times the working environment was incredibly toxic with some members of management partaking in highly inappropriate tactics when handling front line staffing issues. Some members of senior management showed bullying type behaviours towards staff and residents. Many times staff members were undervalued and unappreciated. There is no exit interview for employees that leave the company which is a major red flag. Sometimes a poor management team can cause a lot of harm to an otherwise amazing company. Many complaints were not followed up on and policies/protocols were not followed accordingly. Good workers were often times manipulated in attempts to find information about other staff when that was the job of management- not front line staff. Confidentially was often times broken by some members of the management team without solution. Some clients were treated poorly if they had complex behavioural issues. 

I worked at JHS for many years and under different management. I must say, it was an absolute joy and honor to work with the original management team but sadly, since the new team came on (the ED retired and a new person replaced him) things changed drastically. 
The original program managers left shortly thereafter and new ones were hired. 
Let's just say that the vast majority of the original staff of very dedicated and respected employees of JHS have left the agency because of the working environment. It no longer is a nice place to work and is instead, full of very stressed individuals with a poor morale.
The environment now is quite stressful and micromanaged and you will receive very little if any, support from management. In fact, you can expect to be visited fairly often by the management pointing out areas in which you are not being productive, etc. You should not expect to receive very much positive encouragement (at least my former colleagues and I did not receive much). You are expected to not only work your own caseload but others' as well.
It is very difficult to take the lieu time you will accrue because your caseload is just that busy and management is difficult to work with in this regard.
The upside is that you get really great holidays but sadly, in some situations, no one really covers your full workload while you're away so you end up coming back to an absolute mountain of work.
While it is a unionized agency, for some reason, the union is not quite strong, 
It was with a very heavy heart that I, and many of my colleagues, left JHS because it truly was an agency we once all loved.

The rewarding nature of working in this field becomes almost impossible to appreciate due to the terrible work of the people in charge. Workers are treated as dispensable and worthless. The high turnover rate creates an air of confusion, improper training, and miscommunication among the staff. Just as one batch of new employees gets trained, they are promptly fired or quit to make way for a new one, and so the cycle continues. The interview process is a joke as they will hire people on the spot with no screening and will have them begin work before a criminal record check is complete or references are called. Managers pick favourites and if you’re not one of them you’re screwed, no matter how dedicated to your job you are. The clients are some of the only tolerable people who you will encounter working at JHS.
Great place to work if you lack self respect. 

I can confidently say that my time with John Howard was nothing but amazing. I worked with an amazing team, had amazing managers and the clients were absolutely amazing. This is a job where building relationships is key with the clients and your coworkers is key, and teamwork is essential in order to handle whatever situation is thrown at you. I have never felt so rewarded at work and I always felt so appreciated for everything I had done. Of course not every job is perfect, working in residential care hours can be long, sometimes you end up working doubles and things can be stressful, but when I found myself in escalated situations, I knew that my co worker had my back which was always a great feeling. If you are someone who loves working with people, who has an interest in learning more about mental health and who can handle a face paced workplace, this job is for you! 

This field is hard enough, it's worth finding a place that values you. At times it really did feel like management is at war with their staff. Several staff have told me they didn't feel comfortable bringing issues forward or expressing, even health, needs, for fear of dismissal. I've seen and felt the judgement for having mental health struggles, I've heard management openly tell their staff to keep it a secret. I've known many amazing staff who really care about the clients and always go above and beyond get fired for very small reasons. I've known many people who treat the clients poorly, stay for years. 

Wonky values are only part of the problem, the company absolutely refuses to keep up with technology, they still keep their logs on paper. They're more concerned about cellphone use than they are the quality of client care.

The only redeeming value would be the clients. 

Toxic work culture, poor management, preferential treatment for employees favoured by the management. Most of the staff are frustrated and unhappy at this job. Clients are mostly homeless and usually unwilling and unable to work and cooperate with their outreach workers. Most of the time you are just trying to keep yourself busy by "doing sometbing" or pretending to be doing something. Management prefers younger employees by far, some of those are allowed to do and say whatever they want. Thats favoritism and poor unfair management in a unionized work site. Avoid at all costs this place is toxic and unhealthy.

While at John Howard staff would bring me papers they needed photocopyed or/and binded, and I would deliver it to them when I was finished. I was also responsible for moving last years stored files to the storage room in the back, move this years files to the storage closet, and make new files, label them and arrange them in the filing cabinets.

I learned about end of the year filing, policies for files, and gained experience on a photocopier and binding machine. The management was friendly and helpful and the staff were just as friendly and helpful.

The hardest part of the job was leaving on time since I always wanted to stay late to finish what I was doing. I enjoyed every aspect of this job and wish it wasn't just a two week placement.

it was more manageable work with client and attending the need of client and documenting the report and updating the information also monitoring client often.
I learned more of the client and the behavior and how to respond. what not demands you can respond or changed to suggest another item. learned not aggravate the situation but work with client by managing and balancing the situations. The work place is to communicate with the co-worker and have a cooperation together.
The hardest part of the job was when the client is intoxicated with drugs and escalate or violent.
The most enjoyable part of the job was the outing or when the client asleep then you can do your report. when the parent take the client for outing.

This agency is a good starting point, but I don't recommend staying for too long. While I've only worked out of one main region, everyone was very overworked, with high job expectations and low financial compensation. We were often asked to complete tasks in a way that was unsafe for the worker and/or service user. From my experience, it seemed like a lot of managers were in their positions because of years of service, not because they were qualified. As a result, there was often mismanagement and inappropriate responses to workplace issues. I was able to meet a lot of amazing people here, but it was not enough to keep me interested in the agency as a whole.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Sense of community making lives of people they serve better.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Funding is not always enough, needs of the community is growing and funding is not enough to sustain supports

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Collaborative and friendly- employees support each other, leadership is engaged and supportive.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Diverse activities, engaging with community partners, connecting with clients, facilitating in classroom, finding homes for homeless people, and a lot of laughter in between

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Conseiller 20 salaries reported	$17.86 per hour
Directeur d'accueil collectif de mineurs 6 salaries reported	$75,000 per year
Youth counselor 2 salaries reported	$37.58 per hour
Financial analyst 2 salaries reported	$67,500 per year
Employment counselor 2 salaries reported	$48,127 per year

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