youth worker

support worker

program facilitator

case manager

program manager

Trellis Society


The kids in the group homes are doing their best, but the high turnover and inconsistent staffing—often referred to as "float staff,"—create a lack of continuity and structure.  This organization missed the point of group " HOMES."  This instability is impacting the youth, who are falling through the cracks. The homes lack a stable environment, and the supervisors are overworked, which adds to the challenge. Unfortunately, my experience with the my manager was particularly troubling; communication was often poor and dishonest  and I felt that I was not treated with the respect despite my hard work as a youth worker and positive rapport  i had created with the youth and colleagues.

The current state of the Trellis organization, particularly this side of it, is concerning. It appears to be struggling with internal structure and stability, which is reflected in the high turnover rates. It may be beneficial to wait until the organization addresses these issues and matures before considering further involvement. The situation is likely to deteriorate further if these structural problems are not resolved. 

Management will regularly encourage transparency and open dialogue with workers creating a false sense of bonding with you. There is a clear management vs workers environment in which workers are fired out of the blue and regularly. I've seen whole teams be fired and replaced, generally over pretty situations for example workers disagreeing with safety measures. There is little support for the trauma experienced by workers and workers are replaceable with no resources to avoid being fired without cause or explanation. Also, management is known to be overly concerned with the personal lives of workers. There were instances in which management shared pictures and videos of workers in a group chat that the workers were unaware of where they were out drinking at a bar. Overall a horrible environment for youth and workers alike. You can get by by being very accommodating/flexible, never complaining in a meaningful sense and by reporting your fellow workers to management and helping them get fired to advance your own career. Not a safe environment for youth or workers physically, emotionally or in terms of stability / being able to plan life around the job.


Management does not create a safe environment, and staff will warn you that management is quick to fire people. Within your employee contract, it states that management can fire you without notice or cause. This does happen frequently, and the company has a high turnover rate (worst I have seen). 
Within the group home department youth residents run the group home, and management sets frequent new rules. But does not support staff implementing them causing tension between front line staff and youth residents.
The group home departments policy is to just hire new staff instead of creating a better environment to keep staff. 
***Management will demand your attention over you supporting the youth. Example Management interrupting youth 1:1 time to inform you, you need to send an IR to a caseworker. When the supervisor and manager are not engaged in work, but in speaking about their personal lives.

I found that my colleagues were the best part of my time with Trellis. There is such a focus on data-informed community impact that it isn’t hard to get excited about the mission. Upper management cares bout staff and promotes a culture of total well-being, giving most staff flexible hours and a great benefits package. The key word is “most”. The legacy Boys & Girls Cubs of Calgary team has hostile, petty middle management that is dismissive of disagreements and differences of opinion. They expect total and complete sacrifice and agreement, seconding any objection to their toxic ideals of diversity at the expense of true expression. HR backs up their cattiness, and it is no wonder given that the clubs work off of awarding seniority to those that cow tow to the leadership. If you are not a diversity candidate or person of colour, they will constantly guilt trip you into feeling bad about your disagreements pushing you into silence.

High turnover rate. Asked me to pick you up an overnight shift where I had to work in 2 different buildings in a sketchy neighbourhood. I spent one hour in one building then crossed the road and spent the next hour in the other building, this carried on for the whole night. Mind you this was at night and for twelve hours! I was scheduled  to work overnight shifts because they desperately needed someone to cover the shifts even though I was a day staff and they knew I had a second job. After the week of overnight shifts, they laid me off the following week. Very unfair pay. I knew people with same title and had worked there longer than me, that were making less than me. Supervisors will never respond to your emails, even if it's an urgent matter. Bad work culture, no job security.

My time with Trellis was while working with them at the Calgary Stampede in 2021. Other that a name mixup on the first day, the experience was amazing. To my knowledge they offer a number of opportunities besides just stampede work. Hardest part of the the job was the job itself. Picking up litter on the stampede grounds in the middle of the day. But the supervisors are all very approachable and love to have fun. two to three additional breaks were given to us as well as our lunch break, and the culture was very entertaining and fun.

The company is great for flexible university student opportunities but any part-time or full-time position is extremely stressful with a lack of support from management. When asking for support nothing is done, even in crisis situations, and leaves front-line workers stressed and burnt out. There is a lack of equity in job opportunities and often favoritism from management day to day that is frustrating to navigate. With how clubs are run leaders are forced to put aside quality and trauma informed care to make it throughout the day. If management were better and followed company values on their website, it would be a great place to work. 

Trellis is an absolute chaotic mess.  Management is almost never seen. No one knows who their actual supervisor is, yet the company is filled with ‘managers’. They are so focused on being politically correct that they’re not helping anyone. The pay offered is embarrassing and they should be ashamed of themselves for even suggesting such a low amount. There is a reason this place is filled with young, new grads who are only there for experience. Anyone with experience wouldn’t work here.  Avoid at all costs. Not worth the effort.  

Frontline work never pays enough, but Trellis tries to compensate as fairly as possible. There is a lack of racial diversity in leadership despite a large emphasis on it with trainings. Leadership has a hard time with this truth, but to their credit are trying their best to find solutions. There can be a real sense of community amongst staff depending on the program you’re in. Overall, this is a great place to work where staff are cared for and invested in. 

This is a good job to gain some experience but not a good environment to stay for long. The pay and benefits are good comparatively and trainings are paid.
Some of the programs in the agency are run better than others.
But like the others have warned there is a big problem with management across the agency. Some people are very unprofessional and bad-talking others from completely different programs. There is obvious favoritism and an in group with management.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Youth worker 5 salaries reported	$49,000 per year
Support worker 5 salaries reported	$47,400 per year
Program facilitator 5 salaries reported	$20.31 per hour
Case manager 5 salaries reported	$52,200 per year
Program manager 3 salaries reported	$72,833 per year

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