I know an HC employee. The burnout is real, and they have a real middle management issue. There are a lot of bad managers driving out people with typical bad manager behavior. For example, Howard Center policy allows for hybrid/remote work if and when possible, and a lot of positions actually would make sense for it. But managers take advantage of it but refuse to let their teams to. Or forcing people to have their time off requests for all three months of summer…by February. When you combine the frustrations of bad managers with the burn out of the work, and working nights and weekends, no one wants to stay, even in the positions that are well paid.

Fellow HC worker here. It's partly everything you're saying and more. I used to work on the crisis team, and I will tell you without a shred of doubt that both middle management HC leadership - with few exceptions - don't give a single shit about their ground-level workers. They forced their clinicians back to face-to-face assessments in the ER before vaccinations for the virus, and there is not enough space in those ER rooms to socially distance, putting their clinicians at medical risk. They enacted policies that continually made working conditions harder, and would not advocate for the members of the team, who were constantly asked by community members to do things above and beyond the responsibilities of those clinicians. And when the workers tried expressing concerns about how things were going, concerns were largely ignored and not addressed. When workers tried calling out the toxic leadership, individuals were prevented from being licensed or their work was twisted to look like they weren't doing enough.

And that doesn't even touch upon the absolute lack of specialized workflow and procedure training across numerous departments. Everyone gets one basic round of trainings, and then hope that they have fellow clinicians who care about their contributions enough to take them under their wing and show them the ropes. But even then, the agency continues to change policy on - at least - a monthly basis, adding more and more work onto workers' shoulders.

Howard Center has a toxic leadership culture, which is illustrated by their bad-faith negotiating tactics with HC workers' union. And unfortunately, because it's working out pretty well for those in leadership positions, there's not enough will for things to change at the agency. Those who could have become career community healthcare workers get burnt out by the treatment they receive and the lack of will to change things. "Well, that's just the way things are" is a refrain I've heard WAY too often. And - sadly - one of the reasons that I'm in the process of leaving. I wanted to stay at least ten years, but the conditions here are just anti-worker.

Well if the employees are being asked to fill other positions while doing their original job, wouldn’t paying them more be the least the employer can do to compensate for additional work? It may not be a 100% solution, but if they can offer the team building/ relaxation practices like you said then they could at least pay their workers more if they can’t hire anyone else.

Better salaries would certainly help with retention, attracting applicants, filling positions, and reducing said burnout. It’s a core issue.

I appreciate your perspective. As a parent and guardian of a young adult in the system (different DA though, not Howard) how can we best advocate for employees’ needs? What would solve the lack of staffing?

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