Hey there all. First time poster, long time lurker. I honestly don't know if I'm looking for advice or just venting, but any thoughts help!
I started a job as a scheduler for a company that provides in-home caregivers for seniors, mostly working with the VA. Sounds like a job doing good, right? In theory, yes. And there are lot of people that we're helping out. However, I've noticed an ongoing trend of the other schedulers just changing the schedules of clients and caregivers without talking to them first.
Basically, they make changes that work best for filling in any open shifts, and only mention it to people after the changes are made. Changes don't work for the client? Too bad, that means you're not getting a caregiver today. Changes don't work for the caregiver? Too bad, looks like you're not getting paid for these shifts now.
My first thought would be to talk to management about this, but unfortunately, management encourages this. We still get paid from the VA if we can say we “offered” a caregiver and the client declined.
Maybe it's just me, but this all feels so unethical. I've never worked a job where anyone can just change your shift, even day of, without talking to you first. And these clients are some of the most vulnerable people. Some need 24/7 care! How can anyone feel good about making them go without help just to make a spreadsheet look good? In addition, we just pick up clients without making sure we have enough caregivers in the area to actually help them out.
The problem is that if don't at least stay for my 90 day probation period, they're no longer going to pay me for training that I did. Honestly, I can't afford to have a pay gap either (who can, right?), so it's making just the thought of looking for another job stressful. The hours I work are good for me being in school, and otherwise, it's a mellow job. I just find myself feeling more and more down about how things are run. Does anyone else have experience with this kind of thing? Is this normal for this type of job?