Working at Aacres has its ups and downs. Due to th...

Working at Aacres has its ups and downs. Due to the nature of this place and its low wages, the company ends up scooping in a bunch of dead weight along with potentially great employees with its bulk hiring practice for Direct Support Professionals (DSP).
There is a great misunderstanding between Management and DSP's. Often management does not relay all information to concerned staff which often confuses the individual. Management gets blamed by staff, guardians, and clients when issues arise from exterior factors such as DSHS dictating caregiver wages, client living arrangements, taking too long to make key decisions, etc. Management is also overworked by the corporate level, typically one supervisor managing 35-60 staff at once. They are also pushed to be available 24/7 to staff calls and forced to cover an abandoned shift on short notice at any time of day. Management often struggles with upper management who are disjointed with actual needs of clients and experimenting with management and staff job rolls, responsibilities, etc.
The quality of client homes are sub par in a lot of scenarios but this is usually due to a lazy landlord. Many clients cannot afford to live in better living establishments and some have to adhere to strict location restrictions such as those who are sex offenders under Aacres' care. Then there is DSHS's input on living locations that further impede client's receiving a quality home quickly.
Life as a DSP isn't very grand but is a pretty relaxing job in most cases. Some clients require a considerable amount of attention and support while others only require someone there to assist rarely. For those lucky individuals who watch TV with the client all day, their wage doesn't seem too bad, but for those who have to deal with individuals who bite, scratch, smear body waste, etc the wage is laughable. DSHS controls the wages for staff and bases it off what they consider quality of care, unknown to most staff. However being a DSP can have its perks, a lot of clients need a caring person's support and the feelings helping others can be personally uplifting. Some become almost like family and they see you as part of their family. Sometimes you'll get to go to events like music concerts and vacations for free in order to support the client. There is a lot of overtime opportunities for a DSP that does their job correctly. Unfortunately, management are salary and often end up working 60+ hours a week without the added overtime.