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Community Research Foundation

Engaged employer

Community Research Foundation Reviews

3.0

47% would recommend to a friend

(208 total reviews)
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James Rogers

65% approve of CEO

39% positive business outlook

Community Research Foundation has an employee rating of 3.0 out of 5 stars, based on 208 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The Community Research Foundation employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Non-profit and NGO industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

208 reviews
3.0
7 Mar 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

* The camaraderie is incredible. People genuinely care about the clients. In tough situations, your coworkers will support you. Management might not, but your coworkers will. *You will get a lot of valuable experience working with a really broad spectrum of mental illnesses and populations. You'll learn a lot on the job. If your passion is community mental health and high acuity populations, you'll definitely see a lot of things here and get the experience. *If you're trying to rack up your hours for licensure, you'll get it pretty quickly. The ratio ends up being 50/50 direct service/admin hours for outpatient. You'll only get a higher ratio by working inpatient. *If you stick around long enough, you will move up the ranks quickly. Given the hiring challenges the company is having right now, you would likely be able to argue a higher wage if you have the right experience.

Cons

*You will be overworked and underpaid. This is true of most community mental health, unfortunately. *You will have minimal control over your schedule, who you work with, and how your day goes. You will be double booked and expected to randomly cut appointments short in order to meet with more people. *The training that is offered is limited and more indicative of what corporate wants you to be doing with clients to maintain operational efficiency and limit liability, not to foster clinical growth. * The productivity expectation is unreasonable and unachievable, but you will be personally blamed and publicly shamed for not meeting the expectation. Documentation, travel time, supervision, admin, training, and no-shows do not count toward your productivity. If you have a no-show, the expectation is that you are supposed to scramble to find something else to do, whether or not it is in your job description. You will often actively be asked to do things that are outside your role and scope. *The processes for admin duties are frequently changed without clear communication. Many admin tasks such as maintaining various logs can be redundant and intensely time-consuming, and time spent does not count toward productivity despite being necessary for clinic operations. * Supervision is limited and you will need to advocate for yourself intensely in order to get sufficient supervision time to log your hours at a correct ratio. Despite being legally necessary for you to be able to see clients if you are an associate, it will not be counted toward your productivity. You will also be required to attend treatment team meetings that will not count toward your productivity. * Documentation is expected to be concurrent and collaborative but also highly detailed and completely unique for each client contact. Not every client is capable of meaningfully participating in the creation of documentation (for example, due to cognitive capacity or outright denial of diagnosis), but that doesn't matter. The expectation is the same across the board. Most people I worked with were either behind on documentation or doing it off the clock to maintain timeliness standards. That's not sustainable. *All benefits were cut for part-time employees, and the benefits were a huge reason to even work for this type of company in the first place. Now, there is no health insurance, paid time off, or loan repayment. Of all the expenses to cut to make the company "sustainable", as the email announcing this change claimed, how does undercutting already underpaid employees lead to retention? I've known multiple people who were forced to leave the company because they needed health insurance, couldn't afford the buy-in the company was offering, and were ineligible for other affordable insurance because they were in the no-mans-land of salary range.

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Community Research Foundation Response
2y
The system of care in the State of California is undergoing a complete overhaul, and it has impacted how ALL service providers are required to operate. CRF is working diligently to find the best way to improve our services to clients while meeting the demands of the system. We realize the transition has been difficult for some, but our mission to serve our community to the best of our ability remains unchanged. Under no circumstances are off-the-clock hours permitted, and when requested, additional paid time has been approved. We have provided additional training, supports, and resources to help our staff adjust to the new normal of managed care. Benefit changes mentioned were actually discontinued due to lack of interest and participation; we continue to have one of the best benefit programs and actively look for additional options throughout the year.
1.0
17 Jan 2024

RUN

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Access to trainings for therapist development which is good IF you have the time between insane documenting requirements.

Cons

I asked for a 4$ raise at my one year review to be at market value for the job and they told me they couldnt do that due to 'funding". I put in my notice one month later and the supervisor called me same day and offered a 7$ raise to match my new offer. Suddenly theres funding! This company will manipulate you into thinking you should be trying harder or that you aren't doing enough by pretending to consult with you on how to improve work/life balance but then not change anything and eventually add more to your plate. The veterans who have ben their 10+ years are cruising and somehow protected so they actually dont work as hard as lower level positions. If you try and mention this they hint that you should keep this to yourself

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Community Research Foundation Response
2y
Our contracts are funded by San Diego County, and we have to adhere to the requirements within that contract regarding pay increases; we do not time our increases by an individual's review date. We are paying above market value for similarly funded programs in San Diego for most of our positions, and our benefits are exceptional as well, including a full working month of paid days (PTO and Holidays) for most full-time employees.
2.0
1 May 2023
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Decent benefits and generous pto,

Cons

Very low pay that’s not competitive or up to cost of living standards. As it’s a non profit and county funded, the company doesn’t give raises until or unless contract renewals give the programs more money. Yet upper management has recently created about half a dozen new positions to shuffle themselves around and give themselves more pay. Extremely top heavy organization at which the 1% has completely lost touch with the rest of us. Benefits are great unless you need to add family. Then it’s absolutely unaffordable.

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Community Research Foundation Response
2y
You did not indicate which program you work at, but almost ALL of our programs have converted to contracts that include annual pay increases. We also have opportunities to grow and move up within the company that will include higher pay rates. If you are registered/licensed, your options are significantly higher. We do recognize the cost of living in San Diego is very challenging and we are doing what we can within our means to help our workforce members.
Viewing 1 - 3 of 208 Reviews

Glassdoor has 217 Community Research Foundation reviews submitted anonymously by Community Research Foundation employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Community Research Foundation is right for you.