Pros
-Meaningful work with people who are low-income, marginalized, and struggling with their mental health. The work feels important and brings personal satisfaction. -Important mission providing essential services to the Montgomery County community. -Clients are very pleasant, very enjoyable to work with, and it feels really satisfying when folks express gratitude for the services they received, which happens frequently. There are many long-term clients who have received services at this agency for years. -Compensation is awesome in terms of base pay, but when accounting for health benefits and working hours, it is not as good. Salaried employees are expected to work 50 hours per week and the healthcare options are both the most expensive and lowest coverage I've ever had.
Cons
-Problematic culture that promotes a challenging working environment such as requiring all staff in my department to publicly ask supervisors' permission to use the restroom via a shift-wide group chat, heavily discouraging (or sometimes outright denying) employees working 8hr+ shifts from actually taking lunch breaks or unplugging outside of their work hours by holding them accountable for things that happened when they were off the clock, and enforcing written agency policies inconsistently and in a manner that seems inequitable. -Organization uses AI to monitor employee performance in ways that do not necessarily feel helpful or supportive for the staff. -Staff feels disempowered to express constructive feedback or set basic boundaries as it is seemingly not welcome or well-received.