Palm Beach County Library System Reviews

Anyone applying here should know what you are getting into before signing up with Palm Beach County Library system. I worked for them long enough to realize what a toxic work environment they foster and it was best to leave rather than endure the disrespect and abuse. First, find a Labour Attorney because you are going to need one. There is no collective bargaining agreement and management will take every opportunity to abuse the terms of agreement of your contract when it comes to work time, sick leave (especially this one), vacation time and promotions and raises. Work performance reviews are witch hunts to make everyone who works for them feel worthless: expect nothing constructive. It is only a power trip among the managers to make them feel as if they are relevant and involved in the day to day, which they are not. Managers and Assistant Managers are often absent taking weekends and sick days to attend family functions, personal activities, and sporting events. Don’t ever get sick. They will go ballistic if you do. Work reviews are a means to punish those who do their jobs well or care about their performance. Don’t ever expect any praise or raise for anything you do well. Instead, expect them to tell you how lucky you are to have a job with them even though you are such a worthless worker. If you are working for them, never do them any favours. They will expect it always and view it as a character flaw to exploit. Workers who don’t care about their job or customer service are given leeway to do whatever, such as pawn work off on others, play games on the computers, work on their second jobs, talking on their cell phones while working at the desks and being rude to patrons. Bad workers are what management want so they can justify keeping salaries low. Circulation works well together and as a team. Children and Adult Reference do not. Simply put, if you care about your job you are going to be treated badly by management. Finally, promotions are based on the opinion of the managers, which explains why there are so many bad managers in this system. If you are good at your job, forget about ever rising up in the system. Instead spend your time looking for a job elsewhere. Respect your good workers and develop a system of management performance that evaluates all aspects of the library leadership. We are not the enemy.

Ohhh boy. Where do I start? Lack of support from management and admin, suggestions and ideas on how to make things more efficient or productive fall upon deaf ears, micromanagement to the nth degree. Administration is more concerned about aesthetics than the actual public and what the people need or want. We have to tell the members to make complaints about things they don't like or agree with because admin doesn't want to listen to staff. Favoritism runs rampant within the system and the favorites don't get punished for bad behavior or acting inappropriately. Meanwhile, the hardworking folks get punished for things that aren't their fault or are beyond their control. Bullying is also an issue. That goes both for staff side and public side. The general public at the Gardens branch are horrible, rude, and treat staff with the most absolute disrespect. The verbal, mental, and sometimes physical abuse isn't worth the amount you get paid. I have never been as abused as I was when I worked at the Gardens Branch Library. Staff are expected to cater and break rules or policies so that the members are no longer irate. When staff explain why they can't fulfill the request, management comes out and overrides everything you just explained to the member. Absolutely abusive and narcissistic behavior both from members and management. Also, be prepared to be blamed for mistakes that are clearly somebody else's fault. Even with proof and evidence that you are not to blame, you will be sent home without pay, written up, etc. because admin doesn't want to apologize or admit that they were wrong. Very toxic work environment to work in all around. You can't be trusted to just do your work, you have to be micromanaged and explain why you're doing something a certain way. Open door policy is not really open door because you'll be black listed or are made to feel bad that you brought up something that needs to be addressed. Gaslighting to the fullest. Staff safety is another issue and has so many layers to it, it's like an onion. Library staff are considered "essential" during hurricanes and are expected to show up to hurricane shelters with little training. Then, during the pandemic, library staff were considered "non-essential" and therefore had to show up to work despite being closed to the public. This is a perfect example of Schrodinger's cat. It's ironic that the mission statement for the library is "Connecting communities, inspiring thought, and enriching lives" because what this says and what admin is actually doing are completely opposite. They really don't care about the public, inspiring thought, or enriching lives. They refuse to listen to suggestions and continuously make it difficult for both staff and the public. Bottom line is that library staff are mistreated by both the hateful public and the narcissistic management/administration. This creates a horrible work environment all around and the salary isn't worth the abuse. Too many different expectations of library staff that go way over what library staff are supposed to do. They are LIBRARY STAFF - not hurricane shelter people, not a covid testing site, not a trauma call center, not Google, not Best Buy, not the DMV....just plain library workers.