Initially, working at RUI seemed promising, but the situation quickly deteriorated within the four short months of my employment. In my first week, the executive director in training was terminated, marking the second leadership change within the year. This, coupled with a declining census, made it clear that my role would be heavily focused on boosting occupancy, which became the central priority.
In an effort to drive new resident growth, I hosted monthly professional networking events and spent some Fridays building relationships with neighboring communities. However, it became evident that higher management was inflating the resident census by keeping deceased residents on the roster longer than they should have been. I was even criticized by leadership when I followed proper procedure and removed a deceased resident from the census.
A significant part of my job involved acquiring reviews, with a quota of at least 15 per month. Although we were discouraged from pressuring prospective residents for reviews, there was an expectation to ask friends, family and even new employees to post reviews across various community locations. This led to the majority of Google reviews being less than genuine.
The company’s approach to PTO was another issue, as I was required to justify the reason for my time off. Additionally, the work culture was riddled with gossip, and I learned that my personal life had been openly discussed among colleagues, including by my own manager who felt comfortable admitting this information to me.
Nepotism was also a concern, as many members of leadership were related through marriage, further complicating the work environment. Despite working long hours and being asked to come in on weekends, my requests for compensatory time off were dismissed, with my executive director stating that it’s "called working" and that I needed to adjust to the extended hours.
When I raised these concerns in an email to my executive director, my message was ignored, and I experienced retaliation, which eventually led to my termination. Despite bringing in 13 new residents during my tenure, My contributions were downplayed, and I was informed that the success was attributed to the entire management team, not to my individual efforts.
Before applying to RUI, I strongly recommend researching the work culture thoroughly and gaining a clear understanding of the role’s expectations. A quick Google search of the company’s leadership may also provide insight into the current state of the organization.
