While often at work it is enough to keep one’s boundaries and stick to one’s responsibilities, sometimes real-life situations are more tricky than that and some creativity might be of use to make sure you are not being taken advantage of. This Redditor realized it when he found his way to get the management to do their job instead of abusing his schedule as he could not leave the people in a community home unsupervised.

More info: Reddit

Working in a community home, this man’s replacement did not show up again, so he found a way to fix it

Image credits: Joshua Brown (not the actual photo)

He had to stay for the night shift, so he asked to keep his day shift as well, which meant he pulled 3 shifts in a row

Image credits: Augustus_B_McFee

Image credits: Adrien Olichon  (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Augustus_B_McFee

Image credits: Any Lane  (not the actual photo)

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Image credits: Augustus_B_McFee

The management agreed as it meant they didn’t need to find a replacement for Saturday

Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

As the employee didn’t agree to drop his following shift, his overtime continued till he finished on Saturday night

This man found himself in a challenging situation at his work in a community home, where he is still working with people with disabilities. Despite loving the job and being devoted to the people he is working with, he was faced with quite a challenge some time ago. 

He explained that in this sort of job, there is quite an obvious distinction between people who like the job and those who don’t – because while it is a great job for people who like it, it actually feels terrible for those who don’t.

This helps to explain the dynamic of people working in a community home – which is either working there for a very long time or quitting shortly after. Which was one of the factors that led to a staff deficiency in this Redditor’s workplace.

The house this man worked in wasn’t particularly difficult, though it put the task of taking care of 4 adults with intellectual disabilities all in one man’s hands as the supervisor was miles and miles away. Due to staff deficiency and high turnover, this man frequently had to stay overtime during the time when his story took place. 

Due to work specifics, not having a shift filled wasn’t an option as people in the community house are vulnerable and could not be left unsupervised. This oftentimes meant the man had to wait after the end of his shift to get replaced or walk yet another short-term employee through his duties. 

That one weekend, when this man was scheduled to work his usual 12-hour shift on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, on Friday evening his replacement did not show up again. What he was eventually suggested by the management was to work the night shift with no break and then take his time off on Saturday. Having no other option at that time, the management told him it was a direction, not a choice. 

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After working 36 hours, the employee got paid the equivalent of 60 hours’ pay and the word got around

Image credits:  Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)

The department put more effort into training and employing new staff shortly after and never put this man into such a position again

This man offered to cover the night shift but keep his Saturday shift as well, to which the management agreed as it meant they didn’t need to find a replacement for Saturday. However, what they overlooked in the payment rules was that now, as it was a direction and not voluntary overtime this man was doing, it had to be paid accordingly. 

The employee worked 3 shifts in a row and he had two shifts until he went home that he had to be paid with an overtime rate. This meant that after working 36 hours, he got paid the equivalent of 60 hours’ pay.

He explains that he was the first person to “pull this stunt”, as people in the management position described it; however, the word got around that people who were not replaced were in a position of power. This led to the department putting more effort into training and employing extra staff shortly after and making sure something like this never happened to this man again.

In his study Who Cares? Stephen Bach notes that attracting and retaining long-term care workers requires a comprehensive policy package. Having this goal in mind, OECD countries have made certain changes, trying to prevent future shortages of care workers and to improve the quality of care services. 

Bach listed the areas that must be improved in order to achieve employee retention. While comparatively low wages of care workers is one challenge, the importance of such factors as working times, stress, heavy workload, and poor support should not be overlooked. He emphasized that enhancing job quality and training is crucial.

When it comes to recruitment, such aims as improving the image of the care sector and recruiting beyond the traditional pool, for example, targeting recruitment of men into the long-term care workforce, were pointed out.

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