Upstream Posted February 2018
ALF employee absence...
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Mostly here to vent. My dad is at a fairly high quality ALF close by. Either mom or I visit 5 days a week. The employee turnover rate is low, which is good. However, the absentee rate seems high. Lots of "she's out sick"... yada yada. Most recently, they brought in a young pregnant woman to work directly with the memory-care unit, and now she's out with bad morning sickness for going on 5 weeks. I think it was pretty lousy of management to bring in someone in that state to work directly with the memory care patients. She was "supposed" to be the activity director for them :(
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You can watch and report. But this has been an unusually bad flu season. Is she new to this facility?
I don't know how you run an ALF, taking care of people with 24-hour needs, hiring pregnant women who then take advantage of a cushy maternity leave. The ALF has two buildings, and BOTH activity directors are AWOL at the moment. The director is out as well.
Activity Director at an ALF would not be a particularly strenuous job. Generally, a pregnant woman could handle it. But not if she is heaving her guts out every morning. Most pregnant women can work throughout their pregnancy. Some cannot. My doctor was out for a few months of "bed rest" with her third pregnancy. I did not question her work ethic. And she hated staying in bed! She did not consider it a cushy benefit.
I wonder if the young activity director feels real lucky bending over the toilet at 6 am and wondering how she is going to pay her bills with no check coming in.
In the good ol' days of strong work ethic, employers often turned down young women applicants because they might get married or might get pregnant, and there goes their training time right down the drain. This precaution is, of course, no longer legal.
I can understand how frustrating it is to see your father's care center understaffed. Vent away. With the flu at fever pitch, I imagine it is difficult to even find substitutes.(You can believe that the staff that shows up is venting.)
But let's not conclude that it is the fault of an entire generation of lazy bums, or that pregnancy should be a bar to employment, or that management should be able to manage flu epidemics better. The current situation is a bad break for the residents. I am sorry for them. You are entitled to vent.
Work ethic is a very personalized issue, and not a generational thing IMO! That this particular employee isn't living up to the expectations of her position should be addressed by the Assisted Living Director or Administrator, especially if the Residents are being shortchanged and their social needs aren't being met.
It would seem that an interim or substitute Activities Director should be brought in at the very least, especially when the residents are paying such a high price to live there! If my parent was living in such a place, I would be complaining, and being adamant about their needs not being met! Get other family members on board, as this kind of absenteeism shouldn't be tolerated! I can see a few days or a week, as sickness and personal emergencies do happen, but surely there are company's who could assist them with temporary assignment type folks to fit the bill.
I do understand your frustrations though, but take offense on those who think that "kids these day's" are entitled and lazy! Mine certainly aren't!