I was an account manager or manager in training with this company. I was hired in to the company in early August. I was sent to a building to train for what was supposed to be 4 months, as I had no experience in housekeeping, floor care, or laundry. 2 weeks in another account manager informed the company he was quitting and they moved me to that building. With no true experience I had the responsibility of keeping a 140 bed facility clean and up to company standards. I was doing just that. I was keeping the administrator of the building happy and I was keeping my district manager happy. Upon the company's unit inspection I received the highest score of any manager the building had ever had. Yes they had only been in the building since June of this year, but I still pulled the highest score ever.
Two days after all of this, on September 28th, I made a mistake or two. Yes they were bad mistakes but they were honest mistakes that would never happen again. When doing a linen inventory, which I had never been trained on, I accidentally walked in on a couple of residents using the restroom or being washed. I was told by my district manager that even though an investigation was being done not to worry, it was just an investigation, I'd be off that day and in a worst case scenario they'd put me in another building. On Monday, October 3rd, I received a call from this DM saying that some of the written statements and allegations were as such that the company could not bring me back to that building and there was no place else to put me so they were laying me off. I asked him what some of these allegations were and he said they were confidential.
I was not given the opportunity to tell my side of the story or answer any allegations. I had no prior disciplinary or performance related issues. These allegations could be lies or inaccurate but it doesn't matter. I was laid off. A housekeeper told me that when I find out why they let me go I would be mad. Which, I'm already mad but apparently it must be a doozy.
From what I understand, since my departure the company has cut down on the number of housekeepers on the floor to four a day.in a building with 8 halls and 120 resident rooms, plus 4 nurses's stations, 4 shower rooms, 4 dining areas, 4-5 lounge areas, soiled utility rooms, clean utility rooms, etc., it will not be possible for 4 housekeepers to handle that load and clean the facility the way it needs to be cleaned. From what I understand the company went behind the facility administrator's back and went straight to the owner to get this to happen. The administrator always wanted 6 housekeepers on the floor. That was one of the first things he told me. It's his building, he's there every day, and he knows how many people at minimum are needed to keep it clean and best serve the facility.
I've heard and read several statements from former employees of this company. Obviously such statements should be taken with a grain of salt as when an employee leaves a company with bitter feelings, that will color their objectivity. I will freely admit that I fall in that camp. The sad thing though is the company has a decent plan and business model for cleaning a facility. I mean there's little to nothing lacking in that sense. But in terms of the way they do business and the way they treat people, in my opinion they are severely lacking. I was not given the opportunity to answer any charges against me. Whether these are all true or not did not matter. I was shown the door. I've heard numerous statements and allegations from former employees saying the company lies to clients. I can not say for certain that they lied to this facility. But when you know the administrator wants 6 housekeepers and you are there supposedly to serve him, and get that number cut down to 4 by allegedly going behind his back and going straight to the owner, that to me is a dirty way to do business. When I left the company and facility they had 8 housekeepers there. Since I was removed, one housekeeper told the district manager she would try to hang in until December, but she was quitting. Another one supposedly gave her two week notice. A third one is quitting to become a STNA. A fourth one supposedly told the administrator she was quitting. Whether all this happens or not remains to be seen, but I know morale is at an all time low and you can't ask or expect employees with low morale to do more work for the same amount of pay. Unfortunately, this company does not care as they have the large corporation mentality. Employees are not people, just interchangeable and replaceable or disposable parts. Sadly past success and growth may enable a company to get to the point where they can think like that. But I have the belief that everything you do catches up to you at one point or another. This company has been to court in several states from what I can gather and it just doesn't matter. The attitude remains the same... We do what we can at the cheapest cost imaginable, we work our people to death and pay them little, and if they quit we find new worker bees to run through the wringer.
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