It's a bit like The Office, except 1000x more soul-crushing.
Pros
Great hours, for my needs anyway. I worked 8:00am-4:30pm. You know, there is a surprisingly large amount of very sweet, genuinely caring, kind, and overall good people who are employed by CP, which is shocking because management treats everyone like flaming gutter garbage. Well, I was financially privileged enough to have been able to afford the excellent health insurance plan, 100% coverage on basically everything and you can see any doctor you want-- that deductible is around $2,500, by the way. I can only speak from my own experience, and HR seems to genuinely care about the employees-- you know, since the managers don't. For me, obtaining FMLA due to my own situation was fairly simple and HR staff helped me every step of the way. If you go and talk to them, generally they listen and have options available re: whatever your situation is. Managed care work is very interesting, to say the least. It's really one of the best benefits to learn from a counseling standpoint. Once I was there for a few months, I stopped caring about anything management said which was along the lines of quantity over quality. As such, I was able to do my job with the utmost quality and efficiency, while attributing the appropriate time my clients deserved. Never got praise for my work, but my clients were always grateful and to hear that you've helped someone out of darkness or realize hope is a humbling experience. Because of the many questionable policies and dubious ongoings at CP, you will realize fairly quickly that, despite intimidation tactics from managers, your job is never really at risk. All anyone can do is send you a passive-aggressive email with a smiley face.
Cons
LOL. I'm sure someone already warned about this, but at some point, you will be subjected to a very strange luncheon where you have to watch what's essentially a film promoting the CEO and how privileged he has been for his entire life. No, really. 1.) The Diversity and Inclusion Committee no longer exists for some strange, unexplained reason. I imagine it's because the CEO is a trump supporter, but what do I know? That should tell you a lot already if you're a member of ANY marginalized group. 2.) Speaking of, discrimination is alive and well here. Everyone knows it. No one says anything, because management doesn't care, and everyone knows that, too. Just ask anyone about that Chick-fil-A situation during Pride Month. 3.) Attendance policies and PTO don't make sense. PTO builds over time, and if you get sick, PTO will be used without your permission. No sick days exist. No vacation days either. You're supposed to get a certain number of days after a year, but that's not a thing. Regarding holiday time, management doesn't allow anyone to ask for time off for holidays until a week or two before whatever holiday it is. You have to fight with EVERYONE and it's basically The Hunger Games in real life. Managers are, of course, exempt from the lunacy. 4.) OH MANAGEMENT. Do not be fooled by "The Hype." As an employee, you are but a simple plebeian without a face, name, or number. At CP, you are a disembodied voice on the air, words forever lost to the annuls of history. You may as well not even exist. Managers are arrogant, rude, condescending, they are on a 24/7 power trip, they will use their power to abuse you and gaslight you to no end, and they will micro-manage you until you literally lose your mind. Managers will take you for granted, will be disrespectful, and apparently don't understand the concept of professionalism. They actually use the instant messaging system on the job to say horrible things about employees all day. The managers and director will never (EVER) have your back as an employee, even if it is the morally sound and legally correct thing to do. Speaking even further on micro-management, managers are actively watching your call times and after-call times, and one manager in particular will walk passed people to make sure they are working, or to make them get back on the phones. Remember, this is a job where you will talk to clients with very nuanced issues and risk/safety concerns, and those calls don't end in 10 minutes or less. Hope you aren't prone to anxiety. Really, no one in management cares about you at CP. Sure, they say they do, but just wait a couple weeks. *** As an aside, there is ONE manager who genuinely, genuinely cares about the employees. But unfortunately, the company doesn't care about employees' well-being, so this manager can't do much when issues arise (24/7). 5. ) No one is paid what they deserve for the work they do in this place, period. The client volume is out of control, and management cares more about numbers than about the quality of care of clients-- which is easily one of the top ultimate 'no-nos' of the mental health field. 6.) Some people get special privileges without any fathomable reason. There are trainings that really should be given to everyone (i.e., disaster relief), but management chooses to invite only certain people without any justification-- certainly not merit or seniority. 7.) The turnover rate at this company is deranged, it's a revolving door going 100 mph. Brings morale down when you don't know anyone, and the cubicle set-up only encourages cliques and isolation. Add to that ComPsych's transient policies, management's inability to recognize employees as human beings, and you have people cycling in and out very quickly-- some on their first day. And it's a shame, too, because a lot of great counselors and social workers end up leaving because of management's demonstrated incompetence. 8.) No opportunity for growth or advancement. There really isn't much more to say about that. Sometimes management will "create" new positions and try to "promote" employees without an official offer letter or contractual agreement. 9.) There is a seriously hard and immovable plateau for clinical skills that you'll hit it fairly quickly. Once you've hit that impenetrable ceiling, you may as well find a new job. 10.) Company culture? WHAT company culture? Values? Ridiculous notion. 11.) Hope you can unhinge your jaw and inhale your lunch because you only have 30 minutes. Some people have 15-minute breaks for some inexplicable reason. 12.) No one is used to this because many, many companies don't do this, but you do have to work on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and President's Day. Also, you're not allowed to take days off in January. They say it's because of high call volumes, but over time, every month of the year has become busy, so........? 13.) Don't expect praise or recognition for anything. You will literally save multiple lives within a day without ever meeting your clients in person, but in CP world, that's just a Tuesday and no one cares because everyone's too busy making tasteless jokes about client-related suicides/suicidal behavior and/or decorating their cubes for weird contests. 14.) No matter how long you work here or how great you think it is in the beginning, an existential crisis of epic proportions is imminent. 15.) There a lot of serious and dangers ethical concerns surrounding dubious activity within CP. In a lot of cases, ethics are completely thrown out the window, I guess for the lolz. For instance, if you receive a child/elder abuse case, you are forced to transfer it to someone else in the company who will "maybe" decide to report it. Any mandated reporter knows this is illegal, and all of the employees are counselors or social workers.
