I started a new job today. It’s for the ADON of a long term facility. During general orientation, the HR manager happened to throw in that I would also be the infection control nurse and the compliance officer. I also found out yesterday, while speaking to some colleagues, that although I did know that there would be on call responsibilities, no one discussed with me that I would potentially need to leave my home while being on call and come into the facility. I have been on call before and was under the impression that I would be "putting out fires" over the phone, answering questions etc, etc. They didn't tell me that I could potentially have to come in in the middle of the night. That may not be a big deal, but my husband works at night, so I am home alone with our 3 year old, so leaving the house at night is not even remotely possible. If that was a possibility of this job, and I had known about it, I wouldn't have taken it.
I don’t feel they were completely transparent about the job (until I got to orientation, and while speaking to other co-workers! ) on what the actual job responsibilities would be. (having the extra roles and the on-call expectation) I'm not sure what to do.. I just started on Monday, I hate to leave a job this quickly.
In a perfect world employers would be fully transparent and explicit with regards to the expectations for a given position; Unfortunately, that is often not the case in the Long Term Care industry. ADONs are typically classified as salaried, exempt (from FLSA) positions so facilities have no legal obligation to compensate you beyond your salary for being on-call, working overtime, working multiple shifts, working weekends, performing additional duties/roles, etc.; One could find themselves literally working 24/7 in that framework. My point: YOU must be especially PROACTIVE during your interview and otherwise in the course of your due diligence for a LTC industry position.
I think it's obvious that your current position is unworkable and you need to find other more suitable employment. Sadly, what you have experienced with your current employer is not at all unusual. There are plenty of "troubled" facilities who are all too willing to expect you to do the impossible.
Davey Do
10,666 Posts
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