Compensation.
Ensemble says they offer a competitive wage but another hospital system in the area is paying $5 dollars more per hour for the same work. There are no raises and OT is frowned upon. You do get a quarterly bonus if you meet your quota, but they tax it so heavily it is quite demoralizing.
You pay A LOT for benefits and still pay quite a bit at time of service.
Training
There is little training. They don't have a sandbox platform for new hires to practice with which I think would really help.
When you are on the job you sit with a colleague who shows you the ropes. However, they don't compensate these trainers, and management just hopes for a volunteer. Few people want to train because it takes away from the ability to meet your monthly quota and thus not receive your bonus.
Unfortunately, my trainer didn't know her job well and taught me bad practices and procedures that I had to relearn. If Ensemble offered a token gift card or small stipend, I believe more qualified people would step up and help out.
Incentive program
To encourage staff to collect as much money as possible, Ensemble/management does incentive programs. This is GREAT in principle but our prizes for bringing in the most money is a handful of candy and words of affirmation. Nice, but this doesn't encourage me to go the extra mile to collect. Other than not receiving a small bonus 4 times a year, nothing happens if I don't meet my quota. The candy and affirmations make me feel like I'm in 6th grade and feels a bit insulting.
Getting time off
PTO is not a sure thing. You can put your request in have it denied and no reason is given. Also, management often waits until a week before your planned time off to let you know if it was denied and then you are scrambling to find coverage or take the 2 point demerits for calling off on the days you requested off.
My biggest frustration though is that management will not work with you if you have a medical concern. On a Monday I called my doctor to discuss a medical concern I had. He asked me to come into the office on the following Thursday. I immediately contacted my supervisor and let her know the situation that I needed three hours off that day to go to my doctor. I received a 1 point demerit because I "did not request the time off 1 month in advance". No token responses of concern were said after my health. The response I received was that my leaving for three hours would put a hardship on my collogues and management.
