disability support worker

youth worker

support worker

home care worker

caregiver

Life Without Barriers

Working at Life without Barriers has been nothing short of a nightmare with chaos and dysfunction reigning supreme. While there are a few positives such as market salary, rostered days off, and hybrid working, they are overshadowed by a plethora of challenges that plague this organisation.

Challenges Faced:

Siloed Teams:
It's astonishing how disconnected the various teams are within this company. The left hand has no clue what the right hand is doing, leading to a frustrating lack of collaboration and coordination. This silo mentality hampers progress and creates unnecessary hurdles at every turn.

Poor Planning and Communication at the Senior Management Level:
The senior management fail miserably in their duties. Their inability to plan effectively and communicate clearly is mind-boggling. This lack of direction and guidance trickles down to every level of the organisation, resulting in confusion, wasted time, and missed opportunities.

Lack of Accountability and Support from Senior Management:
One would expect senior management to be pillars of support and accountability. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. Instead, they shirk their responsibilities and conveniently shift the blame onto others down the chain. Their lack of support leaves employees feeling abandoned and disheartened.

Overworked and Stressed Workforce:
The workload is unrelenting and overwhelming. Employees are constantly pushed to their limits, resulting in extreme stress and burnout. It is no wonder that talented individuals eventually leave, disillusioned and exhausted by the constant demands placed upon them.

Neglected ICT/Finance Systems:
The company's refusal to invest in modern ICT and finance systems is a major hindrance. Outdated and inefficient systems only add to the workload, creating unnecessary manual tasks and reducing productivity. The lack of investment in this crucial area is baffling and counterproductive.

Senior Managers Lost in relentless Meetings:
Senior managers seem to spend more time in constant overlong meetings than actually taking action. Endless discussions without concrete outcomes further exacerbate the issues faced by the organisation. This lack of action is a clear indication of their ineffectiveness and detachment from reality.

Lack of Performance Reviews and Team Engagement:
The absence of performance reviews is indicative of a management team that lacks the courage to confront issues head-on. They are uncomfortable engaging with their teams and addressing problems constructively. This avoidance only perpetuates existing problems and stifles growth.

Blatant Deflection of Responsibility:
Rather than taking responsibility for their actions or decisions, management prefers to pass the buck down the chain. This behaviour not only undermines trust and morale but also hinders progress and resolution of pressing issues.

Repeated "Right-Sizing":
The company's habit of conducting "right-sizing" exercises is both disruptive and demoralising. Permanent staff members are either made redundant or forced to reapply for lesser-paid positions. This constant instability and uncertainty breed a toxic work environment.

Lack of Actionable Vision and Strategy:
Despite the lip service paid to the importance of vision and strategy, senior management fails to translate these buzzwords into actionable plans. The lack of investment in critical areas, coupled with the absence of a clear direction, hampers growth and stifles innovation.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, working at Life Without Barriers has been an absolute nightmare. The few positives, such as market salary and rostered days off, pale in comparison to the myriad of challenges faced on a daily basis. From siloed teams and poor planning to a lack of accountability and support, this company embodies everything that is wrong with a dysfunctional workplace.

Each client has their own abilities, skills and attitude, so my job was to work with those attributes to firstly identify, then help them to achieve their goals. Some clients were very self-sufficient, others needed domestic assistance and some required more "personal" assistance.

Serving people with disabilities is a very humbling, rewarding and empowering experience, which is difficult to describe to people who have not worked in the industry. This job taught me new levels of teamwork and leadership. Aspects of the work were, initially, challenging or even confronting for me at times but in overcoming those challenges, my appreciation for my blessings has increased exponentially!

I found management very supportive. I particularly appreciated the regular training that was provided.

It was great to work with people from such diverse backgrounds and perspectives but a common purpose.

The hardest part of the job was overcoming my aversion to cleaning up other people's bodily secretions.

The most enjoyable part of my work was being surrounded by people with a truly positive attitude in the face of profound challenges, helping clients experience and enjoy life to the maximum of their capacity, and helping people in the community to overcome their phobias and misconceptions about people with disabilities.

I’ve worked at LWB for 5 years and it’s the most supportive workplace I’ve ever worked at. LWB has wonderful values which you can see in the leadership. Managers care about their clients and their staff. It’s a very busy and fast paced place to work, no day is the same, and if you are a proactive person who takes initiative and enjoys the challenges working with the clients, it’s a wonderful place to work. Management are supportive of your ideas and assist with any challenges you face. Unfortunately, there are a lot of coworkers who expect management to do their work for them and there can be a lot of negativity on the floor which is toxic, but if you are client focused there is a great group of supportive peers amongst the negative and lazy ones. Managers have a lot placed on them and have very big caseloads of staff to manage and clients to support which makes it hard to get time with them but they always go above and beyond (and often in their own time) to help their clients and staff. Training is mainly online or specific to client needs when plans are updated or changed. LWB is a bit behind the times in ICT and working in the community space can be difficult to access systems. Having your own smart phone is a must! Rostering team are not great at communicating and it can be challenging to find a good work-life balance when shifts are added to your roster within 7days. You need to check your roster regularly to make sure shifts haven’t been added without being notified. Recent restructures seem to have changed these processes.

I work with 15-21 year olds that have previously been in care of the state or about to leave care. Our service has only been going for 6 months and is necessary for these young people as they previously had no support when they left care

We support these young people (with or without disabilities) who may be struggling finding housing, employment, education or may have health issues etc. 

We help them with life skills such as budgeting, savings, cooking cleaning, public transport etc.

We provide them with funding to purchase everyday needs such as groceries, phone cards/credit, fuel cards, clothing etc. We also provide them or link them in with services that can support them to obtain white goods, furniture, driving lessons or cars. 

I have been covering the Ipswich area on my own and have just had to put on youth work support as the need for our service has increased significantly. 

I truly love my job as I love helping these young people succeed and giving them the opportunities or breaks that they need in life. 

These young people have had extremely hard up bringing's and to see them with confidence and be willing to change there lives is very rewarding. 

We have a great team environment which I love and I truly appreciate my co workers and the efforts they put into our job as it is long hours and challenging but the end results are very rewarding.

Management in Darwin are very amateurish, unprofessional  and fail to follow their own policies and procedures. They constantly cut corners, and this affects client care. So much so, that if compliance were to pay a visit, heads would roll. So much is covered up and easily so, as management look after each other. Management have one set of rules and the rest of staff have another. If you dare to question the hierarchy, you are punished in some form or other. Ask management a question and you are not answered. Staff are afraid to speak up, for fear of retribution. There is no formal induction other than receiving a wad of paper work, and a pen at a table and told to read through it alone and answer any questions. Being shadowed on your first day of work depends on if there is available staff. Quite often you are sent out alone on your first day. There is no training, team building or support. Rosters are  often sent out day by day instead of a fortnight in advance, and always have errors. Wages are always mucked about. Clients and staff constanly complain about no one answering phones. Clients complain about being wrongly invoiced, but do not want to fill out a feed back form for fear of having their services stopped. Management have taken all of the joy out of a caring role that should be very rewarding. Staff work very hard but are never rewarded and hardly acknowleged. This is part of the resson why staff are leaving in droves.

A day at work is is always a new experience as when you work with community members there are always new challenges and lessons learnt. A day is mainly spent between the desk, visiting/meeting with stakeholders, undertaking training/ workshops and other team building activities.

The organization is keen on being supportive to employees and develop itself as a market leader in the sector. There are continuous surveys that are conducted to inform them of the operational and other areas in the running of affairs and this has been helping in achieving a people centered approach in management.

People are an important asset to the organization and the way they are treated not only defines the ethos of the organization but defines its destiny. Teamwork is a great part of of achieving KPI's and as a team we are able to focus on developing these relationships by doing little things like team coffees, sharing cultural delights and just taking a break and checking on each others well-being.

Being in a policy/legislative environment that is progressively changing results in great uncertainties and when clients have to be informed that previous entitlements were no longer in the cards was always difficult. However when working with clients around their life challenges and being able to help them resolve them is one of the highlights of the job.

I started working at Life without barriers in early 2022 with a great attitude and was really looking forward to getting into the field of out of home care. 
I was immediately handed 14 extremely high needs cases with absolutely no training and very little support.
I was expected to work outside of my work hours and had recieved absolutely no appreciation for doing so.
I was placed on call three times in the span of one month despite me explaining I had study commitments a week in advance and had asked if management could support to rearrange this and was straight out told no and that regardless of my other commitments that it would have to remain with me.
I was talked down to and was made to feel inadequite and was shown no care from management for any personal issues going on in my life.
I worked long hours and even had to work on the weekend and always put my hand forward to support where I could only to have my job threatened by my manager when I had supposedly missed a call from staff.
I truly was so unhappy here that I took stress relief and was constantly anxious to attend work due to the toxic management. 
Unfortunately my entire team all quit in the span of a few months.

The Team Leader position provides management, administration, direction, supervision, support and assistance on a daily basis to the following programs:
Youth Bail Options Program
Disability Programs/Projects, support Workers and Carers:
Remote Area Support (RAS) Project, 
Disability House program,  
Out of home Disability Program, 
Disability Carers and Disability Respite Carers,
Disability Support Workers

This position has assisted me to further develop required skills to manage a small office and provide leadship to co-workers. 

Mangement are very supportive, structured and will to assist with any matters that need addressing. 

Co-workers:
Structured rosters and clear communication strategy for co-workers, makes it a great work environment.

Most enjoyable part of the job is assisting people to achieve their goals and making a difference in peoples lives.

The hards part of the job is the lack of IT support in remote areas.

The most enjoyable part of the job is making a difference in peoples lives. Helping them to acheive their goals.

As a volunteer I found all the management and staff personnel very helpful and nothing was left unclear to me as to what I needed to do. I spent the day helping and guiding the participants in what they were doing for their day program. I assisted staff with taking participants on public transport into the city for lunch and by private bus to the lake so that they could participate in sailing activities. I leaned that every participant was an individual requiring different forms of involvement in the community. To see these people enjoying their involvement in there various activities made me feel that I had achieved and contributed to their well-being. My co-workers were all helpful and knowledgeable and able to answer any questions  that I had. The most enjoyable part of the job was to see on the faces of participants the reactions they were getting from personal interaction with the community.

Worked in residential side really hard job. Dealing with threats of violence, actual violence, anti-social behaviour, run aways etc. Violence/anti-social behaviour is manageable due to the age of some of the kids, and I never felt unsafe, but it can get old fast and I could understand where someone could feel unsafe. Pay is good and you have a lot of downtime if the person you are caring for is in a stable mood. Workplace and bosses are supportive and very nice, other carers were cool and easy to get along with. Practices I feel may not support the carers being able to stop bad behaviour but thats more due to the legislation than the actual companies e.g. not being able to punish kids for bad behaviour which then entices them to act out to get what they want, knowing that nothing will happen etc. Not all are bad days, some days are chill but a lot are stressful and overall I chose to leave to save my mental health. I would recommend the company though to anyone interested in giving it a go.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Disability support worker 19 salaries reported	$42.81 per hour
Youth worker 29 salaries reported	$49.14 per hour
Support worker 10 salaries reported	$39.77 per hour
Home care worker 13 salaries reported	$179,785 per year
Caregiver 3 salaries reported	$41.26 per hour

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