Department of Communities Employee Reviews

It was very complex and very interesting applications, but the Business Analysts were very helpful. Documentation was adequate for the New CR's but the existing systems had no documentations, made it hard to understand the current systems.

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Squeeze you like a lemon with occasional pats on the back

Child Protection Worker (Current Employee) - Perth WA - 29 September 2023

Racism among employees. Management does not release you to training due to understaffed offices. Good pay and incentives but not worth the mental drain.

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staff unhappiness due to poor management. Terrible leadership.

Grants Manager (Former Employee) - Brisbane QLD - 18 July 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Staff when I first worked there.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Narcissistic manager -arrogance personifiedWhat is the work environment and culture like at the company?First half really good. Second half terrible.

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Safe secure and worthwhile work

Practice Support Officer - Service Planning (Former Employee) - Fremantle WA - 14 July 2023

Great place to work assisting the most vulnerable of people. Clear career path and plenty of training opportunities. Fremantle office is well located.

Pros

Flexi time

Cons

Adherence to policy does get in the way of helping the most vulnerable

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Great start to career in human services

Child safety officer (Former Employee) - Rockhampton QLD - 6 May 2022

Great training. Lots of learning, plenty of supervsion and support. Leaders assist you in growing into confident practitionerwith lots of knowledge prior to leaving

Pros

Great career advancement

Cons

Long hours

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Toxic work environment. Zero job security. No support or training.

Customer Service Officer (Former Employee) - Multiple - 24 April 2022

Toxic work environment. If you don’t fit the mould they will kick you to the curb. No training provided, no performance improvement opportunities. HR is useless and zero job security. Every 1-2 years if you are on contract you have to reapply and hope you get an interview and hope you get chosen if you are already in the role. Very short term contracts offered, some only a few weeks. I was on contract for 5 years and never offered permanency.

Pros

Good pay, annual leave and sick leave. Can climb the ladder.

Cons

Toxic work environment no matter which office, I worked at 4 offices within the Department and I was told I needed therapy instead of support, I was called unintelligent, I have a boy brain, I needed a bouncy ball to keep myself entertained at work and I am ret**d apparently, HR does nothing, no training provided, you are thrown in the deep end.

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toxic culture, bullying by management and unsupportive HR. fraudulent activity.

public housing officer (Former Employee) - Mirrabooka WA - 19 December 2021

loved the work. intended to retire in job. left due to management behaviour - particularly regional manager and his team. HR witnessed but would not acknowledge.

Pros

the work was very rewarding

Cons

toxic culture

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Top heavy organisation

Senior Psychologist (Former Employee) - Perth WA - 28 June 2021

Extremely disappointed working under multiple levels of tired and resentful middle management holding onto permanent positions awaiting retirement. Corporate restructure saw respected, well educated and experienced staff lost to voluntary redundancies and positions safest within lower management held by those most willing to cut meagre budgets, force redundancies and merge teams. Following mothers death, received phone call from disengaged program manager to be told that two days are granted as paid bereavement leave but any more time taken will require an application to receive unpaid leave. Returned to dying bunch of petrol station flowers on desk.

Pros

Fantastic colleagues

Cons

Toxic workplace lacking leadership

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Poorly Managed Branch within Dept of Communities

Assessment Officer (Former Employee) - Perth WA - 20 April 2021

I worked for ECRU which was a department within Communities. The culture was terrible and one of the worse places I have ever worked. Everyone who started the same time as me, none of us are left. One example is the perks of working in government is flexitime. Here, you were not allowed to accrue it and they kept using 'operational' which it isn't to make people work at certain times. Lights went out at 5pm and you were questioned if still working, they made it clear it was not acceptable and you had to leave.

Pros

Made some good friends from the group I started with.

Cons

Once you were a 'marked' person staff would not help with your learning.

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No comment

Community Corrections Officer (Former Employee) - Queensland - 3 March 2021

I wouldn’t bother it is not a professional caring environment Regular burn out of staff, unfair recruitment processes, unprofessional behaviour is not addressed

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Great team support and challenging environment

Service Contracting and Development Officer (Former Employee) - West Perth - 3 April 2020

The DoC has experienced some unprecedented changes over the past four years. Many of those changes were decided at ground level where brainstorming and solutions were generated. The work culture is very inclusive and while everyone has their role, input and ideas are appreciated at all levels. The work is challenging but there is also a lot of support and innovations which makes the workplace interesting and brings good changes and ideas.

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alright

Review Officer (Current Employee) - Brisbane QLD - 23 January 2020

Depending on the roles you are in, there are some very supportive supervisors and mentors whilst not so the case in other positions. A majority, the workers are efficient and friendly.

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Terrible Experience

Residential Care Officer (Former Employee) - Maryborough QLD - 3 December 2019

Due to management this was one of the worst jobs clients are awesome just further up the food chain are unprofessional and co workers most are fighting for their jobs and hours making them back stabbers and liars

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Being able to make a differnce

Grants Administration Officer (Former Employee) - Brisbane Central Business District QLD - 27 October 2019

Working with the Household Resilience Program meant that I helped make a difference to the lives of low income earners in Cyclone affected areas of QLD

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Too many cases with not enough staffing

Team Leader Child Protection (Current Employee) - Rockingham WA - 2 July 2019

Managing staff Court matters Care plan meetings Reunification meetings Team meetings Multi-agency meetings Supervision with Staff Managing placement breakdowns

Pros

Supportive team leaders as colleagues

Cons

Staff burn out

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good and challenging and innovative place to work.

Principal Right to Information Officer (AO7) (Former Employee) - Brisbane Central Business District QLD - 9 May 2019

good and challenging and innovative place to work. supportive culture. However, NDIS impacts caused recruitment problems for non affected persons wanting to apply.

Pros

Challenging interesting work

Cons

NDIS impacts on staffing

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Going through major restruture

SENIOR ADVISOR (Former Employee) - Brisbane Central Business District QLD - 7 May 2019

This department is undergoing major transformational change, downsizing and disruption. Department is struggling to find it's purpose / direction during this change.

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Great place to work

Project Coordinator (Contract) (Former Employee) - Perth WA - 25 April 2018

Great culture, friendly staff and good work-life balance. Management listens to advice and acceptable to change. Hardest part of the job is when some end-users require additional support which can take almost an hour to guide them on the phone. But overall I totally enjoyed working there and help where I can.

Pros

Friendly staff and good work-life balance.

Cons

None

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Good pay, poor workplace

Residential Care Officer (RCO) (Former Employee) - Brisbane QLD - 24 March 2018

The pay/salary/benefits were very good as it was a qualified position, but the work/life balance required for the job was very taxing. In addition, management were difficult to contact and deal with, nepotism was rife, and the work was demanding in every possible way. Not for the faint of heart.

Pros

Great pay

Cons

nepotism, soul crushing work

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Many great achievements as a project specific contractor

Principal Funding Systems Officer (Current Employee) - Brisbane Central Business District QLD - 28 February 2018

Reasonable working conditions among people who are committed to producing significant results in an environment that is driven largely by political context.

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Great work place

Child Safety Officer (Permanent Full Time) (Former Employee) - Cairns, Australia - 26 February 2018

Workplace in cairns, Australia. This was working for the Government and requires relevant university degree (social work, psychology etc). management was fantastic.

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