Wage issues in the sector and impact
Memo to: Skills Society Employees, People we Support, Families, Guardians
Re: Wage issues in the sector and impact
From: Senior Leadership of Skills Society
“When Do We Get A Raise?”
This is a question employees in disability services across the province and all of us have all been asking since our last funding/pay increase from the Government of Alberta in 2014.
To bring clarity and help dispel myths, and misinformation we wanted to share the basics of how funding for a non-profit disability service organization works in Alberta and in particular how it works in the Edmonton Region PDD system.
In these times it can be difficult to sit by and watch as private sector businesses give out regular pay increases and bonuses to their staff. Unfortunately, for employees of non-profit organizations like Skills Society, we are funded directly by contracts with the Alberta Government. We have no control over how much each position is funded at by Community and Social Services PDD program. PDD is the developmental disability services program we are funded by. We are not funded by Health, nor do we receive Federal funding.
PDD Budgets 101: What is a PDD Budget?
PDD (The AB Government) works with each eligible person served in the PDD system to determine and approve needs. From those approved needs, PDD works with an individual and potential service provider to determine if adequate funding can be provided in a particular support environment. Some individual budgets in outreach are just for a few hours a week, other budgets for folks in residential are for 24/7 wrap around support. Some individuals are eligible for one-to-one support based on safety needs, but for most people we support, PDD determines that people will have to share support and are not eligible for one-on-one support.
A budget that gets created is a strategic document. It is created based on what money we are approved to invoice for each individual by PDD and how we anticipate spending those dollars to support the people we serve. PDD budgets for a support environment (home with roommates) are based on the positions required to support a single individual at different times throughout a week. When multiple people supported by PDD live together, their individual budgets are combined and most positions are budgeted to be shared. PDD has set wage rates for Community Support Worker 1, Community Support Worker 2, Team Leader, Awake Nights and Sleep Nights.
A tough tension with budgets is that the funding for positions comes in at an individual level approved by PDD for each person we serve. However, when 2-3 roommates each with different individual budgets get together to live together, sometimes individual budgets as approved by PDD won’t meet needs and a complex blend of budgets is required to meet everyone’s needs in a support environment. Creating this complex blend of positions for a support environment that meets all needs is negotiated and currently led by Senior Management to help with advocating to properly meet everyone’s needs. To create these blended budgets the Senior Manager seeks out information from Managers at Skills, PDD case workers, guardians and others to ensure real needs are being met.
How Skills receives funds from government to pay for wages of staff
Our employees get paid by Skills Society invoicing PDD monthly for hours worked in a support environment and based on approved individual budgets. The amount we can invoice our funder (PDD) for those hours is approved by PDD. For example, PDD will approve a CSW 1 to work evenings during the week at a specific rate, and a Team Leader to work 40 hours per week at a different rate. When the invoice is paid by Government as per our contract, then we can pay our employees. The Government and Senior Management at Skills work to makes sure this is seamless and won’t cause interruptions to payroll at Skills.
PDD Budget Basics
PDD sets the rates of each position that can be budgeted- CSW1, CSW2, Team Leader, Awake Nights and Sleep Nights.
Each rate set by PDD includes 12% benefits. Our actual costs for benefits at Skills is closer to 15-16% for each position because, not only does this pay mandatory required portions of CPP, EI, WCB etc.…but we have additional benefits many agencies don’t, including RRSP matching for eligible employees, no cost to employee health spending accounts, long term disability etc. These are benefits we want to continue to provide to be an employer of choice and treat our employees well. But it means we have to find alternative ways of funding the gap in order to provide these benefits.
There are a variety of activities that happen in support environments that can adversely affect budgets and if not watched out for and corrected, will cause more spending than is budgeted for in the support environment. This will cause overspending and deficits.
The spending that affects PDD approved budgets of support environments are the following:
How hours of permanent positions are distributed and whether aligned with individual budgets
Whether positions are funded at Sleep Night, Awake Night, CSW1, CSW2, TL and aligned with approved individual budgets. Or blended to meet the real needs of all roommates.
How much is paid when relief is required? E.g., If a TL regularly covers shifts of a CSW1 position that is vacant, or for a CSW I who has training, on vacation, is sick etc.
Are we paying awake night rates when we are funded for sleep?
Every 1 hour of training a staff attends costs 2 hours of pay when the employee must be replaced in direct supports.
If positions are created that we are not funded for by PDD budgets
If Mileage, meal reimbursement, admissions go over budget for a home
What about Skills Society’s Wage Grid?
Skills Society has a wage grid along with a wage level assignment formula that is used to place employees on the grid of hourly wage rates for each of the CSW1, CSW2, Awake Night, and Team Leader positions we are funded for through the individual budgets set by PDD for each person we serve. Sleep Night rates are not on a grid and are set by PDD.
A wage grid is a common practice in organizations and strives to honour education, related experience in the sector, and years of experience in the sector. It aims to help create competitive wages in the job market. At present Skills Society pays near the top in the sector for non-profit CSW1 positions. We agree and know this is still not enough. But unfortunately, PDD has not provided any increases since 2014.
When you might hear of colleagues or people working in other similar organizations and making more at entry level, it is likely due to being more a nursing care organization and having Health system funding (such as Health Care Aid- HCA funding). That is a totally different ministry and funding system and focuses on basic nursing care support not on community disability supports. The individuals we support are not eligible for funding from Health. Those are different systems and funding sources.
As stated in Skills Policy 3.18 – Employee Compensation, employee wages are limited by available funding allocations. Compensation is based on the position classification as set out in the Alberta Council of Disability Services (ACDS) Workforce Compensation System. Required skills sets and job responsibilities are also considered. Based on budget allocation, employees are provided pay increments. That means that Skills Society is not able to provide wage increments unless PDD provides us with a sustainable increase in funding.
There is not much margin to work with on our wage grid based on what PDD has provided us since 2014. Based on funding allocations, Skills wage grid differentials where some employees will be at or near the top of a grid and some will be at the entry level allows the agency to be able to make up the difference between the PDD funded and actual cost of our benefits for each position.
This all means that non-profit Government contracted organizations like Skills Society have only ever been able to provide sustainable percentage wage increases to all Sleep Night, Awake Night, CSW1, CSW2, and Team Leaders when the Government has provided it.
Up to and including in 2014, when sustainable increases have come, each position deemed eligible for the increase by PDD received the percentage increase.
What the Skills Society Board and Leadership believes around wage issues in our sector
Remember these are not partisan issues and we don’t align with any particular political party. We need proper wages so that people with disabilities can be safe and supported properly.
Everyone in the sector deserves to be fairly compensated and raises are needed! ASAP!
Not having a wage increase since 2014 doesn’t happen in any other sector. It is unfair, doesn’t help workers keep up with inflation and general cost of living and government of Alberta needs to fix that immediately
There needs to be immediate short term fixes to the wage issue and a longer-term strategy to rebuild the education institutions that can build the knowledge, skills and competencies required to support people to not just survive but thrive, belong and have the same opportunities as any other citizen
Across the province in disability services there are major issues with staff recruitment and retention that is unprecedented. The main cause of this issue is staff wages. If the wage issue is not fixed by Government soon this could put people we serve into crisis from not having staffing. It’s already happening in some parts of the province.
It’s becoming harder to find and recruit staff with deep knowledge of disability rights and history and how to support community connections and belonging and this can result in quality of support diminishing
We also believe your choice to work in this sector and serve people with disabilities is deeply meaningful and important work that makes lives and our communities better. You deserve to be fairly compensated.
What Skills Society Leadership is Doing About Wages in the PDD Sector
We have a long-standing Advocacy committee of the board working on these systemic issues
We share the struggles and impact of low wages on people we support and staff with our PDD funder.
We’re on local and provincial committees trying to tackle these tough challenges
We’re sharing information and calls to action our community can take- It will take a community to make progress on these issues
We’re members of ADWA – Alberta Disability Workers Association and have hosted Zoom seminars for employees and families to learn more about the issues and what to do. Please make sure you always check and read the emails we send on these issues.
What Can You Do? A Call to Action!
Family and Worker voices are really important and matter!
Join the Essential But Forgotten Campaign at ADWA.
https://adwa.ca/about-us/essential-but-forgotten-campaign/
In the link are lots of resources and ways to learn about writing letters to your MLAs so that they can continue to be aware of this systemic issue around wages in Disability Services.
About the Campaign
The Alberta Disability Workers Association (ADWA) is a provincial advocacy organization for all people employed in Community Disability Services who provide essential services to Albertans with disabilities.
Alberta’s Community Disability Services are in a staffing crisis.
Workers paid to support people with disabilities have not seen a wage increase since 2014 (despite an increase in the cost of living of 14% over the past eight years). They are feeling stressed and undervalued, and many are choosing to leave their jobs for other employment where they will be properly compensated for their skills and valuable contributions.
The low wages and retention rates are of serious concern to community-based employers who are struggling to recruit and retain qualified staff to provide essential services to Albertans with disabilities.
In support of Community Disability Service Workers, ADWA is launching a provincial campaign to advocate for a 25% increase to current wages.
We hope that you will join us in this important campaign. More information and resources can be found below or you can email us at campaign@adwa.ca.
For more information and go to: