The seniority list at Monarch Recovery Services highlights the widespread staffing challenges stemming from the wage gap in the community health sector.
Monarch operates several programs for men and women living with addictions and substance use challenges in Sudbury.
The not-for-profit organization has a team of 72 employees, including 53 full-time, frontline workers. More than half (41) of full-time workers have been in their roles for less than five years, including 24 who’ve been on the job for less than two years. Only 10 full-time staff have worked for the organization for more than 10 years. Of the 21 part-time/casual staff, 19 have been in their roles less than 2.5 years.
“It seems like we are continuously posting for new people because we really are viewed as a stepping stone,” says Roxane Zuck, Monarch’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re at the bottom of the pay scale when it comes to social services. Our case managers and our counsellors seem to always be looking for better paying jobs, especially with the hospital or in other sectors.”
It’s a similar refrain for many community health organizations across Ontario. A recent survey by 10 provincial associations representing Ontario’s community health sector associations found that 94 per cent of community health organizations identify compensation as the biggest challenge with hiring and keeping staff. Community health workers face a combined wage gap of more than $2 billion compared to their peers doing similar work in other publicly funded settings, including in hospitals and schools.
For Monarch, the ongoing cycle of recruiting and training eats up scarce resources that would be better spent directly serving clients, Zuck says.
“We don’t get specific funding to pay for training. We’re stealing from Peter to pay Paul all the time,” she says. “The complexity of the clients we have coming here is very high, between the level of mental health issues and the severity of their addiction issues.
“It’s very important to have people with the compassion you need for this work but also have the ability to take charge and not allow things to get out of hand.”
Zuck says any requests for funding increases are often attached to expanded services, which doesn’t address the key challenge of the wage disparity.
“We’re at capacity for what we can do. We just need to be able to pay our staff more to do it,” she says. “It’s not a matter of increasing our services or providing more beds, it’s about being able to provide those services at a living wage so that we’re not constantly replacing staff and starting from scratch again.”
While staff turnover is frustrating, Zuck understands why so many team members move on for higher pay.
“Many of them love their jobs and don’t want to leave, but it comes down to economics,” she says. “It’s unfortunate, but I can’t blame them, especially those who may be single parents and don’t have that extra income.”
