Home InsteadReviews of homeinstead.com

The Home Instead office at WEST VANCOUVER is badly managed. From high turn over of staff to office cleanliness and office manager is untruthful, unpredictable and an unstable person. Their management style is from the 80's. The owner is barely there to observe what is happening. They only care about the money coming in, as their territory is the wealthiest in Canada with many seniors. Please do not work there, they will attract you with their kindness, but once you start working many challenges will arise. Vancouver has tons of better places to work.

Management only cares about themselves.HR was more interested in gossiping about caregivers personal lives. Schedulers regular pushed caregivers into longer shifts and routinely break the working time act. Avoid at all costs, you are worth more than working for Home Instead

Different story in the interview, different things in the contract, which they send pretty late. Horribly low pay rates, fixed hours only on the paper. In the reality, waste of time and money. Night and morning shifts, underpaid. Chaotic management. Not recommended.

Worked for the one in Saintfield for a few months... Terrible company to work for. Owner of the franchise is a money grabbing snob. Staff are treated badly and clients best interests are not at heart. Stay away!!!

Do not work for this company! They advertised online for £11.50 weekdays and £13.50 weekends yet when I signed the contract I noticed in my first pay cheque it was actually £1 less for both weekdays and weekends, I emailed asking about this twice but never got a response. They do not pay you sufficient fuel costs, 25p per mile is below the gov minimum payment of 45p (which even then is too low with fuel prices at £1.40 for petrol, even more for diesel), I drove 3000 miles in one month and only was paid £150 for fuel, they claim the calculations are made via the ACP app but it is a complete lie. I asked for an investigation to be put in and to increase the fuel as a minimum effort and the head office replied saying they won't. The main problem with the company however is the absurd amount of time you don't get paid for, for months I had to wait hours in between calls (as was too long and financially impractical to drive to and fro) and was never paid for it. Can have a 10 hour day, assuming you start at 7:30 am one would assume you'd finish at 3:30pm, but no! You don't finish the last client until 9-10pm. A complete joke and immoral. I was also scolded by my superior for quite literally 'doing too much' as they said it made other carers who go in and don't do as much as they can to ease the clients lives look bad and can lead to negative cases. Imagine being told off for going above and beyond. I also only found out recently that I signed a 0 hour contract, the lady who assisted me in signing the contract asked my availability, to which I told her 20 hours (which was rarely adhered to in all my time working for this company) and she said she can't promise that amount so instead sign the other box which unbeknownst to me meant 0 hours. A complete shambles. The only positives were the clients themselves who were usually always a delight, wonderfully interesting, kind and grateful. I am a very busy individual, juggling school with working and I implore anybody seeking to work in care, especially HomeInstead, to tread carefully when looking for work in care; they take complete advantage. There is a reason why nobody why in the UK there is such a lack of carer's, the above is just the tip of the iceberg.

Amazing place to work

Home Instead have been amazing for mum and dad since we needed care to help with Dad’s dementia. The company were recommended by the social worker and HI have been prompt, understanding and not at all pushy. The initial “pitch” was professional and not at all salesy. They never pushed my parents or made them feel intimidated. They aren’t awkward with family members either, they keep me and my husband fully informed and with my mum’s consent we have access to the care diary and also the log of all the work they do. There was one time the carer was late because of an emergency at her earlier appointment, but she didn’t cut corners and she stayed and helped for the allotted time. She apologies profusely, but there were no issues and she phoned ahead. The only downside is that it is expensive, but what private social care isn’t? There are several packages which you can choose from, ranging in budgets. HI have been an absolute lifeline.

I was so excited to work for this company. The 3 day induction training was unpaid,Saturday Sunday and Monday 9am-4pm. I was a companionship caregiver,and my clients were dementia clients who I thoroughly enjoyed working with but I initially was told I would have 12hrs aweek but I only got 4hrs. As time went on I received 10hrs but that didn't last long before some clients were taken off me. I was misinformed about claiming car travel allowance so I never received any payments for 3 months and had to arrange a meeting with the main boss to finally receive it. The office staff come across as being supportive but aren't and continually lied to me concerning alot of issues.Never returned my calls. After I'd worked there a short while my client visits were obviously turning into personal care visits which wasn't the role i applied for.I covered holidays for other caregivers and was shocked at the lack of previous care the clients had been receiving. Once I booked a holiday and I received a phone call from the office asking if I needed the holiday as other caregivers that worked more hours than me wanted that day or me having one days holiday 'messed' it up for other caregivers holidays. I finally put in my notice I was told I had to work 4wks notice and then I would receive all monies owed including holiday hours accrued. I never had a contract but worked the 4wks as asked but never received the accrued holiday pay. I contacted the office and as always was told they'd get someone to look into it. Every call was ignored,every message was ignored. The caregivers are lovely,the clients are lovely and it was a pleasure spending time with them, but he office staff are not.