Inside the Circle- August 5, 2024

Do you ever struggle to find the right words to express your feelings?

Does being on the receiving end of criticism leave you feeling defensive and misunderstood?

Using ‘I language’ can help!

By starting with ‘I’ you can take ownership of your emotions and express them clearly, without blaming others. Using ‘I language’ helps create understanding and respect in your relationships.

In this video, we explore the basics of ‘I language’ including

• what it is,
• how to use it effectively, and
• how to include it in your interactions.

Do you have questions about your pay?

Ask our payroll team!

Contact us at payroll@circleofcare.com for help with topics including:

• pay stubs
• pay codes
• T4 or other tax documents
• RRSP contributions
• CPP

Circle of Care is proud to offer discount tickets to this year’s CNE!

Use our corporate code to save on gate prices and more when you buy your CNE tickets online.

Click the link to learn more:

We are pleased to welcome the following new PSWs and Homemakers to Circle of Care:

• Tarandeep Kaur
• Karamjeet Kaur Sangha
• Lilibeth Roque
• Pooja Rabara
• Aprilyn Bolusan
• Sheina Mae Fernandez
• Shirley Puno
• Tiauna Corbette
• Abiola Oyalowo
• Sahra Elmi
• Marianne Dauda
• Smita Khunti
• Hazel Velasquez
• Gladys Jelimo
• Irish Cherryl Matillano
• Nadarpreet Kaur Chahal
• Joy Ezinma
• Gurdas Kaur
• Carol Baker

Every morning I wake up at 5:00 to get ready to leave my house for 6:30 for what should be 8 hours of work. But when I look at my schedule sometimes I have 7 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours… I’ve been working with this company for almost 7 years, and I do not understand why my schedule is not consistent. Grocery prices have gone up, inflation has gone up, plus the landlord raised my rent. I cannot even afford to pay my rent, buy groceries and even to buy gas to go to work. Sometimes I have to borrow money from Money Mart, which means extra interest. Please do not let your workers suffer because you guys are hiring everyday. I’m almost behind with my rent and I have to speak to my landlord. This is not fair. When I wake up in the morning to go to work, I expect to have 8 hours a day.

Due to the nature of home services, we understand that schedule hours can sometimes be unpredictable. There are many factors Service Coordinators must consider when scheduling visits: client and worker availability, time preference, day preference, schedule changes (such as vacations, appointments, or cancellations), treatment location, distance between client addresses, and care plan needs. As a result, Circle of Care cannot guarantee that there will be clients available within a specific area who have visit times that correlate with a worker’s availability.

Our funders also make modifications to how many hours clients are authorized for based on their assessments, sometimes decreasing the hours they were previously receiving. This directly impacts PSW schedules and hours. Circle of Care also doesn’t have control over where and when we get new referrals, so the numbers can change frequently across geographies and funders.

Service Coordinators do their best to fill and accommodate all Personal Support Workers’ schedules based on their availability but we do not guarantee any hours. If you have concerns about your schedule or are requesting an increase in weekly hours, we recommend that you contact your Service Coordinator to speak with them directly.

I’ve been complaining about my hours since last year. I have 40 hours of availability given to Circle of Care, yet I’m STILL NOT GETTING ENOUGH HOURS!! In our Collective Agreement it says 30 hour guaranteed weekly hours but that is not happening or never happened. How can we live with 20 hours bi-weekly? There are some clients willing to take whenever the PSW is available but these coordinators keep denying the request and would tell the client that the PSW is not available. How is that possible?

If a client has indicated that they are flexible with the time of their visit, and are requesting a specific Personal Support Worker, they may notify their Service Coordinator so the coordinator can try their best to accommodate this request. We have to schedule clients on the basis of seniority and client preferences. We do not guarantee any hours and the hours you are assigned are based on availability, client need, available hours in your area, travel time and seniority.

We understand that schedule changes can be unpredictable. Please contact your Service Coordinator if you are experiencing ongoing hours that are well beneath your availability so they can review this for you.

If I’m with a client and my work phone rings, should I answer it? Because the office was calling me and I answered it and now, because I used my phone, the client says they don’t want me back.

If you are getting a call from the office, and you are able to answer the call while you are with your client, you can let your client know that Circle of Care is calling you and take the call. If you are not able to take the call, the person who is calling you should leave a voicemail, and you can call back.

For this situation, you can reach out to your CSS and your CSS can look into it further to see if we can have this client back on your schedule.

Who enrols us in the Global Benefits and SEIU once we have completed 650 hours? Do we have to inform HR? Thank you.

Our HR team pulls a report on a monthly basis to determine eligibility for new hires (reaching the 650 hours). Once your eligibility is confirmed, we send your information over to SEIU/Global Benefits to be enrolled in the plan, and then SEIU/Global Benefits will reach out to you with more information.

If you’d like to know your eligibility status, you can email HRDept@circleofcare.com

We invite you to submit your questions or feedback below. Please note that it may take us longer to provide some answers, so if you’ve asked a question that hasn’t been answered yet, we will get back to you in the coming weeks.