In short: Ridiculous productivity requirements nurture a culture which believes that Medicaid fraud is necessary for survival, and this fraudulence drives management to expect unrealistic productivity levels from all employees. With integrity, this job is difficult to perform - far more difficult than higher-ups are willing to compensate.
In long:
It is common knowledge and a barely tolerated issue among the workplace that this agency asks for far more than it is willing to give back to its employees. I may be one of the first in this agency to express this but I am certainly not the first or the last to know it: many case managers find that the only way to create the perception of thriving is to exaggerate their hours of productivity because productivity (hours billed to Medicaid) requirements are unrealistic when taking into account time for driving through DC traffic, waiting with clients, and finding parking spots (these can easily take up a couple of hours a day, combined).... this is essentially Medicaid fraud. It has become a culture in the workplace because it is seen as necessary to survive and keep the job. This is not because the employees are bad people or bad workers; it is known among employees that the productivity requirements of this job are simply not feasible unless the case manager/Rehabilitation Specialist puts in extra (unpaid, after hours) work to complete documentation requirements. Additionally, if an employee does not reach his/her productivity requirement, he/she is put on probation for six months, during which they cannot slip on productivity once without the risk of termination. It is this fear that drives fraudulence, and this fraudulence that drives management to expect more from employees.
No one in social work is in this field for the money, but the high amount of effort required to produce quality work with integrity and honesty would be do-able if employees were compensated at least according to the work they put in and if productivity requirements were lowered by even a half hour a day.
I understand this is a non-profit organization and I understand it is difficult to receive the proper funding, but the idea of Medicaid fraud would not be such a culture in this workplace if employees were encouraged to produce quality work. The current attitude is "you've got to do what you've got to do" to get by, and all coworkers I have spoken to at my level find this agency unorganized and very unaware of the plight and survival habits of its lower-level employees.
