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This is an audio file repository for podcast episodes published by HDE Home Care, located in Portland, Oregon.
Ed Bejarana: Eli, welcome to HDE
home care. HDE Home Care is a
family owned company that hires
service providers to work with
people with disabilities. We
support children and adults at
home and in the community to
accomplish daily activities.
Hello,
Eli Plouff: friends. This is Eli
bluff with HDE home care, and
welcome to the HDE Home Care
podcast. My guest on the show
today is the founder and owner
of HD home care, Donnie,
Bradetitch. Donny, thank you for
joining me.
Donny Bradetich: Great to be
here again. Eli, thanks for
suggesting I come back and
anytime
Eli Plouff: the door is always
open. All right, great. Let's
jump into it. Great. So we're
here today to talk about
burnout. Do you want to start by
just establishing what burnout
is? Absolutely
Donny Bradetich: burnout. It is
a thing that is very prevalent
in any industry, any type of
work or life for that matter,
but it is definitely a thing in
caregiving and being a support
worker. So it's a hot topic.
Here, I pulled up a definition
for burnout just to establish
some basic, you know, whatever
basic definition for it was
Miriam Webster. So let's see,
burnout is a syndrome
conceptualized as resulting from
chronic workplace stress that
has not been successfully
managed, and then they give it's
characterized by three
dimensions, feelings of energy
depletion or exhaustion,
increased mental distance from
one's job, or feelings of
negativism or cynicism. That's a
new word for me, related to
one's job. So obviously it's
feeling stress, and then the
really the inability to manage
it or cope with the stressors
that COVID the job that you're
performing. Yeah,
Eli Plouff: totally makes sense.
So what do you recommend? I'm
guessing proper work life
balance.
Donny Bradetich: Certainly, I
think that's one of the great
solutions to being able to
manage what happens at work. I
wanted to give a little bit of I
also pulled up along with the
definition, some just general
signs that you might see from
somebody that they're
experiencing burnout, drained
energy or lack of energy. They
seem distant in their job, low
motivation, helpless or hopeless
feelings or resentful feelings
towards the work they do,
difficulty focusing, or overall
dissatisfaction. Are things that
you might see in somebody who's
experiencing burnout
Eli Plouff: in their job? Yeah,
are these things that you're
looking for as an employer?
Donny Bradetich: Great question.
I think subconsciously,
definitely, I try to always have
my finger on the pulse of kind
of the mood of the office when I
walk in, to be honest, burnout
doesn't hit me as a like, it's
not something that I think of
right away when I feel, when I
maybe see somebody has one of
those signs, I kind of maybe
more in the moment, and think
what is causing, you know, their
dissatisfaction, or, sure,
Eli Plouff: maybe we've got some
issues going on outside of work,
family stress.
Donny Bradetich: Could be
anything, yeah, and, and so it's
I, I liked the, you know that
being able to discuss it, we had
a representative at our safety
meeting that gave a presentation
on burnout, and I like I like
that, because I think it's some
of the things you have to pull
yourself out, not be really in
the moment. Burnout is something
that is the definition says
prolonged stress, inability to
cope with it over time. It's
usually something that you can't
really identify in one with one
instance or one circumstance.
It's kind of more of something
you you see is over the course
of time. So it was great to have
the representative to really
bring continued awareness to to
burn out and in the job, a lot
of our administrative team and
our management team attended,
which is good, because they have
their finger on the pole. So
it's happening out in the field
with our direct services staff.
But kind of to get back to your
to your question about, do I
notice it? It is i It is harder,
to be honest, it is harder to
notice in the heat of the
moment. I don't always identify
things as being burnout. It's
more of like if I notice
something over the course of
time, I think this person's
struggling to cope. With their
job, or what the expectations
are, and my immediate thought
is, what have we been
communicating to that person?
You know, are we? Are we on the
same page? So I don't
immediately go to things that
might be affecting them outside
of the workplace,
Eli Plouff: to be fair. You
know, burnout is the kind of
thing that the person might not
realize themselves, you know,
they might just start thinking,
Boy, I'm worn out, you know, and
not directly tie it to, you
know, an improper work life
balance, Yeah,
Donny Bradetich: most
definitely. I think, I think
that's a big thing. As I was
preparing notes for, you know,
for a conversation today, I
really always Eli, I really did
want to focus on on some of
those things about what it is to
what it is to be able to prepare
yourself to work and get
yourself in the mind frame to do
your job like you want to do it
at work, then put it to bed when
you leave work. I think those
are really some important things
that I certainly will we'll get
into here.
Eli Plouff: Absolutely, do you
want to just start off with some
tips for how to avoid or control
this?
Donny Bradetich: Certainly,
Thanks for Thanks for the setup,
avoiding burnout or controlling
it. I think communicating about
your job is really important,
both the good and the bad parts
of your job. It's really easy to
go and voice a complaint or
grievance of sorts to your
supervisor, to HR, I think those
are important because you want
to address the things that are
are nagging. I think it is also
important to continue to promote
the positive things that happen
throughout work. It is. It's
brutal to try to always do that,
because sometimes you think, Oh,
something good happens. We
expect good to happen. That's
what we're trying to do here.
However, it's not as in
everybody's nature to to say
those things out loud, to give a
compliment, to promote the
goodwill of what we're doing as
an organization, and the more of
the positive things that float
out there, those can have, those
can have residual effects down
the road when some negative
things are happening, you know
you're weighing hey,
everything's negative. Well,
maybe it's not this. In this
instance, it's negative, but
maybe the last two weeks hasn't
been so improves your
perspective to help promote kind
of the good vibes. And in the
office or in the field,
Eli Plouff: totally agree.
That's a great point.
Donny Bradetich: Thanks. Kind of
along that, that that realm as
well. I want to stress, like
some of the couple of things we
do here to try to help employees
communicate, we have an open
door policy. I think it has to
go both ways. There's a lot of
incentive for managers to make
sure that they're checking in
with their employees, to make
sure that they're satisfied, to
make sure that they understand
what their job is. And I think
it's also just as much on the
employee from their own if they
want to maintain some control,
that they recognize those things
that are maybe not ideal.
They're willing to approach
management, willing to approach
HR, to fact find before they
come to judgment or decisions on
how things are going, absolutely
those are all. Those are things
that we do our best to promote
here. I think sometimes it
works, but it's not a perfect
remedy. There's always going to
be different nuances to people
and their jobs and relationships
at work. So it's a constant,
constant thing to work through
and make a point of emphasis, so
sure
Eli Plouff: all we can do is try
our best. Yeah, yeah.
Donny Bradetich: We also have
regular meetings with we most of
the teams that have regular
meetings, either in small groups
or one on ones. Some of them
meet it as frequently as every
single week. We don't just do
the quarterly or the annual
check in on how's your job
going. It needs much more
maintenance than that. So we
have those you know, the open
door policy, the regular
meetings are there to talk about
the business that needs to be
handled, but also an opportunity
to air grievances or discuss
things that are not known as
well. Absolutely.
Eli Plouff: Yeah, my team meets
every week for at least an hour
and a half, two hours, and it's
great for, you know, sharing
ideas and collaborating on
projects, but also talking about
what's going well and what isn't
going so well. You know,
Donny Bradetich: totally, I want
to turn the tables on you, if
you don't mind for a second. You
know, one of the things that I
want to kind of take a few
minutes to cover some of the
different, you know, employee
types that we have, because
we're all going to experience
burnout. In our own way, and
you've kind of been on both
sides, being out in the field a
little bit on an island, you
know, you don't see everybody as
much as you do now, as you work
in the office, what's that like
for you when you've experienced
maybe prolonged stress on the
job, being out in the field,
working with clients, versus now
working in the office around a
regular group of people. Well,
Eli Plouff: being out in the
field, I had a little bit more
freedom, a bit more autonomy, to
create my own schedule, as far
as you know, booking my admin
time, you know. So previously, I
had been a job coach, and when
you're working out in the field
with clients, that time is set
in stone. You know, you got to
be there to support the people
that we're paid to be
supporting. But then there's a
large percentage of that job
that also happens at home or in
an office, where you're writing
your care notes, you're writing
monthly reports. And you know, a
lot of that time could be
scheduled at your convenience,
and that's a huge help. That was
always a huge help for me, you
know, to not feel that pressure
to immediately get home after
working with a long client shift
and maybe multiple clients in
the same day, and then need to
sit down and grind out a bunch
of care notes and start working
on my monthly reports
immediately afterwards. So just
being able to space out some of
that workload was really helpful
for me. Also those team
meetings, just getting together
every Wednesday and chatting
with the other people who do the
exact same job as I do, and also
the people above me and checking
in with the management, sharing
ideas with my coworkers about,
you know what works well with
clients and what hasn't been
going well, successes and
failures all around and then
sharing that feedback with the
management and passing it on up
the ladder, you know. And this
is a company where I have always
felt heard, and that's something
really important too, you know.
And you were talking about the
importance of hearing people's
voices earlier, you know? And
that's I can certainly attest to
that it is. It almost feels like
it lightens the load when you
help, you know, when you know
that there's always an ear
waiting to listen to whatever
you've got to say. And that's
the way I've always felt at this
company, you know, I've been
able to share the successes and
things that I feel I've
accomplished with the clients
that I've been working with, but
also things that are
disappointing and have been
bringing me down. You know, not
every shift with a client is
going to go well, and just being
able to talk to the co workers
who are also going through the
exact same situation with the
exact same clients, but then
running it up the chain as well,
and getting some feedback from
management on how to best
address those issues is
extremely helpful. As far as
being in the office, well, it is
more of a nine to five type of a
deal, so there's less freedom to
schedule time differently, but
there is more freedom throughout
the day to choose my own tasks
as I see fit. And, you know,
sort of triage the projects that
I'm working on at any given time
I might be working on five to 10
different projects, just on an
as needed basis. And you know,
I'm given the freedom to
prioritize my own tasks and
schedule my own meetings,
schedule my own check ins with
the job coaches, and that helps
me a lot too. You know, just not
having a rigid schedule for
those things. Obviously, there
are some items on my list that
we do have hard deadlines for
deadlines that need to be met,
those typically rise to the top
of the list. But there are other
items that you know I might have
a little bit more to work on
that I can sort of chip away at
and not feel like it's bearing
down on
Donny Bradetich: me. Very good.
Those are that's well described.
I recall some of your first your
first client, probably that you
had, was a very stressful
situation, and I think some of
your you know, it's such a good
experience on the job to help
develop some of the skills it
takes to work through some of
the more stressful
circumstances.
Eli Plouff: Absolutely. One
final thing about that, just the
employment team that I started
out on as a job coach and that
I'm still a part of today. We're
like a family, you know. We all
get along so well. The team is
so strong. Everyone is so
empathetic, but also so smart.
It's an intelligent team, you
know, and people I feel like I
can really count on and depend
on for good advice, and that's
really important too, feeling
like they're not just good job
coaches, but also good people,
and people that I see as
friends. Yeah.
Donny Bradetich: It always
appreciated the camaraderie I
see on that team. Absolutely
something to strive for is it
Eli Plouff: lowers the overall
stress level of the team and
makes the work day go a lot
faster. Yeah,
Donny Bradetich: absolutely.
Thanks for sharing that kind of
be. It certainly can't go
without acknowledging you know,
burnout is such a high topic of
conversation in the caregiving
field when we're I mean, in any
environment, I think it would
be, but especially when you're
at somebody's home, and you're
sometimes there with nobody
else, or if you're there there's
other people, it's usually
family members, right? That
sometimes have high expectations
of what a support worker will do
in that alone. You might be
helping people who maybe prefer
not to be helped with some of
their independent or, you know,
areas in which they would prefer
to be independent with, making
meals, going to the bathroom,
getting dressed. Those can be
stressors for the client, and in
turn, the caregiver wears that
and absorbs that stress. So
that's that's a really big part
of our field. It's part of the
reason why I encourage
attendance at safety meeting or
safety meeting with virtual a
couple years ago, so we can
encourage more people to be
there, yeah, so they just feel
like they're part of a community
and a team that they can share
some of their experiences with
all are welcome Absolutely, and
and so that, you know, that's
one of the things that I want to
certainly acknowledge here is
the caregivers experience. We
call them DSPs here, direct
support professionals. They
experience some of the most
high, you know, stressful
situations. So that's certainly
wanted to acknowledge that.
Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah.
Want to touch on work life
balance earlier. I think kind of
how to control or avoid burnout.
Yeah, I don't know if you can
totally avoid it, but I think
controlling it or minimizing its
impact is really important. You
know, here at HD, we have
certain policies and guidance to
work when it's time to work and
check out when it's not time to
work. We have those policies
from the top down there. It's
in, it's in our handbook and
manual where there's an
expectation that you don't have
to check your email and your
outside of work, I have long
turned off notifications from my
email to my phone. I did that
many years ago. Sure, I'll pop
in when I want to pop in, and
then I control my work time when
I'm out of the office, but we do
encourage people when it's not
time to work, don't work. We
have our methods of, you know,
contacting people via phone if
we have if people are absolutely
needed. So that's one way that
we encourage that here is for
people to follow our guidance
and what's in writing to work
when it's time to work and check
out when it's not. And, you
know, taking time off when, when
you have time off available,
instead of saving it up to cash
out at the end of employment,
right? We have some policies
that encourage its use
throughout employment and
somebody's employment, time off
is there to take time off to
keep yourself in a healthy state
of mind, whether that's
recovering from illness or just
again, taking vacation and
checking out at work, and we
have a pretty good history of
being able, at least in the
office, of being able to cover
people's time off and
responsibilities to where
they're not required to go on
vacation, but be available in
case of emergency or process
this or that. Taking time off
and getting that time makes you
a better, better employee when
you're back at work, and in my
opinion, it makes you better
outside of work. You don't take
some of that stuff on the road.
It's better when you are when
you're done at work, you go
home, or you go on your
vacation, just do it. Yeah,
enjoy that time as well.
Eli Plouff: Spend your time with
your family, not thinking about
work. Certainly,
Donny Bradetich: I think some
other things that I we don't
impress upon people too much.
Sometimes these are questions in
interviews, where we ask people,
What are they passionate about
outside of work, just to kind of
get to know, are they, you know,
when they leave work, are they
somebody who still has the
qualities of trying to do
something with their time? Do it
well, you know, what are they?
It's always an interesting
interview question, but I think
it's important for people to
have some sort of passion
outside of work. I think
whether, regardless of whether
that's activity based or reading
or help, you know, volunteering
or drawing, that obviously the
you know, it's limitless about
what kind of things you could be
passionate about. But I think
that helps you, you know, take
your mind. Signed off of work. I
think it helps, you know,
provide some variety in what
you're doing day to day.
Because, you know, we definitely
when people are working, we do
ask a lot of our people that's
we want people to do well at
their job while they're here. We
have lots of avenues to improve
in people's career. That's one
of my next points. Is, I think
it's important for people to
have professional goals, so that
while you are coming to work and
you have those stressful days
that you see some of the reasons
why you do it, you know, why do
you do the work that you do? Why
are you putting that next level
effort and going above and
beyond. Is it because you're
trying to reach a goal? Is it
trying because you're passionate
about helping people? You like
being part of a team? You know,
whatever drives the individual?
I think it's important for
people. People have to find that
themselves in some way, shape or
form. Sure,
Eli Plouff: yeah, people will be
more effective at their jobs if
there's something that they're
working towards
Donny Bradetich: very much. And
you know, some people, obviously
people here to make a paycheck,
but if you're just here to punch
the clock and be here because
you have to be here to earn the
money, then you're not going to
get out of it. The same of what
as what others do. But they have
some purpose behind it. I can't
encourage that enough. I have
many hobbies and many things
that I do outside of work that
that helped me in that in that
regard, I love my garden during
waiting for the springtime to
hit. Sorry, get my hands dirty
outside. Currently doing puzzles
indoors. Started the puzzle here
in the office. Those are some
things. Obviously, I have
children that I take up a lot of
my time and energy outside of
here. Like to work out and I
like to run. So I I do a lot of
things outside of here, partly
because I know it helps me when
I'm here as well. So I think
more people I can, I encourage
people to do that a lot. You
know, whether they think they're
burnt out at work or not. I
think it's just a healthy life
habit in general.
Eli Plouff: Yeah, may seem
counterintuitive, but sometimes
doing more stuff can help break
you out of that burnout.
Donny Bradetich: Yeah,
absolutely. I think one of the
other things to kind of
controlling or avoiding burnout,
so to speak, is to I think
people have to work at it. I
think there's, you know, taking
some pull yourself out of it if
you're feeling stressful.
There's, you know, seek some
perspective of other people
could, could be helpful. There's
probably other people in the
organization who are
experiencing the same thing, or
have previously job. I think
that's important to talk to
other people about it, not
dwelling on one day or one
interaction, because generally,
again, burnout is caused over
prolonged stress, something
that's happening more than just
on one day. I think if a big
situation happens, maybe pull
yourself out and think, Is this
a pattern? Is this where I'm
headed, or was this just to
happen? Stands for today. I
think it's I think it's
important that if you want to
avoid it, that the individual
has to work at it too. They have
to put their mind to being able
to develop their coping
mechanisms and find those goals
and their reason why they do
what they do. Definitely, yeah,
it's not an issue that's going
to solve itself. Certainly.
Eli Plouff: What are some of the
ramifications of burnout in the
workplace.
Donny Bradetich: Sure thing,
well, they're generally not all
on the positive side. You know,
the ramifications of burnout
are, they usually mean we have
to put some extra work into
course correcting. I think one
of the biggest things I see in
in others might be there, they
just seem dissatisfied with, I
know that's in the definition,
but I there's just when in times
where you don't normally see
somebody, you know, maybe
dissatisfied with, maybe an
email I sent out, or, you know,
sitting in a team meeting, those
are things that that can not
only be obvious, but they can
kind of permeate to others. They
put out negative vibes, bring
others down. Those are, those
are things we try to avoid as an
office I think it's not just
strictly to burn out, but it's
whenever you see that in
somebody, you want to try to
avoid that, because you know,
you want to deal with the person
who's going through that and
help them course correct and get
them better. That helps them,
but it generally helps the
greater good of the team that
they're on as well. Absolutely
people along the same mindset.
If. You know, besides just kind
of that, that feeling of
dissatisfaction or negativity,
there's a there's a reality of
underperformance that happens
when things aren't easy and
going well. If somebody's burnt
out not feeling up to par, those
5050, times, they may not put
forth the extra effort, or do go
the extra mile to do the job
that they would have they been
feeling well or satisfied with
the job, so it can lead to
underperformance. And then then
there's a whole another slate of
things that a manager may have
to deal with at that point,
besides maybe attitude or or
whatnot. Then it comes to, well,
the job isn't getting done
either. And so it can really, it
can really steamroll from there.
The other thing, I think
ultimately, what it burnout can
lead to is just high turnover.
It's very prevalent in our
field, caregiving or DSP, work
is a high turnover position. We
have charted some of our
retention rates in the past at
six months, where our staff
turns over every six months
talking to other agency owners.
It's that's relatively
consistent, okay, unfortunately,
but that that is a reality in
the field. And so when I you
know we're we're actually close
to somebody, one of our staff,
hitting 10 years. We have other
people who were hired in 2015
that are going to be hitting 10
years later this year. Those are
unbelievable. You know,
benchmarks I think, to hit to be
able to do that job at one
place, for for for that long is
it's a good testament to
somebody's commitment to the job
and their ability to work
through the difficult
situations. So
Eli Plouff: what are some ways
that work life balance is
addressed in HD, how do you help
head off burnout and alleviate
it after the fact?
Donny Bradetich: Sure, you know,
in no particular order, I've got
a handful of things that that I
think are really helpful to
address work life balance and
stress and ultimately, burnout.
We have pretty reasonable time
off available for each position
compared to industry standard. I
think that's that's how we
allotted it per job category. I
I'm very conscious of that with
our direct care staff, because
getting allotted sick time or
paid time off. It's not
something that you generally see
a tremendous amount of it. So
we've always tried to stay above
the industry norm. There
Eli Plouff: better pay also
better.
Donny Bradetich: That definitely
helps too. We try well above the
industry standard. Absolutely,
we we try to do we try, try to
stay there. That helps with
turnover. It helps with what
people feel like they might be
getting out of the job. Most
definitely, that that's a big, a
big factor there. Helps with
recruiting also. So it's kind of
has many benefits. But you know,
even with with office personnel,
you know, we're, we kind of our
competitors, so to speak, when
we talk about administrative
positions, it's not just
healthcare organizations,
because we have some people who
work in billing or payroll or
HR, and so they're doing jobs
that are, you know, you don't
have to have any experience in
the field to do these jobs, but
we might be competing against a
CPA firm, lawyers firm, where
they're giving, you know,
benefits that we can't compete
with. So there's, there's a
that's a tough balance that that
we have with some of our
positions, but, but we
definitely try to stay at or
above industry standard for some
of those because think it's
important that people have
access to what they need to live
the life they want to live
outside of here. Absolutely, I
talked about it earlier, but
there's no expectation to be on
the hook for work all the time.
Sure. Again, talked about the
not having notification since my
email notification sent to my
phone that was put in place a
long time ago, that was almost
seemed like a brag eight to 10
years ago. I'm on all the time,
you know, and that sounds great
when you you know when you might
be bragging about it, but, but
you know that means you're never
off the hook. Like, when are you
relaxing? When are you when are
you getting your time in, your
personal time, and it is okay to
check out, the clock out. That
is, that is a that is absolutely
a thing. I want people. Able to
continue to experience here,
absolutely.
Eli Plouff: Yeah, it's a really
freeing feeling to turn off the
notifications on your phone.
Donny Bradetich: Yes, it is
flexible scheduling. There's a
there's an element to that with
our service staff. You mentioned
it earlier, but there's a little
bit more control you have when
you don't report into the office
location all the time where
there's other managers or the
owners are our service staff.
They get some say in what their
schedule is. We, as part of our
recruiting process is, you know,
we're interviewing somebody. We
want to know when they're
available to work and when they
want to be available to work,
and then we try to offer them
work within that time frame. The
more open they are, the more we
can offer them. But you know
that's important that they be
able to carve out some spots in
their life. It's important to
them to have a specific time of
the week off. We do offer that
flexible scheduling to staff. We
need it committed to longer
term, of course, but once
before, we kind of engage in the
hiring process with our DSPs or
job coaches, we want to know
when are you available to work.
We want that need met for office
staff. Like you mentioned the
it's kind of more nine to five
ish. We actually do have some
built in flexibility with within
our office hours. We, you know,
we need to have office hours
because we have visitors here.
We conduct some business here
that's more than just the
employees who report to the
office, but we do give some
flexibility when you start or
end your day living in a metro
area, very conscious of commute
time and rush hour and that
we're, you know, on one side of
the river here. So people coming
from the east side of the
Portland area, they may want to
duck the morning traffic so they
get here early or or if they
want to get here later and start
a little bit later, we offer
some flexibility for if you're
an early riser or that's a
really
Eli Plouff: nice thing too, that
most companies wouldn't offer.
So,
Donny Bradetich: yeah, I think
we've had some. It's obvious
that some people take advantage
of that, and that's great
appreciate that people will will
do so the work environment here
another thing that I think helps
us in this capacity is that
there's a sense of community
with with what we're doing in
this field, obviously, with the
job that caregivers do, the
DSPS, job coaches and our
behavior professionals, of
course, work with clients as
well. There's an undoubted
direct, like benefit you can get
if you see that you're helping a
community member, somebody that
needs help. You are, you're
help, you're you're supporting
them in some way, shape or form,
live the life that they want to
live. So there's a lot of value
you can get out of that and make
it go to work maybe with a smile
on your face, more so than if
you were doing something that
wasn't so person involved,
person centered. I think that's
that's one thing for our service
staff, for the office staff, we
try to do as much as we can here
to engage our team and at least
be friends at work, so to speak.
There's no obligation to hang
out outside of here. We don't
force that by any stretch of the
imagination, but we certainly
give the opportunity for people
to again have the meetings in
person I think are important. We
have multiple all staff events
that we put on our Christmas
party, our summer picnic.
There's team events that each
kind of smaller group team gets
to have. There is a sense of
community here that we try to
impress upon our our group, and
I think that's those who take to
it get more out of that, and can
hold each other accountable for,
you know, it's it's easier to go
to work or do something
difficult if you have a co pilot
with it. You know, you got to
hold yourself accountable to
that. Yes, that's undoubtedly a
thing I learned growing up with
brothers and then being in team
sports, having having a partner
in crime, really can push you to
greater heights than you can by
yourself.
Eli Plouff: Absolutely true. And
you know that you're not in it
alone. You know, you've got
something else. You know, going
back to the job coach example,
you've got a handful of other
people in the room when you meet
on Wednesdays that are all doing
the exact same thing you are,
you know? Yeah, the things that
you're struggling with, they're
probably struggling with too,
and you can help each other
through it,
Donny Bradetich: yeah, I think
that's really important. And you
know that, so we put that out
there. Again, some people take
to it really well. Some people
less. So it's less of their
nature that's okay. But I think
that's an important thing that
we do. And one of the last key
points, I think things that we
do here the work life balance,
it's modeled from the top down.
I talked a lot earlier about the
things that I do outside of work
to keep myself engaged and
interested in life?
Eli Plouff: Yeah, you barely
even talked about your family.
Barely talked about my family,
Donny Bradetich: which is silly,
because that's where I spend a
lot of time. Obviously, I have
my three girls are, you know, I
spend usually an assistant coach
on one or two of their teams for
two or three seasons out of the
year. My wife and I spend a lot
of time together. You know, I
have my brother lives in town,
spend a lot of time with him and
his boys. And then I try to, you
know, people that I meet, either
through work or through my kids
and their friendships, other
parents and their teams. I mean,
I've, I've made some friends
that I continue to see on a
regular basis. I think that
that's something you put the
work into, and you get out of
it. What you put into it, you
get friendships. If you make
yourself available, you you make
yourself part of a community or
a team, if you, if you join it,
and you immerse yourself into
it, that I definitely try to
model that for others. Yeah, I
know some of Brian does does
that as well. He has a lot of
things that he's a part of and
and so from the top down, we try
to model that here. And that's a
way that I think we we try to
address the work life balance
and see others at
Eli Plouff: work. I'd say you
model that very effectively,
even just things like, you know,
making sure that you take your
lunch break during a shift,
stuff like that. I see you and
Brian always going out, taking
lunch breaks and encouraging
your employees to do the same. I
don't feel like you've got to
keep your nose to the ground.
Grindstone for the entire day
and start to finish. You know,
give yourself a break. You've
earned it. Yeah,
Donny Bradetich: thank you for
bringing that up. That's
actually a thing, a very
underrated thing at work. I kind
of mentioned how there kind of
used to be a brag about, oh, I'm
all, I'm always on 24/7 checking
my phone and all that kind of in
a similar light, to say that I
just worked eight or nine
straight hours. You probably
were without taking a break or a
lunch. You probably weren't the
same person in the last three or
four hours as you were the first
four or five hours. Very true.
So I I talked to my managers. I
had definitely sample time cards
and make sure that people are
taking their lunch. You got to
take care of yourself, taking
your break. I mean, just besides
the mental break, you got to get
some food. For sure. Those are
all things that you know people
can do to improve their
performance, improve their
satisfaction, stay on in a
healthy state of mind. I think
those are, those are all great
things. So thanks for bringing
up for lunch. Yeah, absolutely.
Eli Plouff: I guess in closing
here, I just asked, so what if
there's a listener out there
enjoying our podcast right now
and thinking, Boy, am I burned
out. Well, it'd be a great first
place to start.
Donny Bradetich: Boy, if like,
my advice to somebody would be
to try to pull themselves out of
the situation and either start
maybe talking to a microphone,
take some notes and write stuff
down. Just get some things out
there. Talk to somebody. If you
don't want to talk to somebody
about it, then I would get
something on paper, write your
thoughts out, and start trying
to, trying to break down a
little bit about what is, what
is bothering you, and it, it
might be something work. Might
be the thing that's non at you a
little bit, but it might be
caused you might not be able to
deal with it, because it's
something outside of work. You
work and vice versa. It, you
know, could be, might not be bad
at work. You might be doing your
work, but you might be taking it
home, and home, isn't you know.
So if you haven't take some
inventory on it, but you've got
to pull yourself out of that
immediate what? Why did this not
go right? Today is less
important than take a look at
the sequence of events over time
and then start talking to
people. I really hope, if
somebody was experiencing that
here, and they brought it up to
HR or the manager, they came to
me with it, that they would be
listened to, and they would, you
know, that person would then try
to help them solve their
problem. And if you don't get
that at a at your workplace,
then you know it might be time
to find the people that that are
there to help you and that care
about more than the job you do.
They care about they care about
the person also. I think both
things are important.
Eli Plouff: Yeah. So that is
great advice from a great man.
Thank you. Donnie Braddock, the
founder and owner of HD home
care, thank you so much for
chatting with me today. It's
been great. Thank you. It has
been great. Thank you
Ed Bejarana: very much. Thank
you for listening to the HD Home
Care podcast to learn more about
how our company helps people
with disabilities, please visit
www.hdehomecare.com you.