We Don't Get to "Just Call In" From Work
As an essential service, unfortunately we can't just simply let a household know we won't be able to come in to work today and therefore they need to find another person to come feed/water/medicate/let-out their pets: pets depend on us for their survival needs, and if we do not show up, it can lead to serious welfare concerns. Although C9C operates in a team-based structure, individual providers hold SOLE responsiblity for performing service to assigned households.
Our culture at C9C is intense in terms of boundaries. We believe that no one else should be expected to take responsibility for anyone else's workload. We believe the emotional climate in the workplace should be professional, friendly, and relaxed without pressure/animosity/stress caused by someone else's personal matter interrupting the workflow of the day. Most importanatly, we believe in ensuring our staff team feel 110% clear in the expectations of the role and what they are signing up for—not to "scare people off" but simply because the role is not flexible in terms of demand, and it is imperative that anyone hired here has the self-awareness to know if they are not looking for what we have to offer BEFORE getting involved.
Regardless of circumstance, staff must always use communication channels to find their own coverage AND find a way to show up to provide service if coverage is not voluntarily offered by co-workers. There will be instances where you are stressed out, have something serious going on, and you need to still show up to work—calm, collected, and nurturing to the pets whose behaivor can worsen by your stress, and with co-workers who don't deserve to have a bad day because your mood is sour.
That does not mean you can't have off days or bad days, or that we don't want to help out where we can. It does mean that our small business has everyone working at all times, and nobody is 'on demand.' If you are someone who needs or benefits from a job where you can flexibly call off when you have something personal going on, a life-sustaining job is NOT for you, and we strongly discourage applying from this position.
Attendance demands of this position differ vastly from most other industries and can be incredibly stressful, but it is a reality of an *essential* service that everyone, including C9C leadership and business owners, are responsible for. Most of our staff do just fine, but that is because we work VERY hard to honestly screen everyone and present our expectations without "fluff" or sugarcoating.
Cloud 9 Canine, LLC has a 100% attendance rate to services. If you are someone who is likely to break that 100% attendance score due to you having a personal matter going on, this job is NOT for you—and that's okay!—but no one else can determine that except yourself.
We put this in here to prompt candidates to assess what that may mean for their individual needs BEFORE considering this position. Please think realistically about if this type of attendance demand may or may not be suitable for you as an individual.