With the personal support worker industry growing by leaps and bounds, schools offering courses are featuring all-time high enrollments and applications. Before you decide to throw your own preverbal hat into the ring you should know what you're in for. Oh scary... Ok, maybe that's not the way to put it. One of the main issues with this job (and any if you really think about it) is pay. But before we deal with on the job payment we have to consider the opportunity cost of taking a course.

I receive numerous questions per month on various personal support worker school related issues. Many have to do with funding. Some with course length. Others with, well you get the point. But the one main questions that I receive regarding PSW Courses pertains to the co-op portion of the course. To graduate students must complete over 400 hours of co-op (co-opertive) work time. Here's an actual quote from an e-mail that I received this week (name withheld of course):

“I have a friend who is taking a personal support worker course.  As part of that course she is required to work so many hours to pass.  Is there any monetary compensation from the college or the placement facility for her hours? The reason I ask is that my friend would like to have some income from the work time to offset working a part-time job.“

The simple and somewhat harsh answer to this question is a flat out no. I have yet to hear of one school that pays for co-op placement. Non-payment isn't set in stone by the government or school regulations. The reason that schools and co-op employers can get away without paying students is simple economics. Supply and demand. With students forced by the Ontario Governmental Personal Support Worker Program Guidelines to complete the co-op portion of their courses, the employers are in the position of power. In the end what is a student to do? Unfortunately (and realistically) there isn't much a student can to, outside of not taking the course all together. In this scenario the student, nor the health care system, wins.

The whole issue of non-payment isn't as bad as it seems. Of course that may be easier for some to say than others, when factoring in the current financial climate. Yet if prospective students take a strong, long-term outlook, they will realize that positive relationships, strong recommendations, free training modules and on site work certificates and the much needed experience and resume padding far outweigh the negatives of unpaid co-op. The best way to think of the co-op period is to see it as a future investment into a long-term career. It won't necessarily pay off in the short-term but if done correctly, the payout of a successful co-op placement will have long-term positive career implications. Typically these relationships and contacts cannot be measured simply in dollars and cents.