Island Health Employee Reviews

A typical day at work means starting early, cleaning offices and common spaces. As the morning progresses you clean patient rooms. There is a risk for code white (violence) so you have to take precautions to ensure your own safety. Breaks aren't always possible as the workload is too high. The cons of working here are that there is a lot of workplace drama. Gossip runs rampant. It is a highly toxic work environment.

Pros

Pays well, flexible shifts, opportunity for overtime

Cons

Workplace culture is very toxic, bullying, gossip

Was this review helpful?

Exhausting

RCA (Current Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 16 September 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Being able to be a casual employee What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Poor pay and benefits m, short staffed, over worked. What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Can be hateful and bitter, staff is angered a lot by lack of support. What is a typical day like for you at the company?Run off my feet, rushed breaks.

Was this review helpful?

Insights into Island Health

Based on 100 survey responses

What people like

Supportive environment
Feeling of personal appreciation
Clear sense of purpose

Home and community care

Community Support Worker (Current Employee) - Port McNeill, BC - 11 September 2023

Working as a home and community health care worker has its challenges. You work alone under the supervision of a LPN. Communication is a daily challenge as are schedules. This is a result of people who have never worked this job scheduling you.

Pros

None

Cons

scheduling changes, non flexible work schedule, wear and tear on your personal vehicle

Was this review helpful?

horrible management who couldn't care less about its employees

Pharmacy Assistant (Current Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 10 August 2023

Working here is the most toxic place I have ever worked. If you love the union environment, where the biggest slackers can get away with anything, lots of gossip, backstabbing of colleagues, and if you enjoy having a brown nose- then you might enjoy working here. Training is poor. The most enjoyable part is the end of your shift.

Pros

decent pay

Cons

too many to list.

Was this review helpful?

Keep to yourself

Housekeeper, Permanent Position (Former Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 18 May 2023

good money and benefits. ignore the politics and employees that are toxic. high management turnover. uniforms included and laundry. complaints were not taken seriously.

Was this review helpful?

Rate your recent company

Share your experience to help others

I love caring for people

Health Care Aide (Current Employee) - Canada - 11 May 2023

Island health is a decent company that offers family assistance plan, benefits and decent wages. It's not the easiest dealing with people with dementia but it gets easier. Can be tough on the body but you can work when you want to work. You have alot of freedom.

Pros

Staff luncheons, benefits, work when you want to

Cons

It's alot on the body

Was this review helpful?

Best job ever period

RCA (Current Employee) - Parksville, BC - 10 May 2023

Helpful and supportive staff and supervisors, management.Interesting and fast paced job with lots of opportunities to excell.Ongoing education which gives an opportunity to develop skills, experience, and advance.

Pros

Excellent support from staff and union

Cons

Not secure hours as a casual but did get a lot of shifts

Was this review helpful?

Great

Orthotic Technician (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 12 April 2023

I am retired now. While at Vancouver Island Health I found the relationship between management and staff interactive and amenable. I was given frequent opportunities for further job-related education and advancement.

Was this review helpful?

unorganized

Mental Health Worker (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 8 April 2023

not supportive of work life balance . understaffed and lots of bureaucracy . Toxic work sites because of division between staff members created by management and poor hiring choices of people who are placed in supervisory rolls who do not hand interpersonal skills .

Pros

benefits

Cons

forced ovetime /redeployed to unknown sites

Was this review helpful?

Healthcare like the 1950's

Registered Nurse - Full Time (Current Employee) - Campbell River, BC - 30 March 2023

A place that has a toxic work environment that belittles workers mental health. Management that is not present due to the level of leadership poorly setup within the health authority. A lack of any accountability in almost all disciplines. This employer has been put in a WorkSafe BC collective agreement due to multiple infractions that most leadership teams in most other industries/healthcare would be restructured/fired. They say the employer has complied with the agreement but if WorkSafe BC was to do more unannounced investigation would see nothing much has changed other then the learning courses have been completed. The real issue is that they don't follow the education.

Cons

Denied Add hoc, denied personal days, payment mistakes.

Was this review helpful?

Jobs at Island Health

See more jobs

Health Care Assistant

Victoria, BC

6 days ago

Health Care Assistant

Victoria, BC

27 days ago

Food Service Worker II

Salt Spring Island, BC

Housekeeping Supervisor

Victoria, BC

3 hours ago

Stressful and takes years or a lucky break

Food Service Worker (Former Employee) - Vancouver Island, BC - 13 March 2023

You'd think being union and government jts the best job ever, but it's terrible. Very stressful shift, lack of real training , being a casual is terrible because your probably never going to get any steady work , you have to bid on shifts. People there have been working for 40 years and use this job for retirement, so your gonna be waiting for someone to retire before you even get your own full time line . Terrible system

Pros

Money

Cons

Everything

Was this review helpful?

Many Lesrning Opportunities

Registered Nurse (Current Employee) - Victoria, BC - 13 February 2023

This is the last of many times I have worked for IH (and its previous iterations). I can say that this has been my best experience hands down. Supportive managers and great coworkers.

Pros

Thorough orientation

Cons

Have to drive 20 minutes to work

Was this review helpful?

Wage is not up to par with cost of living

Administration Assistant (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 1 February 2023

The hourly wage is not up to par with the cost of living here on the island. The benefits are great, however, after your 3 month probation the company starts taking 8.5% off of your net pay each pay check for an extra pension plan in addition to CPP. You are not allowed to opt out of it, nor are you allowed to change the amount that they take. It's too much money to take when the cost of living is so high to begin with. Hourly wages need to be higher to factor that in. They also make you pay for parking which is also a lot of money.

Cons

Not a high enough wage

Was this review helpful?

Lots of overtime and burnout

Licensed Practical Nurse (Current Employee) - Campbell River, BC - 29 January 2023

Good job security but poor staffing. Poor management. Burnout is bad. Most of the staff are friendly and the residents as well. Some social admissions make things difficult. It it multi level care.

Pros

Job security

Cons

Short staffed

Was this review helpful?

Excellent group of front line support

Supervisor Biomedical Engineering (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 23 January 2023

The main group I work with are excellent. They work hard at helping our clients and each other. Dept. Management is good as well. As an organization though, leadership is lacking and needs to move forward and away from their 1950’s style of management.

Pros

Flexible hours

Cons

Pay is low in comparison to other provinces

Was this review helpful?

Disrespectful towards housekeeping

Housekeeper (Current Employee) - RJH - 15 January 2023

VIHA brought housekeeping back . They have done everything possible to make me feel unappreciated. The only staff the care about is nurses. Housekeeping is the last thing they concern themselves with. Shifts go empty because they won't allow regular staff to apply for overtime. Overtime is for nursing staff it seems.

Pros

None

Cons

Work through breaks

Was this review helpful?

Great management and coworkers, underpaid.

Administrative Assistant (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 13 January 2023

The work is fairly monotonous but you are in a field where you know your work is necessary and important. Often you are placed in stressful situations such as answering phone calls from people in crisis. The administrative role at Island health is definitely underpaid.

Was this review helpful?

Toxic Work Culture and Management

Clerk (Current Employee) - Victoria, BC - 13 January 2023

Consistently high workload and chronically understaffed. Extreme middle management bloat and wildly incompetent supervisors and management. Toxic environment created by management with virtually no recourse to address it.

Pros

Union gig, benefits I guess

Cons

Toxic environment created by management, workload, inadequate staffing levels

Was this review helpful?

Toxic, overworked mess of a work environment

Communications (Current Employee) - Victoria, BC - 28 December 2022

Understaffed and underfunded teams make the work basically impossible to accomplish. It feels like one big triage. Some people were friendly and pleasant to work with, but they often left within a year or two.

Was this review helpful?

Not what it used to be

Administrative Assistant (Former Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 16 November 2022

When I first started at Island Health, it was amazing and I loved it. But there have been a lot of changes and it has gone downhill. No communication, pay isn't fair across the board, neither are benefits. Workload can be high and not much support. Too many higher ups who have no idea what their staff actually do on a day-to-day basis so direction often makes no sense and makes the job so much harder than it needs to be.

Pros

Most co-workers are great, good benefits, pension, vacation and sick time

Cons

poor management, no communication, union is not supportive

Was this review helpful?

Get ready to be casual unless you like shift work

Support Worker (Current Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 13 November 2022

Good payUnion Shift work Shifts are texted and robo called Be ready to be re-deployed to other units all the time Management is supportive, depending on who you talk to