Island Health Pay & benefits reviews

What is the best part of working at the company?Skilled teammates and good salary.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Lack of resources to provide adequate supports.What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Progressive in nature with growth mindset.What is a typical day like for you at the company?Varied and different each shift.

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Working there was one of two decisions in my life I totally regret.

Medical Lab Assistant (Former Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 8 November 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Some of the people I worked with.What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Management wise, the most toxic work environment I've ever been in. What is the work environment and culture like at the company?I found the management to be abusive and divisive. We had to use a VIHA email for communication, which our manager was able to access our accounts. What is a typical day like for you at the company?Stressful. Mostly casual staffing, so no benefits. Very cutthroat in order to get hours.

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Insights into Island Health

Based on 109 survey responses

What people like

Supportive environment
Feeling of personal appreciation
Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Sense of belonging

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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Jobs at Island Health

Health Care Assistant

Inventory & Purchasing Assistant - OR

Saanichton, BC

8 days ago

Administrative Assistant I

Salt Spring Island, BC

21 hours ago

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

Pros

Pay, Union

Cons

No opportunity for advancement really

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Good for starting and continuing

Patient Attendant (Current Employee) - Victoria, BC - 8 September 2022

Good for starting and continuing. Reliable employer in the healthcare market, good benefits and competitive salary. Training is provided, as well as union membership.

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Collaborative and great colleagues

Registered Nurse (Current Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 8 September 2022

Management support varies based on unit/department. But the union is strong in all areas (heu, bcnu) so the wages are good. Overall I love my job and my coworkers.

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Supportive & caring teammates & manager

Registered Nurse (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 16 August 2022

Missed working with VIHA, after moving. If I would have stayed will continue to work with my same team. Everyone from employees to manager all very helpful and supportive !!!!

Pros

Benefits

Cons

Days/nights sleep cycle

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Good Overall

Healthcare Support Worker (Former Employee) - Duncan, BC - 2 August 2022

Fast paced and good wage, management is somewhat poor. There are over 100 employees and most are very unhappy with an attitude. The position is unionized which has its pros and cons.

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Fantastic job and flexibility

Administration Occupational Health and Safety (Current Employee) - Campbell River, BC - 7 July 2022

I work for Island Health in Occ Health and it is a great department to work in! My co-workers are all very nice and admin staff have been given the flexibility and option to apply to keep working from home since the pandemic so it's a great work life balance. Pay is decent, good benefits and vacation time.

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Exhilarating, Learn As-You-Go Environment

Registered Nurse (Former Employee) - Courtenay, BC - 27 June 2022

Island Health, which was previously known as Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), is a great employer, offering decent benefits and wages as per the collective agreement. Being in a collective agreement means that there isn't a whole lot of flexibility, but depending on your manager, you may be able to work through your personal needs in order to manage your work-life balance. I worked at 6 different locations on Vancouver Island during my 12-year career with them. Each location had its own work environment, which was heavily dependent on those you were working with. As a whole, the environment was often supportive and reflexive. It became more stressful as time carried on, however, as we were working short staffed more and more frequently.

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Mental Health Worker

Mental Health, Addictions, and Recovery Worker (Current Employee) - Nanaimo, BC - 20 June 2022

Great coworkers, awesome supervisor, and learn a ton on the job! Tough to get out of a casual position or a temp line into something more permanent but the pay is good and benefits - if you can get a permanent line - are great.

Pros

Pay, casual dress

Cons

Graveyard shifts

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Awesome team and manager

Research Assistant (Current Employee) - Victoria, BC - 14 June 2022

Working with my current team has been really good. I have heard of bad stories at some departments, so I am glad mine is not like that. When your teams works well in terms of communication and the vibe is good, you'll love what you're doing!

Pros

Benefits, Flex days

Cons

Career advancement might take a while

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Work Load EXCESSIVE - stay away if you value your health!!

Administrative Assistant (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 14 May 2022

The pay is deplorable for administrative positions. The work load is EXCESSIVE and work-life-balance does not exist. The corporate culture is also very toxic. Be forewarned you will make more money in the hospitality industry than you will in an Island Health administrative position. The administrative position's classification that supports a Director is embarrassingly under funded. Why are there so many excessive layers of bureaucratic management at Island Health? After paying all of the MANAGERS/DIRECTORS/EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS there is no money left in the budget to pay the front line workers like an administrative assistants a decent living wage....Why are Island Health administrative assistants not worthy of a decent salary?

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Fast paced, lovely teams but criminally understaffed

Occupational health and safety (Current Employee) - Vancouver Island, BC - 13 May 2022

Great teams and people but each position is given too much work to complete in a day because every department is criminally understaffed. The teams are always wonderful and supportive but it is stressful to always be behind. Also I do not think the benefits provide enough coverage for mental health services.

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