VCA Canada Employee Reviews

Poor management of changes in clinic. Money hungry. Unsupportive. Unhealthy working conditions. When offered support, never followed through. Poor leadership.

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Would not recommend working there

Veterinary Assistant/Receptionist (Former Employee) - Bedford, NS - 25 September 2023

Worked there for about 2 weeks. During that time I seen how poor the management is. More interested in making a profit than their employees and clients. I would not take my animals there and I do not recommend this place to friends.

Pros

None

Cons

Too many to list

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Insights into VCA Canada

Based on 41 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Feeling of personal appreciation
Ability to learn new things

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job
General feeling of work happiness
Overall satisfaction

VCA is the WORST

Registered Veterinary Technician (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 8 September 2023

Working at VCA was a disappointing experience. The work culture was negative, marked by a palpable lack of compassion for both employees and clients. Management seemed solely motivated by profit, often at the expense of employee well-being. VCA is apparently suffering financially and as a result I watched some of my wonderful coworkers get laid off (yet as a corporation they continue to buy out private practices?). The company consistently underpaid its employees, leaving us feeling undervalued and under appreciated. Benefits were poor, falling far short of what one would expect in the veterinary field. It's disheartening to have entered a profession driven by a passion for animal care, only to find myself working for a corporation that prioritized profits over patients and employees. VCA needs a significant overhaul to create a more humane and equitable workplace for its dedicated staff. They will continue to have high staff turnover because of these issues. I will never work for VCA ever again, and will ensure my family and friends do not support their clinics either.

Pros

Some great coworkers, state of the art equipment

Cons

Underpaid, toxic management, poor benefits, high-school like work culture

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Too corporate

RVT (Current Employee) - Ontario - 8 September 2023

I love the team I work with, but the general lack of pay and being overworked because of lack of staff is to much. There is zero wiggle room for work life balance. Understaffed is causing a large drop in patient care and upper management won't care until a patient dies. The case load is too high and nothing is being done about it. The differences between clinics is vast and not one works in the same manor.

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Gain a lot of experience

Veterinary Assistant (Former Employee) - Ottawa, ON - 23 August 2023

Great place for someone looking to get experience in emergency veterinary medicine as you will get to see anything you could think of working here. The biggest issue I had with working here is that they were perpetually understaffed. There was a constant cycle of employees leaving and being replaced by new staff (who often were new grads and thus occasionally were difficult to work with due to their lack of experience working in the field). The pay was also abysmal, barely over minimum wage for an assistant. When I left AVAH, I was hired at a small GP clinic in Ottawa and they paid $2 more per hour than AVAH from the get-go. I would only suggest working at AVAH if you're looking to get experience in a variety of things, otherwise you would likely be paid more and treated better elsewhere.

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Best to not expect good pay, ever

Veterinary Assistant (Former Employee) - Calgary, AB - 21 August 2023

Even though some staff are enjoyable and pleasant, it's difficult to work in an environment where everyone is over worked and underpaid. You burn out quickly and quit, or you become bitter and resentful and treat your coworkers poorly. VCA has poisoned what was once a fulfilling career. They over-charge clients lining their own pockets and give the staff bare minimum. Work for a private vet practice and you'll hopefully be much happier.

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The people that work there currently are very good at their jobs and hold high expectations of any new hires.

Specialty and Referral Coordinator (Former Employee) - Victoria, BC - 14 August 2023

No training is provided despite what the assistant manager states during the interview. Client complaints are dealt with by the receptionists and not the team leads. I learned how to manage high anxiety situations. The people that work in reception are all very capable and have very high expectations of all new employees. The hardest part of the job is dealing with people that are already upset about there pets being sick and having to arrange finances for them because they cannot afford the very expensive care. The expectation is that the receptionist make all of these arrangements. Most enjoyable part of the job is going home knowing that you survived another day.

Pros

RRSP Match and Benefits

Cons

No Training Provided, Stress, Compensation aside from benefits, management

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Bad management

RVT (Former Employee) - Vancouver, BC - 24 July 2023

Corporate spends a lot of money on recruitment but once they have you they don't care. Management attitude is "if you don't like something, you can leave." Such a shame because a lot of the clinics were great until VCA bought them.

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Makes you want to leave the industry - can't afford to feed myself

Veterinary Technician (Current Employee) - Vancouver, BC - 24 July 2023

This company take and takes and takes, leaves barely enough food to pay rent and 1 meal a day. The Technicians and Assistants do 90% of the work and get 10% of the reward. The only reason I am still in this job is because unfortunately I love helping animals. That and I love the other assistants and technicians on my team.We have lost numerous members of staff and have only increased appointment bookings and surgery bookings. No new hires to replace the lost members. We are drowning and all we hear from management is that the company needs more revenue. We give all we can so the company can thrive while we all starve and build debt. This company preys on our empathy for our patients and drains all your passion. Forget raises and recognition - all requests for help fall on deaf ears. VCA would rather let good workers go and spend $$ hiring more than to treat them with respect and give fair pay.

Pros

easy to get time off

Cons

very low pay, no support from management, overworked, understaffed, overbooked

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Amazing Place

Manager (Current Employee) - Calgary, AB - 23 June 2023

Excellent opportunity for growth. Could listen to support staff a bit more. Perhaps a more “boots on the ground approach”. Great workplace initiatives.

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Jobs at VCA Canada

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Loved working at VCA

Client Care Specialist (Former Employee) - Vancouver, BC - 16 June 2023

If it wasn’t for my family moving to Langley and the cost of fuel. I would still be working at VCA. I loved working with everyone there. Hour were long and sometimes late at night but overall I loved the atmosphere, staff and management.

Pros

The patients were adorable. Amazing Team to work with

Cons

Long hours, didn’t enjoy shift work and working late into the night.

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Awful place to work

Professional dog groomer (Former Employee) - Stoney Creek, ON - 13 June 2023

Would never work there again or recommend any of my people to go there. Horrible environment for anyone who’s not a vet or vet tech. They are cliquey and only like you if your on their level of status. The new manager as well was awful to work with so I have no positive things to say about that location. Other then their are great people and not so great! See for yourself.. times we’re cut pays we’re affected would never work there again.

Pros

Their are some great people there.

Cons

Hostile environment due to jealousy and bullying!

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Corporate greed and favouritism after a change over in managment

Employee (Former Employee) - Scarborough, ON - 31 May 2023

Worked full time for quite a length of time open availability and loved my job and co workers along former management who made you feel welcome and appreciated it wasn’t just a job you were helping people help the purists beings of this earth fast forward to a change in management my career began to dwindle along with the feeling of being forced to leave and favouritism I could go on in lengths of the trauma I and many others have sustained at the hands of this person and the company’s general thirst for money as it’s no longer about the clinic anymore but the dollar signs that come with each appointment you learn many things in this environment especially from your veterinarians but one thing for sure is snakes truly walk amongst us it’s a real shame

Pros

Knowledge gained in field helping animals receive care

Cons

Ogre like management favouritism corporate greed

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Do not work here

Daycare Assistant (Former Employee) - Scarborough, ON - 28 May 2023

It took me time to write this review but if you have any self worth you will not work for this company. Management treats not only the employees like absolute garbage but also the people's pets as well. All my co workers were wonderful and seeing the animals everyday was a blessing. But the blatant favouritism, seeing everything and everyone as dollar signs and the increased work load is not worth the trouble. Management does not care for your well being nor does it care for your animals. I would never board my pet at their facilities because I know how little time staff are given to actually have one on one time with the animals. If you even try to report actual problems you are yelled at, talked down upon, then sent a email so they can cover their butts. Management preaches teamwork but will call you out if you actually help your fellow co-workers out. The entire place becomes like a high school. Gossip and little clicks, you have a problem? Too bad deal with it your only being paid minimum wage to work 10 hours straight. There are many other vet clinics and kennels you can work at do not work here. Until management changes their egotistical rampage they will continue to see workers dropping like flies.

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Great Management

RVT (Current Employee) - Ontario - 21 April 2023

Great place to work, facility could use an update soon though. Great teamwork and pet discount. A lot of steps taken to improve work flow and create a healthy work environment.

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Great

Ta (Current Employee) - Edm - 18 April 2023

It is a very good place to work. The people are very nice and the location is great, you get to see life saving techniques used every day and save live many lives

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Great atmosphere bad pay

Client Service Representative (Current Employee) - Ottawa, ON - 2 April 2023

Absolutely amazing place, people, vets and coworkers are amazing, the only con I have is the pay. It’s not sustainable. Benefits and employment pet discounts are great but the pay is not incentive enough to stay.

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Good people, great medicine, high production

RVT (Current Employee) - Ottawa, ON - 29 March 2023

Love working here, the people are great and the perform excellent medicine. The only problem is that as a corporate vet hospital there is more focus on high volume and less focus on patient care.

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Do not recommend.

Support staff (Former Employee) - Ontario - 6 March 2023

If I could rate 0, I would. This Corporation is not fair to employees, terrible wages and doesn’t give out raises. They hide so much from employees, they sweep many things under the rug to make sure the Hospital managers or Medical Directors are happy but do NOT care about support staff at all. I would never recommend working for this corporation. They will never change.

Pros

Nothing

Cons

Everything

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Busy fast paced job

Animal Care Attendant (Former Employee) - Toronto, ON - 15 February 2023

Very busy job, hard work, low pay but very rewarding.Pros:Day goes by fast as you are constantly busy Animals Learn a lot Fun team Personally rewardingCons:StressfulMinimum wage with no raisesHave to go in for split shifts on weekends if there are boarders.

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Terrible

Veterinary Assistant (Current Employee) - Toronto, ON - 6 February 2023

This place was so promising when i originally interviewed here, seemed like I landed an amazing job only for it to be the polar opposite. They talk of competitive pay yet you make a dollar more than minimum wage. Staff are all miserable. Pricing for services is beyond embarassing they say they have to raise the costs to pay the employees only we don't see any pay increases and when we do they certainly do not reflect the increase in costs of services they're basically a slap in the face. Seems like they're in it for the money, all the big wigs don't even know the industry but try to act like they do. Treated poorly in this position like you're position doesn't matter especially by management and medical directors. No room for movement really unless you want to become an RVT. At the clinic i work at in particular they have definitely not followed labor laws ect. Would not recommend and wish someone could have warned me before starting here as it has dwindled my mental/physical health as well as been a waste of my time.

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