technicien vétérinaire

animal technician

agent sensibilisateur cause animale

analyst

assistant technician

Charles River Laboratories

A typical day at work: you start the day without knowing if the schedule is going to be respected, fortunately the team spirit is what keeps you going at work. The initial training process was quite good, but it deteriorated with the entry of new colleagues and the unrealistic demands of the supervisors. The work environment is good when you are at the first level, everyone is very collaborative, but unfortunately when you start to acquire new skills and the possibilities for progress open up, the exaggerated competitiveness from the seniors can become quite toxic, there is only you have to know how to handle it. The balance between personal life and work does not exist, during the interview and in the job offer it is not clear that you will always be overtime and that you must be available almost every weekend. It is NOT a recommended job for people with families, since the hours can extend from 7 am to 9-10 pm during the week and continue on weekends. If you are a workaholic this is the ideal job for you. The payment in relation to the risk to which you are exposed, the demand for knowledge and how exhausting it is is not good, they require the quality and knowledge of an expert veterinary doctor with the payment of a laboratory assistant, but to start after graduating it is Well. The company has many benefits and is interested in mental health, unfortunately for the my team, these types of benefits can almost never be enjoyed.

The formulation department is a very toxic environment to work in as there is constant pressure and stress due to the workload and managing techniques. You are paid very low compared to other companies. However, there is a lot of overtime opportunities but that can end with you being at work all day. Their schedule is very flexible (you can pick when you start) and they are accommodating with vacations and days off.  Along with that, the benefits they offer are really good and you get paid time off. The work management is done very poorly and if one person from the management doesn't like you, you can find yourself working way harder and being helped way less than others. There are favourites and unfortunately it really shows which brings a lot of unfairness to all employees (lack of professionalism). Aside from all that, if you stay long enough you can move up the ladder pretty quickly and get paid better but nothing worth bragging about as the raises are quite pitiful. The work itself is quite dangerous and could potentially lead to severities considering powders are volatile and can remain on surfaces even after proper cleaning (if people even bother to clean). They will not leave a choice whether you work holidays or not when you are new, which means you will most likely work all holidays (only pro is that they are double payed). 

Me and a lot of other people had bad experiences, but I will still try to list the positives and negatives.

Positive: you will learn SO MUCH, working with monkeys is a privilege, opportunities to change your job within the company, good relations with your coworkers, because we support each other through the hardships of this job, can chose to get your overtime paid or turn it into days off, no need to go to the gym, ever lol, if you want a challenge and you hate boredom, this job can be for you.

Negative: Really bad gestion and organization, crazy schedules and not very flexible, unless you specify it at the VERY beginning, overtime, they can make you work up to 9 days in a row, EXTREMELY stressful job, EXTREMELY fast-paced, and lastly, EXTREMELY physical job. Be ready to pull 100kg on wheels through an entire floor, be ready to crouch, lay on the ground, climb a stool, and crouch again all of that really fast, be ready to lift and transport heavy charges, up to 30kg,  to give you an idea, I’m 5 feet and 95 lbs and I was able to do this job (because I’m very stubborn) but I cried the first 3 weeks and needed regular physiotherapy for the entire year I worked there, I did gained 15lbs in muscles. Oh and nearly a fourth of the company is on medical leave for burnout or depression. So, do with that information what you will. (BTW, this is only for the laval site!! I heard good things from the other locations.)

What is the best part of working at the company?
Only learning new tasks in the bioanalytical laboratory was the best part of the work.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
A lot of work and a disorganized daily schedule and changing schedule every hour and day with a lot of overtime in the bioanalytical lab with a low salary. They use analysts like animals.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Unqualified supervisors with no related experience to the department and the people they supervise create a non-understanding environment between the supervisors and analysts in the bioanalytical lab.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Check emails and schedules and talk with the scientist who was responsible for the study. Then start to take a sample or standards and begin to prepare labels and vials and do sample analyzing or prepare stocks and curves and do the extraction and at the end, inject baches to LC/MS/MS. Also, prepare all solutions and materials that I need for tests.

At Citox we had a very heavy daily workload and that put a lot of pressure on us to complete all the activities. I actually liked having a lot to do but sometimes it was too much. I learned a lot since there was 12 weeks of training to start. I learned many new techniques on dogs, pigs and monkeys mostly and learned how to manage time very efficiently. 
My co-workers were for the most part very friendly and so were the supervisors. I really enjoyed the socialization part of the job and doing bleeds. The company also had very good social events to bring the team closer. 
A typical day at work starts a 8 am and finishes at 4:15 pm for a 7.5 hour work day and a 37.5 hour week. We change into scrubs and steel toed boots at the beginning of the day and change out of them at the end. That was all provided for by the company and the changing time was included in the work day. We would then check our schedules and every day was different depending on which studies and rooms we were scheduled in.

Stressful relationships. Nobody trust nobody. Managers don't care about the mental and spiritual health of the team. People are obligated to do more than their scope of work (managers, team leaders working as technicians, technicians working as maintenance supporters... mandatory overtime rotations - it means, you can't choose and you can't refuse an overtime: it's your time, you will do it 10 PM, 2 AM... doesn't matter! Obligated extra hour and sixth day each 2 weeks. A technician starts at about 13 CAD/ hour. A Team Leader, about 16 CAD/hour. Good health insurance (SunLife), but doesn't worth, cause they'll stole your private life completely! The culture is: "do your job even if it's not good. Who cares! Don't speak too much, don't complain and give us more for the same price". Of course there're good people as co-workers, but you never know when the pressure - from the managers - will turn them against you!

I worked there since I graduated. It's been 3 years now, at first it was nice. My coworkers were nice, until i knew them more and more. There's alot of favoritism and alot of drama. The salary is very low, you get to change salary grade/position every year depending if there's a team leader that hates you and keep stabbing you in front of your supervisor. There's alot of stuff to learn there, benefits was good at first then changed to another company and it's bad now, you pay more for less. At start they say you start at 8h00 am to 16h15, they will ask if you want to do some overtime, but that's a lie, they force you to take it and don't even bother to ask. The schedule is given 1 week earlier, yes, you have read right. One week! In overall, you have to hope you get in a good team to be able to love where you work and enjoy the time you are there.

Good place to work, people seems happy in their job position, some have flexibility hours depending of the function, stability is a good point as well. A lot of internal opportunities to apply, you can move for another department if you have the profil for it. Salary could be really better since there's so many responsibilities in working with research and all linked protocol including to read a lot of SOP, perform time monitoring activities and deal with due date of reports. Company offers benefits as collective health program and retirement participation.

I loved this job for many reasons and found it untenable for many more. I've been gone for a year and a half but still talk about my time there daily as I truly found the work fascinating. However, the pay was insanely low despite doing work that probably less than 3000 people on earth can do (in my department, at least). There was also no hazard pay despite the fact that you're exposed to crazy diseases. The management is extremely disorganized as well and you work like a dog. It's the coolest job I've ever had but the pay was also the worst I've ever had. Still would go back if needed, though. Also, shout out to my great coworkers. Miss you guys. 

I actually enjoyed the  job.  The coworkers were amazing. Lot's of cool activities. Job was not too stressful for me personally. 

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy what I believe was favoritism from management.  
I had a supervisor who was just difficult. They gave  me a very difficult time from when I began. It started to  feel like I was not supposed to enjoy the job.  I made efforts to try to  get that resolved, only to have HR / Management not listen to my concerns.   
They also promise accommodations  only to take it away from you later.

Asides from that, with an open mind,  the  job can  be really fun, without the unnecessary stress from the supervisor. 

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Technicien vétérinaire 2 salaries reported	$23.50 per hour
Animal technician 3 salaries reported	$23.50 per hour
Agent sensibilisateur cause animale 15 salaries reported	$19.12 per hour
Analyst 1 salary reported	$23.50 per hour
Assistant technician 17 salaries reported	$16.91 per hour

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