instructor

nursing instructor

healthcare assistant

registered practical nurse

director of early childhood education

North Island College

As someone who shelved a professional career and took a 50% pay cut to teach at NIC, I couldn't be more disappointed with my decision. Professional experience is rarely appreciated or valued by administrators and peers, who have no real-life experience in the field. Men in the trades are typically hired at the top of the pay scale while women are hired at the bottom. Like others have said, toxic barely sums up the work environment. It's much worse than that. The college administration's mandate is to keep as many contract faculty in unstable positions at the bottom of the pay scale as possible -- barely scraping by. Suggestions of becoming a regular employee are a misleading recruiting ploy. Keep in mind that the college let go of 30% of its faculty last year, which included some who had been teaching there for the last decade, plus nearly all of the contract faculty. I would describe my experience working at NIC as nothing short of horrific. 

The small size of the school is often cited as the reason why the workload is 40% higher than other institutions while the pay is lower than other institutions in the province for the same work.  While the size of the non-productive administration continues to grow, instructors are continually being expected to do more with less.  No paid prep time.  Admion expects every hour of the week to be direct contact with sutdents.  You are paid for 30 hours a week as a full time instructor and have scheduled contact time of 27.  Good luck with that.  Most instructors are working 45-60 hours a week and only paid for 30.  Be aware.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Relaxed island atmosphere as long as you get your work done on time.  Great team.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Wind storms where the data center gets power failures ... although they were arranging to get a generator installed so may not be that much of an issue any more.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great. Everyone is expected to pull their weight but others are usually more than ready to help if you have problems.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Check systems and logs when you arrive at work.  Meet with supervisor or team to set short term priorities and workloads for the day.  Head down working alone or frequently as a team.  Usually have some time for learning and that is encouraged.

Looks good on the surface but this is a fiefdom run by one or two individuals who are completely self-interested and who will do anything to maintain power. The internal politics is never ending. Qualifications and performance mean absolutely nothing. While there are good people trying to bring this institution up to a respectable level, (instructors and admin) overall it is a truly TOXIC WORK ENVIRONMENT. Just check the levels of turnover and the amount of people who have left on stress leave. This is about the worst place to work in the Comox Valley (or anywhere) and really has no business as an accredited post secondary institution. Interesting to see that another well intentioned president is now leaving, in all likelihood run out by those wanting to grab even more power for themselves. Horrible, horrible place to work. Avoid at all costs. 

A typical work day involved stalking returned books in shelfs, processing new books. Making calls to students and instructors on requested books and articles from other libraries and filing them for pickup. Ensuring that books in shelfs were arranged in order and maintaining order and cleanliness in the library was also part of my responsibility. I learned a lot from working at the library, including problem solving especially with students and management. Organizing events being my favourite, we had monthly themes and it was my responsibility to organize them. I improved my interactive skills from dealing with both the faculty and the students. I couldn't ask for better co-workers, they were professional, supportive and made the working environment homely and what would have been challenging was made easy.

It could be much better.  Deans are either micro managers or completely out-of-touch and have no idea what is happening in the classrooms.  Your co-workers are only out for themselves and there is little to no cohesion in the departments or between instructors.  It's like everything is being done for the first time even after the place has been running the same programs for decades.  Very stressful day-to-day.  Most sessional instructors will likely never get on a regular basis.  So don't take a contract with hopes to get full time work.   They actively cut courses and contracts shorter than they should be so they don't have to offer any benefits.  You will work 2x what you are paid for at a.minimum.

Teaching is fulfilling and the courses are great quality. Unfortunately, the internal culture is toxic. Contracts are weaponized to overwork instructors without regard to the consequences for student learning and success (never mind faculty members' wellness). There are far too many administrators and several are so incompetent that they harm the institution. Even among those who are skilled, their communication is abysmal and decision-making is opaque & reactionary. This organization's management desperately needs a reset with fewer 'leaders' and better processes for engaging faculty & staff in all matters. The best ideas & strongest leadership is coming from the ranks.

This is one of the worst examples of government waste I've ever experienced. Too many unmotivated employees, completely bullied and frightened by entrenched admin and management. Easily the worst culture of any place I've ever worked. Fear, mistrust, waste all over the place. This organization needs some serious review and clean up. Very sad example of what our public institutions have become. Not somewhere you'd want to work if you have any talent or desire to grow professionally. Perfect for those just passing time, with no eye on the future, or real care for the power of education, other than to get a pay check.

This institution has had a history of terrible administration. Since the current president has been hired, there is an increase in transparency, which is appreciated. Unfortunately the ones making decisions typically seem to be in a reactionary state rather than proactive state. Faculty that are regular are treated well, but sessionals have a long road to go. There seems to be issues with support staff, due to the mass exodus that’s been happening. Salaries need to go up - the cost of living does not match the pay and is becoming very problematic. I wish there was more incentive for workers to do more, which would better the college as a whole. 

There is potential for this college to be a wonderful workplace,  however it generally falls short.  Recruiting is a challenge which often leads to increased workload for those remaining.  Management seems to thrive on working angles around policies and people,  which leads to significant distrust.  In fairness,  it is a small college with limited budget.  Where the challenge lies, in my opinion,  NIC tries to offer more that it can support or provide.   Core values are overwhelmingly non-existent in its efforts to provide everything.  

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Instructor 82 salaries reported	$91,655 per year
Nursing instructor 41 salaries reported	$91,655 per year
Healthcare assistant 32 salaries reported	$91,655 per year
Registered practical nurse 43 salaries reported	$91,655 per year
Director of early childhood education 23 salaries reported	$91,655 per year

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