Spectrum Patient Services

Well what can I say. When I first started at the company and home base was an enjoyable place to be. Work was fair and employees were positive and fun to be around. Then employees started to leave and that's when the true colours emerged. The only work life balance this place provides is if you are part-time(by being part-time you had the opportunity to chose the days that you were available). The so called "competitive"  salary is no different than if you were to go work at other establishments. When communicating with dispatch, its their way or no way, Presenting any ideas of your own( either it being a way to help organise calls for efficiency or trouble shooting) will be shot down. Or will have dispatch sound like they are agreeing to only call someone else to have everything reversed and back to the non-efficient way.  Favours are very very rarely paid back. Dispatch will get themselves into trouble to ask for help and continue to take advantage of the kindness. They will also try to bully more of the new employees to exert dominance. 

Management......... basically the only way to put it, is if you are anything but a "yes man" then you are automatically on their list of employees to be re-vamped. They will do what they can to have full control and virtually look for any specific reason for termination. There has been a lot of termination requests that came from a previous operation manager that would definitely go against workers rights and labour laws. This does include and would not be limited to false incident reports written by the regional manager. 

Breaks would be "given" but only when the convenience of dispatch and when calls are given. Breaks would be schedule during the time it would take getting from one hospital to another. When a crew would speak up about it, backlash would be presented. 50% of the time, breaks would be  continuously be pushed back due to an unorganised call board. 

Calls...... some calls if lucky would have complete information present. If you were to call dispatch for clarification be prepared to wait 10-15min for them to get back and be questioned when the call is complete why it took so long to do so. Dispatch being within a different city does not help with the way call times are spread out either. Some calls would be so close together that lateness for them would be inevitable.

The only Pro I can truly speak of is working with the employees. 

Cons: Competitive salary does not exit ( same salary as if you were to go work at a fast food establishment)
           Management  can not manage
           No good ideas will be listened too. ( Or will be stolen by management and presented as their own)

Worked there for quite some time before leaving. 

 You run into a lot of other Police/Fire/EMS students or graduates. Most are competent, and work well as partners. 

 The job itself can be easy: move patient from one location, to another. You meet a lot of new people, patients and hospital staff. Lift assists were given when needed, even though the hospital staff sometimes lied about the patients weight. Good experience driving an ambulance-shaped vehicle.

Unfortunately, the positives stop there. Outside of your co-workers, and the work itself: this place doesn't offer anything else. The pay is first and foremost, pathetic and insulting. You're in charge of people's lives for 12-14 dollars an hour. Bus-boys at diners make the same wage as you. Courier services pay their delivery drivers more than his place. Management would always push the idea that they wanted their employees to consider this as a career option. Right, because you can simply live off of 12-14 dollars/hr in today's market.

Which brings me to the management anyways. If you want to find out what it means to not be valued in a company, try dealing with these blokes.They do not recognize exceptional work, like a call that went South, but you and your partner worked it out and got it done right. Or going the extra mile to do last minute calls before EOS for dispatch because their board is cluttered, and cant give it to anyone else. That all blows over their heads. They'll only talk to you to push their own agenda. You have a suggestion about workplace safety you would like to discuss? Too bad.Think that the rest of the employees would benefit from some additional on-job training? Yah, right. Unless it has something to do with profits, and paperwork, don't bother with any of them. Don't know how many times I suggested that the trucks should be stocked with more medical supplies, and they did nothing about it. 

Dispatchers were a mixed bag. During the day, it's really hectic up there, and only a select few are capable enough to properly manage call volume. Nights are managed better because of generally reduced call volume. Some dispatchers are more respectful to their trucks, some try to rule them all with an iron fist (of which you give no respect to). 

What else is their to say...some trucks drive terribly, most of them have manual stretchers, your union reps advocate for the company, there's a weak work/life balance due to scheduling, and you can easily go over your 12 hour shifts. Do yourself a favour and get your stretcher experience elsewhere.

I worked at Bethridge base for about a year. I'll keep it short and sweet for anyone thinking about applying. 
-Company is downsizing do not expect to hold onto your job for too long
-Decent dispatchers (When you actually communicate with them)
-Management is terrible. They don't care about you at all and will screw you if it benefits the company
-Morale is non-existent. Everyone hates their job. I am a firefighting student, and no amount of compassion or patient interaction could put a smile on my face after the 3rd month. The pressure put on you by management is excruciatingly stressful, and if you care about your job and take pride in your work, you will burnout quickly here. 
-Expect to be given the most decrepit, disgusting, broken down equipment. Most trucks wouldn't pass an MTO inspection. Stretchers, stair chairs, backboards etc. are stained and worn. 
-Do not expect to have adequate equipment. Trauma bags are under stocked, and I don't remember a time where I didn't have to loot oxygen supplies and linen from hospitals for my patient. I've had patients become unstable and in a very rare case crash. I had absolutely no supplies to help them with. 
-One thing the company is good at is making sure you have proper PPE. Last thing they want is a WSIB suit or more call refusal. 
-You will almost always be late for calls. It's not your fault, but management, the hospitals, your patients, and sometimes even dispatch will make it your fault. I've faced abuse from all sides because management can't seem to figure out time management. 

To sum it up. It was a decent gig for a couple months. If you're a Medic or Pre-Service student looking to make a buck during the summer and want to pad your resume with some fluff SPS isn't a terrible idea. But working here for just a year really brought me down. This company has no morals, compassion, pride, dignity, or patient care standards. If you enjoy helping others in their time of need, this company is not for you. It is made slightly enjoyable by the few good dispatchers, and your partner.   

P.S. The pay is trash and watch your pay stubs like a hawk. Some times they just like to forget you worked the OT they asked you to do...

During my time with the company there have been a few concerning components which I have witnessed resulting in a huge turn over rate within the Ottawa Base. These include but are not limited to the following factors:

No advancement opportunities for senior employees, there's always an excuse to dismiss a senior's employees application or look for external candidates
Lack of respect for employee feedback
Disregard for following disciplinary structure and always seem to seek out termination of employment instead of coaching or guiding employees in the right direction.
Inability to follow timelines
Lack of proper funding to rural bases for a smoother operation
The blame and frustration put on employees when a call is refused due to lack of training (backboards)
The blame and frustration put on employees when they refuse a call that is out of their scope of practice (Just because an employee is AEMCA certified does not mean he/she can use those skills working at spectrum. The level of training provided is standard first aid)
The amount of push back received when requesting a lift assist ( the multiple times dispatch has given crews attitude because the hospital staff doesn't want to pay more for an assist)
The complete disregard for following the seniority list when calling employees in for extra hours
The complete disregard for employee safety and their rights, if it benefits the company we should be ok with it (doubling up, tripling up calls with no additional crew members, asked to leave employees behind at hospitals to take an escort, getting  mad or upset at employees for taking trucks out of service, ect.)
The complete disregard for employee complaints or concerns (never getting answers from harassment investigation against a supervisor or just the complete disregard for it because it would be too much of a hassle to deal with it properly so they get ignored)
The complete lack of communication between upper management and supervisors, supervisors and employees, supervisors and dispatch, dispatch with employees and dispatcher to dispatcher is ridiculous.
 The lack of respect to respond to employee inquiries in a timely manner (email, phone call or text)

If there was ever an organization that helped contribute to poor patient outcomes and deeply flawed employee morale then you have Spectrum Patient Services in a nutshell.
In a short period of time with this company I was witness to a complete lack of organizational awareness around patient privacy, credit card privacy, human resource practices, basic management structure, emergency logistics, leadership and business ethics.  It only took a few days to realize that this company was dishonest and treated its customers and employees with complete disrespect and contempt.  Intimidation and incompetence seem to be the underlying management methods that keep customers in the dark and employees in a constant state of fear. 
Front-line employees come to this employer with the best of intentions but are quickly subsumed by the gross incompetence of mid-level and senior management.  In a short period of time I saw many front-line employees scarred by their experiences with management and the lack of organizational structure, training and operational policies.  How is possible to run a dispatch/logistics centre in Hamilton without policies and procedures?  How is it possible to have patient histories and credit card numbers randomly floating around without any lockdown procedures?  How is it possible to operate a patient transfer service when dispatchers have no clue how to communicate with the fleet?  How is it possible to run an organization that does not train staff on basic health care privacy methods? I could go on....
If you are considering a job at Spectrum Patient Services please think twice about your choice.  The economy in the province is good and there are many places to find a minimum wage job.  I promise that you do not need this aggravation in your life even if you are truly in need of work.  You can do better than this place.  You have been warned.

Spectrum is absolutely the worst company I have ever worked for. They consistently abuse employees through forced overtime and making them use unsafe and damaged  equipment and vehicles. Management, as well as dispatchers, will use threats and intimidation tactics to force you to do things that are not only against the collective bargaining agreement but are also illegal and dangerous to both the employees and patients. The company sees you as expendable and does not care about you at all. If you are a female, you should fully expect to be sexually harassed by management and the shop mechanic. Reporting this does absolutely nothing and in fact, will make the situation worse. The entire organization is focused on protecting the abusers and cares nothing about the people being abused. All employees should be prepared to be insulted and offended every time they come in for a shift. The union does absolutely nothing to protect you, ever. To say that this company is full of incompetence would be an understatement. The few good employees that they hire quickly realize the deplorable working conditions and subsequently find alternate employment. Despite numerous management changes and employees being shuffled around the problems continue and seem to get worse with each passing day. Avoid Spectrum, in all of its divisions, at all costs. This place will only leave you feeling broken and defeated. The pay is horrible and quite honestly insulting considering what they expect of you. You also won’t be paid accordingly, you have to watch your paycheques extremely carefully. When you catch mistakes it’ll be weeks of fighting with management/HR to get the situation rectified, if you are successful at all. I was lucky enough to finally escape the horrors of Spectrum. I urge all potential employees to reconsider and find better employment that will actually pay you fairly and value you. Again, AVOID SPECTRUM AT ALL COSTS!!!

The office is the most unprofessional work environment I have ever had the displeasure of being in. The employees are seen as replaceable - they are not seen as assets. There is a constant underlying fear that you could be fired at any moment and seemingly without warning. I have never worked for a company that does not try to retrain before firing someone. There is lots of opportunity for advancement because the turnover is so high.

There is a stark lack of resources to assist employees when they have questions. The policies and procedures are non existent and when they decide to enforce a new policy, its enforced with constant threat of discipline before being forgotten about a week later 
The hospitals they are contracted to are lied to consistently. 

The overall office climate has an "Every man for himself" mentality. Management does not foster a "Team" environment. They encourage you to leave notes in the call to "cover yourself" so you dont get in trouble. They never encourage you to assist your team mates. 

The current dispatch manager is a bully and believes that she is untouchable. She will consistently talk down to people as well as say terrible things behind their backs. She will stand in the middle of the dispatch floor and gossip about other employees and does not care who is around and who can hear her running her mouth. If you attempt to report any of this behaviour to HR or other management, nothing is done about it and employees are redirected to the problem person to attempt to resolve it on their own. 

I cannot stress this enough; SPECTRUM DOES NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR EMPLOYEES.

I used to dispatch here and the stress levels are through the roof, particularly when you factor in low pay, unfair expectations, lack of appropriate resources, and the worst benefits package I have ever seen (employees must pay 50% and the returns are still low) and you only get them after 3 months of work.  The company even took away all the utensils and plates in the kitchenette from employees, citing the company going "green" (yet the company doesn't even recycle despite producing countless sheets of paper daily.  Prospects of advancement are virtually nil.  During orientation they are quick to identify one employee who has managed to rise the ranks quite well but she is the only one who has done so.  In terms of positives, I find the employees themselves are good people who try to do the best they can and remain in good spirits, but with management constantly pouncing on any mistake made (despite a poor training process) morale is often at a real low.  Every so many months the company changes its scheduling practices and offers no grace for employees who make plans and commitments around what they were believed to be working.

They fired the people that used to know how to do the job in Hamilton it was good here a year ago. They just keep bringing in Clueless people to run the company. If you are willing to work 60 hours a week on salary for the little pay they give you apply here. When you figure out your hourly wage you'll be working for less than minimum wage as supervisor. 
but you will be promoted you'll have a title.  supervisors are frustrated and stressed out. Lots of Supervisors are quitting. Some don't ever get replaced. Or somewhere replace with people that must  work for less money. Some people walk off the job in a spectacular way it's that bad. The pros is they will hire anybody they are so desperate for people. If you're warm well maybe cool they'll hire you. Unfortunate for the good people that work here. It used to be good but it's terrible now. We even lost our human resources department they all quit two hr managers  in less than a year. what does that tell you.  something tells me they dont want to be responsible for what is going on.

I worked here for just over a month (started Dec 10, 2018) . In your contract they say that you get 4-6 weeks training... nope you get 1 week if that in class then you are thrown out on the floor by yourself. If you make a mistake you get screamed at. If you work 8 hrs you ONLY get 30 min break (smoke breaks are included in that 30 mins). The office manager and staff are so nasty and gossip about everyone. You will get told one thing and then get in trouble for doing it that way.  It is so unorganized and unethical there. WORST place I’ve ever worked and I personally would not use the services provided by their company as I know first hand that the crews really don’t give a flying monkeys about their patients they are transferring. They will have a call booked at 1:00 for example and at 1:20 they still aren’t at the hospital and they decide they need to take a half hour break at timmies. If I could give it negative stars I would. Today January 24, 2019 I walked out of the office mid shift and quit. Have fun spectrum your going down hill very quickly

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