Overall reviews at Dynacare
2.0
Stressful place to work at. Get the experience and get out.
Working at most of those locations was like working in a factory with patients on a conveyor belt. Management complained about wait times but short-staffed locations. As a float/part-timer be prepared to work 3.5 hours and commute the same length of time to/from locations. They would also send me to 2 locations with 3-4 hour spare time in between, so I would leave 6a.m. and get home 7-8 p.m. With a 5-6 hour shift total. Shift schedulers would cancel/change shift on a dime and expect us to answer their phone calls and be prepared to work when called upon.
They would expect us to do online courses on our personal time, if we didn't finish the required courses, we did not get a raise the following year.
Floats are also expected to work every weekend (either sat/sun) especially long weekends and they complain to managers if you don't.
There is a lot of favouritism there, especially with the team doing the scheduling, the staff at locations would instruct /suggest who they wanted to work with, so if you speak Tagalog chances are you will fit in well.
There are locations where staff have to work by themselves for a few hours either first thing in the morning or in the evening with doors wide open, yet if you go to Brampton head office, they have security and no one can enter without access card, perhaps they should think about their front line staff.
Not a good work environment. Get some experience and leave.
ProsSome co-workers are very helpful. Patients at many locations are nice too.
ConsHorrible Management. Overall favouritism. Unsteady hours. Working weekends.
3.0
Short Staffed Place With No Room For Advancement
This is the type of place that overworks you without proper compensation. The communication at this company is very poor with most people and the possibly of advancement is non existent. This place is a revolving door for employees who come one week and are gone the next. The company does not care about its employees although it pretends to. The hiring standards for this company are poor as they will hire many who have little to no experience to do the job but expect that you are a professional and fully knowledgeable of the job at the time you start. This is where the revolving door part comes in. Your responsibilities no matter which position you have is that of the entire company as your job description is whatever you are told and is not always accurate. Management has no idea what is going on and you often get in trouble due to the lack of communication. Dynacare in terms of workplaces scored the lowest scores in Canada for communication and job advancement. We would constantly be reminded of this and told to improve but nothing actually changes. The most enjoyable part of the job was interacting with co-workers that were not management. Some of them are a pleasure to work with while others are just looking to stab you in the back. Its a company where you have to watch your back and not trust anyone as you could be let go at anytime for a reason that is very small.
ProsFree Tim Hortons and Pizza on Occasion (Leftovers from Meetings)
ConsExcessive work hours, always on call, management is clueless
5.0
Laboratory Technician |
Oshawa, ON | Sept 18, 2016
Challenging, enjoyable, and eye opening
My opinion of a typical day at Dynacare of a typical day in the lab is; challenging. On a typical day we interact with many people, and it's very important to maintain focus and a high level of professionalism. We must leave our personal problems and worries at home and put on a smile. The blood collection procedure is stressful and invasive and It's very important to have a good sense of humor and make the people coming to the lab very comfortable. I have learned the importance or enjoying every day, I have met many sick people with real problems and various other medical issues. I have learned not to sweat the small things in life because My worries and concerns are tiny when compared to patients dying of cancer or other serious health issues.
Dynacer is managed well and the people in positions of leadership are fair and willing to guide and help and are full of knowledge. They treat us fairly and help whenever they are needed.
The frontline workers are easy to get along with friendly and have good interpersonal skills and work ethic. This is important when the waiting area is packed and stress is running high. They are easy to work with and everyone helps out.
The hardest part of this job as a float is not having a solid schedule and unpredictable hours. I'm a routine-oriented person and struggle occasionally with this uncertainty.
The responsibility and working closely with so many different people and personalities is enjoyable.
ProsInteracting with people
ConsUnpredictable work schedual
1.0
Terrible Management, expect you to have no life and work all the time
In certain departments you are expected to work constantly in over time and have no personal life while managers go home on time and come in whenever they feel like it. They fail to communicate many key aspects of work life with their teams and then punish them later for them not knowing. They expect you to be psychic at most times. They waste a ton of time with meetings that are informative, but with hold valuable information that employees should know. Managers are often seen crying and constantly complaining how much stress they are under with no regard for professional behaviour. It is a very unstable working environment and you never know from day to day if you will be fired or not. They constantly threaten us with losing large clients and therefore losing jobs but do literally nothing to fix the issues at hand except walk around and then crowd your inbox with emails of how poor of a job you're doing. Managers expect miracles to happen, which just isn't possible.
ProsNothing.
ConsLong hours, zero respect, zero appreciation, zero foresight, constant put-downs
2.0
Amazing coworkers, but poor work environment
Was an employee for 10 years while I tried desperately to find something new. Unfortunately there aren’t many lab jobs out there, so if you can get in anywhere you are lucky!
Dynacare employs some really amazing people. They are what kept me going all those years. Dynacare is famous for not having enough staff and for not replacing staff that have moved on or are on vacation. Expect to do the work of more than one person daily without getting extra pay for overtime (under 44 hours a week). Do not expect recognition for all your hard work- it is just expected of you. Poor pay for the stress you endure.
There have been multiple waves of lay offs/packages offered, so there is no sense of job security.
It is a great place to learn and meet wonderful people. The benefits were decent as well.
More cons than pros!!
ProsAmazing coworkers
ConsPoor pay, under staffed and no job security
4.0
Friendly and team oriented place of work where it is easy to learn.
A day of work at Dynacare starts early as patients would like to get their lab tests done early before work or if they have been fasting. A lot can be learned here; this includes a wide range of knowledge relating to specimen collection and processing. You are working together as a team with three to four other people. They are always friendly and will help each other and yourself out. It can be difficult when it gets busy, as you might end up feeling rushed and patients may end up having long waits. However, it is enjoyable that you get to interact with many different people and you get a feel that you are helping them and bettering their lives since it is in the health field.
ProsNot just doing one thing over and over, there is a variety. The teamwork between your coworkers and you makes the work more efficient
ConsCan be very busy at times.
1.0
Working at Dynacare will ruin your mental health
I was pretty happy in my position until a change in management that resulted in an influx of harassment, discrimination, and favouritism that became part of daily life for employees. Staff would be constantly ignored, yelled at, and not given proper safety equipment to perform daily lab work. When issues were brought forward by staff we were told our concerns were in our head and we didn't have proof there was a real safety issue. Shiftwork and mandatory overtime without breaks made for a terrible work-life balance and deteriorating mental health. I was lucky to have worked on a tight knit team who became a light to work with in the midst of chaos. Do yourself a favour and wait for another job to come along, this one is not worth the money and the decline in mental health!
ProsGreat coworkers
ConsBad management, poor work-life balance
5.0
Very quick results, productive work environment, and effective training in new technology
I thought the workplace was very organized and fast-paced from getting the patient's data to taking their blood all day. I learned confidentiality and assertiveness, also patient interaction and customer service. I thought the management was very approachable and understanding of their employees. My co-workers and I had very effective communication and were able to work together to get the job done. The hardest part of the job was how busy it would get. We would get from 180 to 245 patients per day, at one location. The part I enjoyed the most about my job was interacting with the patients and seeing some familiar faces, and building trust between us and the patients.
ProsRewards for good customer service
ConsWorking Overtime
4.0
Not a bad place to work for.
As a Medical Laboratory Technician for Dynacare I've had the opportunity to work with various people and help out various type of patients. The JOB is repetitive, room for advancement is close to ZERO. Depending on who your manager is you are treated well and they can make you feel your voice is being heard. Everything is unfortunately seniority base so job positions and vacation time can be hard to get what you truly like. I wish there was a way to fix this to give newer technicians better chances at a location they want to work at the time off when they want it without planning a year in advance.
Overall, the company tries to engage with their employees, as long as you're doing your job you won't lose it.
PS. I wonder if a 4 day work week can work for this company.
ProsJob security
ConsRepetitive work
5.0
a good and life long memory experience
It was good working day, relaxed but most involved, I learned a lot with regard to EMR, front desk, sample preparation eg. Urine, Blood, Stool, Tick, Swabs, fungus samples etc. All sample preparation and packaging for final transport from the collection centre to the testing laboratory was also a very good experience. Management was very cooperative, very friendly and helping, creating a very conducive and enthusiastic and challenging atmosphere. I did not find anything very hard, if something is enjoyable nothing appears difficult or hard, except to take ECG of a very fat patient. Front desk was most enjoyable, no routine, no monotonicity every patient different a new challenge in itself.
Prosvery clean institution
Consnot so many infant patients for sample collection
5.0
We would get a zoo summer trip every once in a while.
Dynacare was a great company to work for, I wish they were still around.
My supervisor was great we were never accused of anything but we were asked what happen. I always appreciate it what employers ask before accusing its employees. That to me makes it appear that we have trust in one other.
While working for Dynacare the supervisors would bring out Crème Puff from State Fair every year and I thought that was pretty cool. It's not much but just to know that they cared enough about us was a good thing.
The thing that needed a lot of improvement was the vacation day off. Some one that wasn't a ten year or better senior could never expect to get a vacation day off near a holiday or in the summer because the persons with the most Seniority always had those days off.
ProsWe got most holidays off, if you worked in a clinic that had the Monday Labor Day and Memorial Day off.
ConsIt was very hard to get vacation days off due to the Senior people have the priority of the days.
2.0
Working with clients and entering in data
A type day of work: Maintain all filing, including receiving and updating all demographic information on the children and parents when changes occur.
What i learned: How important it is to keep patients information confidential.
Management: I think the mangement needs improvement.
Co-Worker: I think almost all my co-workers gets alone with each other. We are always throwing food day parties and a lot of us make plans withe each other outside of work.
The hardest part of the job: The hardest part of the job i would have to say is how mangement treats us, and knowing the think quanity is better than quality.
The most enjoyable part of the job: The most enjpyable part i would have to say i am part of saving a person life by entering in there information correctly, ordering the right test in a timely manner and getting the specimens over to the right department for testing.
ProsBenefits, helping people
Consmangement, expectations
5.0
Great company to work for
See my review for Labcorp since that company bought out Dynacare Laboratories in August 2002.
Worked in the Specimen Processing where I had a great supervisor. I learned to do many tasks, and I had to perform STAT testing whenever a doctor needs results quickly. I processed blood, urine, CSF fluid, and other samples.
I had to entered in a database accurate information for each patient to make sure all tests were ordered properly from the requisition. I also had to look for missing samples in the walk-in refrigerator as well as the freezers. Most often the missing sample was mislabeled from someone who was not paying attention.
I learned so much from everyone working there, and I thought management did a great job even though the work flow can be very hectic day to day.
ProsCompany that cared about its employees
ConsCompany sold out to this huge corporation
