veterinary assistant

veterinary technician

veterinary receptionist

veterinary technologist

receptionist

Canada West Veterinary Specialists

I worked at CanWest for just over a year as a technician. During that time, I saw multiple technicians and assistants come and go, and at first I wasn't sure why. When hired, management draws this incredible picture of a happy work environment, great wages, a 4 day on 3 day off week and rotating schedules, which none is true.

To start - Scheduling. You can be rotating from overnights (9pm-7am) to evenings (7pm-5am) and they claim you have not worked 6 months of overnights. They'll also rotate you "weekends" from Thur-Sun to Sat-Wed and claim that as rotating weekends. Evening/ Overnight and Weekend staffs do not get to attend many of the CE offered since it's always during their night and during the week, which was a huge issue for me since I was trying to grow my career. Every technician hired will go through this, and based on how much the scheduler likes you, you could potentially get a change in shift, but it's highly unlikely.

Evenings and overnights are equipped with 1 (maybe 2) doctors to take care of the whole hospital, which means most of the staff are doing mass amounts of overtime and called in on their days off to help with the work load. The care lacks on overnights because there simply isn't enough staffing. Hope to work during the day or in a service (or request it early on) or you will be massively overworked.
 
Pay is adequate. If you look at all the overtime you will do and the "premiums" you receive by working at night, you make slightly more than any other vet tech in Vancouver. Your lifestyle will however suffer and you won't necessarily advance your career, if that's what you're hoping to do. 

Going to a service (specialized departments)  is considered a privilege. If management does not like you, you will never move to a service. I know of multiple employees being told they were "too valuable" in the ICU to advance their career and move into a service. If you are interested in working for a certain department, I would wait until there is a opening and apply directly to it, to avoid the dark hole that is the ICU/ERCC. 

All in all, there is massive favouritism with management which is obvious with scheduling and within departments. This has created strong cliques within the practice, competitivity and honestly, bullying. Doctors have even been told to not socialize with technicians outside of work because that shows a lack of professionalism. Wages are mediocre, hours are horrible, and the quality of animal care (especially on overnights) is also not amazing - considering the lack of staffing and time for adequate care. Specialty hospitals are amazing and I do have hopes for this one, they just need to strongly reconsider their management.

My experience here was awful. Management only cares about you if you’re one of their favourites, if not you can forget about fair treatment. They preach “protect your peace” but when you try, you get in trouble, regardless if it’s a serious health issue or something personal you’re dealing with. They don’t show empathy and don’t care about work life balance, they will change your schedule without you having a say and make you deal with it. I’ve been told I was an issue for having chronic health problems, in this day and age I have no idea how that’s acceptable. If you have a good work ethic, they will take advantage of it and try to have you doing as much as possible, all while saying you’re not doing enough and you need to do your job better. Wages aren’t competitive either, they’ll pay as little as possible despite dealing with so much stress. I took this job because thinking it would be an amazing work place with a great team environment, but I was nothing short of disappointed… why else would their turnover be so high? Save your time and sanity and apply elsewhere.

I worked there for over a year and I have to say it was just awful. Most of the staff are very nice but management only cares about meeting their financial goals. They care very little about individual mental and physical health. 

The hospital itself is very very clique. Every department is tight knit and they don't communicate between departments well. 

They pay is awful and it's very difficult to make enough to support yourself alone. The hours are very long and they leave you no choice but to accept the shifts they offer. I was hired to work a Monday to Friday set shift; needless to say it didn't happen that way. They changed the shift times a month after they hired me and I either had to accept it or quit. 

The amount of effort and work I put into the company did not feel equal to what I was being asked to do, and what I was being paid for. 

Very little individual recognition or room for career growth.

Working at Canada West can be an incredibly rewarding and fulfilling experience. It is a profession that allows individuals to make a real difference in the lives of animals, providing them with the necessary care, comfort, and treatment they need.  It's a great place to learn new skills, and you get to work with so many talented staff members. 

Working here can bring a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Knowing that one's work directly contributes to the health and well-being of animals is incredibly rewarding. Pet owners' gratitude and the joy seen when an animal recovers or finds a loving home are moments that make all the hard work worthwhile.

Management recognizes the employees' hard work and often provides them with food. 

Yearly wellness allowance. 



What is the best part of working at the company?
The team atmosphere, high quality medicine and diagnostic technology, and   amazing colleagues. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Challenging my comfort level with higher risk anesthetic assisting. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Everyone is working collaboratively toward the common goal of providing the best ans most appropriate care for the hospital's patients and clients. There are tons of team building and team support days and activities provided by the owners. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
10 hour shifts with variable busy-ness, and involving everything from appointments to CT Scans and advanced imaging, to scopes.

I worked at Canada West right out of school. I was very exited during the on-boarding process as the job seemed fun and challenging with excellent  training. However, I quickly learned that the job/work culture/management was not as advertised during on-boarding. The staff (mostly in the ICU and especially in the ER) are unwelcoming, rude, and condescending. Some staff are excellent and will take the time to answer questions and educate, but they are few and far between. As a new tech, I never felt comfortable asking questions. Management does little to nothing to resolve core issues that lead to workplace bullying and a hostile work environment. They try to reel you in with free pizza lunch, etc, but no amount of pizza will fix the issues that this place has. 

During the interview process CWVS seemed like a great place to work, with emphasis on training, company culture and events, and friendliness but that was not the reality working there. The staff and management are either hyper critical or completely hands-off. Management is a joke in most departments, I have not seem a more poorly managed company with this many staff. It's encouraged for everyone to point out each others mistakes and bring them to management, yet there's rarely any positive feedback. The front end and ER staff are rude and condescending. The specialty service staff are mostly nice and easy to work with. The ICU and wards staff are okay, some under qualified, but there isn't room for advancement anyway. 

Working there I was always lost and confused about what they expected of me. Always trying to do my best but constantly talked down to and made me feel like I was not valuable as a part of the team. Usually working by myself with no support for patients (not everything can be done with an animal as one person). Other staff made up many allegations that led to my dismissal. It's very 'every man for themselves' and everyone complaining about each other.  Very toxic environment. They have no regard for someone's previous knowledge and experience, everyone starts off as if you are brand new as a tech with no experience or understanding, however, they don't foster growth. HUGE turn-over. 

The hospital, veterinarians and technicians are amazing people. The issue is leadership and HR. There is an extreme lack of professionalism and experience. The general manager operates more as a CEO and is very hands-off day to day. The day-to-day is left to a very inexperienced team. The hospital would operate better if there is a specific trained manager in place.
There is a huge turnover of Staff which puts a burden on everybody else in the hospital with a constant revolving door. The hospital should be offering more than two weeks vacation and three sick days per year. This is just not acceptable this day and age. The hospital should put more effort into retaining staff than recruitment. 


For the emergency department, which is extremely fast paced and tough to begin with, the main problems that arise are all to do with the general attitude and catty-ness of the staff. A few people in question are very condescending towards questions and or minor mistakes, even when just starting out there. Training was lacking so there is no excuse to be rude for asking a general question. Pay could also be better for what you have to deal with, namely the stress and the attitude of the staff.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Veterinary assistant 22 salaries reported	$23.39 per hour
Veterinary technician 6 salaries reported	$32.58 per hour
Veterinary receptionist 4 salaries reported	$22.88 per hour
Veterinary technologist 5 salaries reported	$31.80 per hour
Receptionist 1 salary reported	$23.00 per hour

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