Too many to count but the worst is the lack of financial stability it offers for FT employees.
1. They false advertise full time under the illusion of 4 ten hour shifts. The most hours you can get is 30hrs 1 week and 40 the next making it 70 hrs max per pay period (before the unpaid lunches are deducted). Hours are also cut at their leisure. They take doctors off if there aren’t enough appointments, and also cut support staff to match. If a Dr calls off sick, even if the clinic remains open, you get cut and forced to take PTO. Losing hours is a regular occurrence. You can get a call while en route to your shift saying you’re cut for the day. No questions. Doctors are not even allowed to use their PTO at their discretion, (only a certain percentage of their PTO can be requested/used during regular times). The company mandates a time frame for them to use the rest - it must be taken during their “slow season”.
2. No consistency in scheduling - set schedules aren’t allowed for doctors or clinical staff. Set clinics/locations are also not a thing. You get moved from one location to another last minute, day of, and sometimes partway thru your shift with no freedom to decline. You HAVE to do what people in a random office say, even if it doesn’t logistically make sense.
3. No autonomy AT ALL within a clinic. The practicing doctors can’t even move an appointment or change your lunch time to facilitate appointments or accommodate late surgeries. Appointments are scheduled based on a checklist operated by people that don’t understand the medical side or what it requires. EVERYTHING is dictated from an office where many of the employees don’t have a vet background at all.
4. Benefits are changed/modified almost monthly. Employee discounts are handled in a way that is so complicated it’s easier, more transparent, and sometimes cheaper to go elsewhere.
5. They lie to get you in the door (about policies, benefits, & expectations) and then claim a miscommunication or misunderstanding if you question the falsehoods.
6. Advertised CE benefits are not actually able to be utilized- nothing qualifies and it’s applied more by allowing you up to 10 hrs to take CE at your own expense.
7. They claim to be open to training (for DVMs and support staff), but due to profitability, they don’t actually allow doctors the luxury of getting practice on procedures, time to train or have mentorship. They are kind of just left to sink or swim.
The clinics actually aren’t equipped for most emergency-style cases but they still encourage owners to come in when the call ahead. The scheduling also doesn’t really allow for any type of walk-in urgent care either.
The hours are falsely advertised because they change them daily. Whole clinics may even be closed on random days to save money so it’s also not really a 365 day/yr operation
Absolutely no continuity of care for clients/patients. Even DVMs get bumped from clinic to clinic. Despite being a GP, rechecks are not often scheduled with the same Drs since it is very inefficient in how scheduling is done
People often don’t get lunch breaks but are still having it taken out due to the micromanagement from office trolls. There are also constant threats of no pay or write ups for punching in/out more than 5 min early or late.
Every aspect from appt scheduling, staffing, and punch times, to PTO, employee pet appointments, etc is ALL dictated by a select few in an office nowhere near the hospitals with no internal visibility other than on paper.
The health insurance coverage is terrible. Many of us relied on Good RX for even basic meds cuz it was significantly more affordable than using our PPO for them
Rules, policies, & SOPs change daily based on the company’s convenience. There are also countless “coupons/discounts” advertised everywhere but not shared with the hospitals so no one ever knows what is going on or how to apply it which leads to an appearance of incompetence.
Any REQUIRED trainings, coursework toward certificate, etc (ie: Fear Free, RECOVER, DEI, harassment) must be done on your own time - unpaid, even if it is required for employment.