I have to start by saying I worked for the hospital 1 year before it was sold to VCA and then I worked at VCA another 1 1/2 years. Prior to the move it was a family type atmosphere where the management and staff truly took care of and cared about eachother. The management was in the building along with the owner so questions and requests were answered fairly quickly.
Post VCA, we moved from a practice who was on its way to being paperless with a standard software program to a DOS based computer program and triple the amount of paper being used and often wasted. If you have any questions or issues, that has to go from the HM to the regional manager and through several levels to get any answer...that's if you ever get a response. Communication was terrible between management and staff and there were rarely clear, consise answers given.
The company wants to squeeze every last penny from every client as well as their staff. Sure, you can bring your dog to work with you, but you have to pay the boarding fee and still take care of your own dog. It felt like you were selling things to clients and it made it hard to look the long time clients in the eye anymore. Many clients did not appreciate this approach and we lost a significant amount of these clients throughout my time there.
When VCA took over, they said "if it's not broke, don't fix it" was going to be their approach as we were a high grossing practice that ran very well. This was an out and out lie, that place was unrecognizable by the time I left.
I was so dissatisfied with the practice that I left the field completely and have no desire to go back. I had been in the field for 10 years. The turnover rate was outrageously high, long time employees, I'm talking 10 to 15 years, left for other practices even though many had to take pay cuts.
Unless you are just looking to get your foot in the door at a practice, this is not a place you want to have a career. If you are lucky, there will still be experienced staff there to help you learn and grow.
