Benefits and upper managment are lacking. - Specialty Technician VCA Employee Review

While I liked my doctors and coworkers at my specific hospital, there is a real disconnect from upper management and support staff. Being a large company, it is hard to have your concerns or complaints heard. The upper management clearly does not relate to or understand the view points of the technicians and support staff. The days they would visit the hospital. Money, and no their employees, are their main focus. My other main complaint is the poor benefits. The rate of PTO and sick time accrual is extremely low. You earn per hour worked, at a snails pace. Sick time is given to you one day per quarter. Its impossible to take any time off during your first year, without financial strain, so unforeseen circumstances, like a funeral or family emergency, will leave you broke. Even after the first year, the accrual rate is much lower than the smaller private practices I have worked for, and even the non profits I have worked for. There are only 3 paid holidays/year. Also lower than any other place I have worked. In my case, my hospital is closed for Memorial Day, Labor Day, and July 4th. That means that we just lose that full day of pay. We have no option to work it. Also, if your scheduled off already on a paid holiday, you don't get paid for that holiday. For example, if your schedule is normally Tuesday-Friday, and Christmas falls on a Monday, you do not get paid for Christmas, because you don't normally work that day, so you are paid for four days and work four days. However, employees who work Monday-Thursday will only work three days that week, but get paid for four, because they will get paid for that Christmas on a Monday. This is an unfair system. Health insurance is bare minimum. Deductibles are high, and they don't cover several birth control options, nor do they cover many other "optional" medical procedures or visits. There is also no yearly allotment or accrual of continuing education money for technicians or support staff, which is odd to me. I would think they would want their employees to continue to learn and better themselves. They do offer scholarships for certifications, but there are only a few people per year who will receive these. If you are a salaried employee, your benefits are much better. Hourly employees get the short end of the stick, and often end up feeling undervalued and underappreciated. VCA is a billion dollar company. There is no excuse for employee benefits to be so low, contributing to high turn over rate on the support staff levels (which, in turn, effects patient care.) Outstanding patient care and customer service STARTS with the staff.