A great company to work for, but you have to be able to see the good with some of the discomfort that comes with a big company that is growing rapidly
I work in a Banfield Pet Hospital. My review is based off of my experience in the clinic and not as someone in a corporate office of Banfield. Some of the perk answers were hard to answer because associates in the hospitals don't have quite the same amount of perks as those in the corporate offices.
The pros significantly outweigh the cons of working at Banfield. Banfield is a principled company that has an active mission and vision. When an associate has a difficult decision to make, they should always look to the 5 principles of Mars, and make their decision to promote the principles in their specific order. For instance, the five principles are: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom. So, if you have the decision to make of staying in budget for weekly inventory, or going over and ensuring that your clinic has everything it needs, you go over budget to get those products on the shelves because the quality of medicine that we practice and the responsibility you have to provide the tools needed for doctors to do their jobs outweighs the freedom of profit principle. However, if this happens often, you probably need some support in learning how to do the weekly orders. I also like that they send out emails updating the associates on what they are doing to achieve the Banfield vision and how they are living up to the mission.
Banfield focuses on associate engagement, which means they conduct annual surveys to gauge their employees satisfaction with t
Prosfocus on work/life balance, competitive pay, benefits, PTO, skill building courses, continuous process improvement, associate development, associate engagement
Constoo many acronyms, inconsistency of information, inadequate checks and balance system, opportunities with training
Vet Assistant Perspective: Poor management, long hours, unstable work environment
I will preface by saying that my co-workers have been fantastic and my direct supervisors have done their best to work with me. I used my employment at Banfield as an opportunity to relocate cross country and successfully reboot my life. The doctors and parastaff quickly trained me how to be fully functional vet assistant coming from a minimally vet related research background. My clinic's supportive staff kept me from burning out, but they have been exceptional in the Banfield picture.
At a stand alone clinic, I expect to work from 8am-7:30pm 4 days a week. I also expect 7:30 closing to become 8-9pm based upon the days work flow. My manager *tries* to keep me with set days off, but I rarely get the same days off every week. I need to request specific weekends off, because the other staff have to do the same to live their lives. Suffice to say work/life balance is NOT good - 4 full days from morning to night and 3 unpredictable days off make planning a family life or participating in groups/classes outside of work very difficult.
We have had stable parastaff since my hire, but 5 DVMs have been officially part of the hospital in the 6 months I have worked here. We spent one month without a full time doctor and had a different relief DVM every week. During that time, our probationary DVM was a major conflict issue in the clinic. He was a known agitator at other clinics, having yelled at staff and causing a hostile work environment. We were his "second" try. He would defe
ProsPuppies and kitties, client relationships, saving lives
ConsLong hours, bad schedule, poor upper management, metrics valued over patient care, frequent turnover, pay insufficient to make up for stressful labor
Higher ups seem to only care about statistics. To them, it’s quantity of pets seen in a day over the quality of care they’re being given. They don’t care if you’re understaffed and drowning or leave 2 hours after closing when you’ve already worked an 11 hour shift and have to be up for another open to close shift the next day. Lots of our patients ended up having things missed or looked over because we were so rushed and drowning with appointments that we physically couldn’t keep up, which ended in lots of stress and some mistakes. Every week our shifts were different. Different days and different hours, so there wasn’t any consistency with scheduling. Work their doctors and support staff to death and expect you to be happy go lucky, bubbly all the time. They will not hesitate to completely throw you under the bus and allow clients to verbally abuse you and will just do whatever the client wants to make them happy, doesn’t matter if what they say or do causes you to have a mental breakdown in the back. Our old practice manager took pride in our numbers, but ignored the fact that we were all burnt out. Corporate preaches that they’re all about the mental well-being of their associates, but that couldn’t be further from the truth from my personal experience. I quit after I started coming home crying on every lunch break and was getting physically sick from the stress and anxiety of that work environment. They basically turn you into a salesperson, trying to sell their wellness
ProsPay is decent, hour long lunch breaks sometimes, chances for paid CE
ConsOverworked, understaffed, easy to burn out, corporate mentality, turn you into a salesperson, quantity over quality, unpredictable work schedule and hours
Exhausting, Frustrating staff and clientele, Rough environment, Gets you by and definitely does NOT offer long term advancement options or SECURITY.
I wanted to quit after just a couple months of working here, and some how that turned into 6 years, feeling everyday like I wanted to scream and walk out!
A typical day consisted of scrambling about in the morning trying to get patients prepped, lab work completed, and as much as we could possibly get completed of our daily tasks (since once the day gets rolling there is not much time to even get your stuff done, because you typically need to help out everywhere else, both up front office and in back), all while juggling phones and trying to find coverage for the day, because there is always someone calling out sick and our staff was always light everyday in the first place.
I would typically feel our facility was understaffed, and there was not enough help to go around. And if there were enough people on staff, forget about everyone putting in 100% of their efforts, and to bad for those that do.
OHH, and let's not forget our daily dose of radiation!! Yes there is protective aprons, gloves and thyroid guards, as well as sandbags, v-troughs, and ties, which are all suppose to help "protect us" and manage "Hands free radiographs". BUT, due to poor patient compliance, and lack of proper sedation methods via the doctors, the whole "Hands free" idea is quickly abandoned, leaving us to get exposed DAILY to radiation, sometimes multiple times throughout the day. Kinda' makes you feel like the doctors and management don't care about you as a person, being that they A) typically d
ProsFixed schedule (depending on availability and seniority), benefits
ConsLimited opportunities for advancement (and when available, typically granted to those undeserving), lack of appreciation from upper management and corporate, Frequent radiograph exposure, lack of consideration for employee's overall safety and health.
They'll make it sound good with lots of promises, especially if you are a new grad, but please do your homework. I drank the Kool Aid. Don't make the same mistake. If you have VIN membership, review info on the student loan benefit. Realize that your 12 week mentorship period depends highly on the quality of your mentor and the hospital that you are at. During my mentorship period, I was sent to a busy hospital to work a Saturday by myself when that hospital's doctor couldn't come in. Also, they often forget to tell you this when you're hired, but just because you're hired for one location doesn't mean that you'll work there a lot. If other hospitals in the market are lacking doctor coverage, you may find yourself being sent to a variety of locations to work with teams and clients you are completely unfamiliar with.
There is constant focus on metrics with a major emphasis on pet numbers. You may be expected to see 18-20+ pets/day along with performing multiple surgeries. Banfield bases your support staff numbers off a projection for pet numbers, (para hours/pet). Their goal is to have around 1.9 para hours/pet. This means that you may literally have 1-2 veterinary assistants at most, so you will be doing a whole lot of tech work. Staff are overworked, underpaid, and turnover is high. Banfield is big on training them from video modules rather than actually taking the time to allow them to be trained by a DVM or RVT. I find they are often placed in roles, suc
Prosbenefits are average
Conslack of trained staff, understaffing, staff turn over, emphasis on pet numbers over quality, missing lunch and staying late to catch up due to constant overscheduling
I was wrongfully terminated after putting in my 2 week notice. After many meetings and emails about an employee who was not only harassing me but was harassing the rest of the staff and the doctors on duty, I was fed up and decided to find an employer who would stand by my side in a harassment case. I just gave my 2 weeks yesterday and I was wrongfully terminated a few hrs later. I was first told that my last day working at Banfield was June 28th (since I was scheduled out until then, and this location is extremely short staffed) and I was happy with that since I had told my new employer that I wouldn’t be able to start until July 1st seeing as Banfield still needed my help.
Now mind you before all this happened I had sent multiple emails to the manager and chief of staff about the harassment with no response and no changes to the harasser and he received no repercussions. This manner was supposedly sent to the “higher ups” with no change as well. This employee has an EXTENSIVE record of harassing former employees who had also left because of him. A doctor on staff had QUIT because of him and she clearly stated that. The current doctors on staff at this Banfield location have freely expressed that they both do not feel comfortable working with this employee as well. To give you a bit more history, no one at this location is willing to work. Myself and one other employee were the only full time VAs and we took most of the load seeing as the rest of the staff would not pick
ProsDr.wells
ConsDon’t take matters seriously, problems go unheard, unfair treatment of employees, no lunches, unprofessional, zero accurate training
Really would take just the right person to enjoy the job
I am typically a positive person-however my experience at Banfield CTS (Headquarters) was very negative. I was hired as a Talent Acquisition Coordinator. This means I was part of a team of three that did all of the on-boarding for doctors, vet techs and practice managers. Three people covered the entire US. Which is simply not enough. The issue is there is a busy season, spring-summer. You will work OT and get no time off during this season and in the winter it is very slow. Not an ideal set up. Banfield promotes their inclusive culture but does not practice what they preach. If you are not drinking the corporate kool aid you will be singled out and treated differently.
They have line managers in charge who have never done the work you are doing and have no way to advise you how to do the work or to assist you. You will have a weekly one on one meeting with your manager to talk about really I have no idea what because nothing productive ever came from any of these meetings. You are not able to ask for help because your manager has never done your job and cannot provide any assistance. When things were going wrong and I expressed concern or frustration her resolution was "just be positive".
You will be promised the ability to work from home. This is not the case. It is case by case basis, some of your team will be given permission, some not. The work load itself when busy is practically unbearable and it is not unheard of for an associate to cry at work. If you work in ta
ProsBistro/Cafeteria, Dogs at work, Free Optimum Wellness Plans, Discount on Mars Candy
ConsPoor Management, Bullying, Lack of consistency, Work Load, Favoritism, Open work space
In the 4.5 months I worked as a Veterinary Assistant, I was given misleading or false information by my practice manager (my immediate supervisor) on numerous occasions. I was initially hired and accepted the position as a full-time employee, F/T being defined as 32 hours per week. During the interview process, I spoke with 3 different Banfield locations and was actively recruited by all three managers to accept a position at their hospital. I ultimately chose the one that was closest to my house, and the one whose DVM Chief of Staff (COS) I thought I had the best interaction with during the interview. Little did I know that at this Banfield location, I would not be reporting or responsible to the COS, but rather the Practice Manager, who, incidentally, was not even a registered Vet Tech, but a Vet Asst. with significant medical experience as an EMT. This was an important "oversight" (although one that I could not have predicted) that had huge ramifications to working relationship with management, and my abysmal lack of success in the role of VA.
I was never once scheduled or given the opportunity to work full-time, even before any perceived performance issues were raised by my supervisor. This is just the first of many examples of how I was misled or given erroneous information that pertained to various aspects of my employment. I also feel that I was persecuted in the performance of my job and held to standards that other veterinary assistants were not subjected to, especi
Prosmedical benefits, pto, vacation, employment in degree field
Consmanagement structure, toxic work environment, low morale, arrogance, misanthropic views of (certain) veterinarians
I REALLY wanted to like this place. Worked as a VA. Horrible hands-on training. Lack of management training/guidance for new employees. Doctors are entitled and extremely moody. Rude, high maintenance customers are the least of your worries. Be careful about applying if you are not experienced in the veterinary field. Doctors will belittle and openly berate you. The VTs and CSCs were more professional and understanding than the doctors. I have never left a job feeling so bullied and unappreciated. I'm not the type to just up and leave a job, but I couldn't bare another day being ridiculed and untrained. From the very start of the job, I was told by staff how awful this particular location had become. Complaints from staff daily about working conditions. Call outs daily due to staff being "sick" aka dreading coming to work. Constantly understaffed to the point where the team is rushed during procedures and exams. The hospital is more concerned with how many patients they can bank per doctor than the number of employees it has to properly care for them. I came into this field to provide quality care and improve the lives of animals to my best ability, but the main concerns of the hospital are anything but. Management was inexperienced and provided little to no hands-on training -- not entirely their fault when the hospital is understaffed...but the reason the hospital is understaffed is due to management...so. There's that. And don't raise concerns to your superiors because con
Banfield is a ok place to work. It depends on which Banfield you work at. No Banfield operates the same, it depends on the staff and capabilities. The focus is soley on Quantity of care and not Quality of care. There is a massive push to see more pets than the staff can handle. A doctor may bring this issue to the Practice Manager and lip service is played, they just keep at it or increase the work load. It is hard to feel good about the job you do when you see the Quality of care go out the window in favor of more money brought through the door.
The OWP is a good idea, however it is poorly implemented in numerous areas. Banfields business model is quite frankly a mess beyond repair. Sign pets up on plan who are to aggressive to handle no matter what is done, the Owners are left with the 12 month payment bill. Sign up a Pet whose health is highly questionable...they die a few days, weeks or months later and again the Owner is left with that commitment of a bill. Cannot tell people no on a OWP sign up no matter what because it is money, plain and simple. People think the OWP is a insurance policy no matter how many times you tell them it is a preventive care package and break it down for them. People think they can come in at any time and have their pet seen regardless if the staff is overly loaded with pets than get mad when they can't get what they want.
The staffing is run thin and highly rotational. Gone through 4 Practice Managers and 15 doctors in 4 years, and forg
ProsBenefits are reasonable
ConsYou will end up feeling burnt on multiple levels, may very well never want to work in the field again.
Questions And Answers about Banfield Pet Hospital
If you were in charge, what would you do to make Banfield Pet Hospital a better place to work?
Asked Jan 21, 2018
I would take it out of Pet Smart and make it a more caring, genuinely loving experience for staff and clients. I would take the whole retail aspect of the clinic OUT!
Answered Oct 29, 2020
Listen to the associates
Answered Oct 11, 2020
Do you get drug tested before being hired ?
Asked Nov 25, 2016
Getting hired as a vet assistant and I am being drug tested
Answered Oct 1, 2019
Yes!! New policy took into affect this past year! All Practice managers and CVTs! No for VAs or CSC positions at this time.
Answered Jul 27, 2019
What is the starting salary for a Veterinary assistant?
Asked Aug 10, 2016
18 an hour
Answered Oct 9, 2020
I started at 11.90 3 years ago woth no experience im at 13.82 now
Answered Aug 22, 2020
What is the work environment and culture like at Banfield Pet Hospital?
Asked Jun 15, 2016
I went through my training, it wasn’t very long to experience coworkers/the team being awful to me within the first month. I learn in my own way, every individual is different- they treated me like I was dumb. I am not dumb I learn through repetition that doesn’t make me stupid or need to belittled. I had a coworker slap her arm on her chest and say hi to me “referring to me like I was mentally challenged” I do have learning disabilities so I felt extremely discriminated against, I am disabled physically, which isn’t their business anyways. I had another coworker who would mock me after everything I was explaining to him about a “clients question over the phone”. For a company that strives on their five principles I definitely didn’t see that in this company. I had other coworkers that would pick on me for no reason, as I would walk to the back to get my lunch people would call me weird to my face for no reason. My manager would call me out infront of the team and humiliate me, which was very unprofessional she could have approached me and told me what she needed, instead of making me repeat myself multiple times and belittling me infront of the whole staff. I had a tech scream at me on the sales floor infront of clients about scheduling a tentative appt when in fact I did not schedule it. If you’re new and learning they will drag you down, harass you, and criticize you without knowing if it was actually you or not. We had a suicide prevention meeting not one person was kind enough to pair up with me. My coworker said “I don’t participate in these you would be better off finding someone else” - we are all at work/ a team it’s not hard to engage. This job was so toxic it drove me to a place of hating my life, hating getting up to go to work, It was making me physically and emotionally sick. I don’t suggest this job to anyone. You don’t spend time with animals enough for it to be worth all of the treatment from the team, at least at this location. You don’t get paid enough for running yourself dry and working most shifts by yourself, 10-12 hour days. They always send the other person home and put you up front, but don’t care to properly train you. They care more about how many people they sign up for wellness plans. I feel they over see so many pets here I didn’t feel each pet got a proper amount of time being seen. I have worked in many positions in my careers, and this was by far unprofessional, demeaning, toxic, harassing, and abusive. I highly suggest avoiding working here if your considering it.
Answered Jan 1, 2020
Its really is dependent on your location. My locatio is wonderful! We are very family like and supportive. Our team works well together and issues are handled professionally (most of the time). Management is very open to hearing ideas and improving things. There is a coorprate aspect to the job, so expect to be focused on numbers and hitting goals, but client and patient expeience is always the goal.
Answered Mar 16, 2019
What is the best part of working at Banfield Pet Hospital?
