Pros
-3 free wellness plans for your pets -Decent pay/bonus schedule for Practice Managers -Computer system works pretty well, it's nice to be able to look up accounts from other locations so easily; probably better than most private vet hospitals -Good training period for managers, typically 2 months of full training followed by week-long corporate training 6 months into position -Banfield is one of the few places that will hire new DVM grads, and many of these Dr's are amazing -Monthly market meetings were a nice way to network with other managers and reboot from standard hospital days. -It's nice to be able to call another hospital to borrow employees when short-staffed -There are good days that make you love the job a little more, like when you were able to help an especially sick pet on a weekend when no other hospitals were open
Cons
-Retail management - the hospital is open during PetSmart hours, so you will be working many weekends and holidays, and now that managers are salaried guess who will be picking up the slack when field leadership says we're too high on labor hours? -Managers are trained in a "functional" role - so if you have a vet background you're a vet tech, otherwise you'll be trained as a CSC/receptionist. If you're unlucky enough to be a CSC, which is the majority of new managers, be prepared to act as a help desk for PetSmart customers. When working up front, there is a literal wall between you and your employees, making it difficult to feel like a manager. -Due to labor cuts, managers work more as their functional role than as managers. Be prepared to work 40 hours as a VT/CSC, and do your management duties on your own time -TURNOVER. Every hospital had this, in pretty much every position. It's not uncommon for a hospital to have 60-100% turnover, or to have the staff get so stressed that you lose 3-4 people in one week. I had 3 different field directors in my first 3 months at Banfield, so the one who hired me in had completely different ideals than my current boss, making it hard to keep in line. -With high turnover, good luck taking time off. Hospitals are constantly short-staffed -Field management doesn't want to hear any issues. If you bring an issue up, they will attack you with faux-data saying that you aren't doing your job (reports don't back this up, but you're so awestruck that the conversation went this way, you just sit there with your mouth gaped open wondering if you really are that bad). Rather than doing their job, they'll demean and put you down so much you won't want to do your job anymore. -Banfield is widely known as the "Walmart of Pet Care." It sure feels this way too - clients are appalled at costs you can't control, and demands are sky high. They're constantly asking you to do procedures for way less (even if unethical), or free. Then get ready for people to complain about being up-sold on everything. Nurses at Banfield should come with a sales background rather than a tech license. -Each hospital's atmosphere is strongly centered around the relationship with the DVM - I can't stress this enough, if you get a feel in interviews that the staff and Dr don't work well together, take a pass on this job. -"Never turn away a pet" policy - as a manager I thought I could control this, field leadership then put the foot down. Even if you have a completely full schedule, if someone says "emergency" ('my dog has been vomiting for the past 3 weeks and I can only get her in today after 5pm'), you can NOT turn them down. While this doesn't happen every day (typically 2-3 times a week), this leads to incredibly stressed out staff, clients waiting over an hour for basic vaccine appointments, and creates the atmosphere that we are an ER hospital where clients can walk in whenever they want, which we are not. This is something that a practice manager should be able to control pretty easily, but the power was taken away.
