- Franchise owned is terrible. There is a general feeling of unease and discomfort when communication from management is at its lowest.
- Low pay for extremely hard work. Most shifts are between 6 and 7 and half hours. On your feet for all that time, and given a minimal break of 15 minutes (Per my state's exact requirement) and no more.
- You will be started with minimum wage and given a raise after a year unless you've had previous daycare experience and even then, the raise is only 25 cents.... So?
- The interview process is handled by people who have worked there for a while - they let dogs pass the interview who should not be in daycare, resulting in several injuries to other dogs and staff. These dogs aren't necessarily aggressive, but have poor social manners and get easily confused or upset in a large crowd. Gate management can only provide so much control.
- Extremely high turn-over rate. I stopped adding people to my contacts for work because every two weeks, someone would quit and you'd be asked, if not begged, to come in and work.
- Call outs/sick days/vacation- You are given so many days within a year for sick days. Typically, it's ten, within most companies. You start nearing three call outs and you're given a verbal, then, thereafter, you're given a written. You are allowed a mere seven days vacation, unpaid for.
- Split shift scheduling was often a problem. Not having consecutive days off, as in two days off, closing one night and opening the next morning, etc. Overtime was not offered unless understaffed, which, while it happened often, was not consistent and offered no further pay.
- Owners of the facility were never seen. The manager was seen three, maybe four times a week and did the rest of their work from home. Employees who had been there for years were passed up on the opportunity to advance to Team Lead or Assistant Managers while it was given to others who had worked there less than a year. IE - You're good enough to stand in the yards, break up fights and scrub your life away inside cabins when floating, but we don't trust you with anything else. Also, no communication on that part.
- Lastly and this is the most important and unfortunately, the most disgusting. Screaming obscenities and kicking cabins and physically forcing dogs in your hands is never acceptable. Unfortunately, at my CBW, I saw this behavior often. Not just from a long term employee but newer ones who were not given any training other than, "This is the small yard, here's a squirt bottle, use cabins for time outs." They don't train you how to handle a dog, how to use a lead, how to properly break up a fight, etc. The most you learn within a two week period is how NOT to let dogs out when coming in and out of the yard.
