For the majority of my time at Fifth Ave Vet, I was not reviewed by the hospital management or given feedback for the work I did or extra duties I took on. I was told to just keep doing what I was doing, but given no real benefits for a job well done. The only sort of reward for good work came directly from my specialist. My pay increased only a few dollars over several years, generally at the rate of fifty to seventy-five cents per year, despite taking on additional responsibilities. Although I stayed for the flexible schedule and more interesting specialty/emergency work, I could have made four dollars more per hour at a local private practice. All benefits were lost if weekly hours dropped to 32. Among the staff, there was a lot of discontent, showing up late, shirking duties, and disinterest in learning about the medicine behind the cases. To be clear, this was not everyone, but an atmosphere of complaint and resentment often pervaded. I don't feel the hospital management was very good at making good hiring decisions and feel they often decided a "warm body" would suffice. New hires often were given a higher hourly rate than long-time employees. Raises and reviews have been non-existent in the past few years. FAVS is not a thriving practice and techs, assistants, and receptionists take the brunt of it generally through cut hours. Long-time assistants were frequently asked to do the work of technicians (even fill technicians' shifts), but were not compensated accordingly.
