Patient Care Technician - Patient Care Technician DaVita Employee Review

Wage: The wage for working at this company is laughably low compared to the same positions at similar companies. In the area I'm from, Davita is often referred to as the company you go to get your foot in the door to the dialysis world. Work there for a while, then get a job at another company making nearly twice as much. Almost all of my coworkers had jobs elsewhere because the pay just isn't enough to live on (in California). Work Load: There is a very heavy work load for PCT's and the pay doesn't match up. Sometimes it is impossible to get everything done in the time you're required to get it done. Budget: It's all about numbers at Davita. Say you were hired as a full time teammate; you may or may not get your hours depending on the clinic's budget. (There are several variables for the budget) Managers will cut your overtime, take you off the schedule, and send you home early if the budget is exceeded. You may also be left with too many patients because the manager is trying to balance the budget. Budget seems to be more of a concern than patient safety at times. Work/Life Balance: This can vary clinic to clinic as well. If you have a good team, being short staffed isn't usually a problem. I've worked at clinics with people who hated each other. People call out last minute, no one wants to come in and cover. There are no on-call technicians so you're left with an impossible work load and end up having to stay sometimes hours later than expected. Managers: This can vary widely as well. There are some amazing managers who can do their job right and well. There are also managers who acquire "favorites" and cater to them. I had a manager who would give certain teammates whatever schedule they wanted, then hand over the unwanted and least desired shifts to the people they didn't personally like. It can get very messy with bad managers and you'll have little to no support from higher up the chain unless you know them personally. "Bonuses": Davita does do profit sharing, but it is a pitiful amount once a year. I can't believe they use this to entice people to join/stay. You may, however, get more in bonuses if you are at a clinic that meets all or most clinical goals. A lot of these goals are out of our control so it's hard to tell when you'll get one. No 401k match. Davita is starting to add programs which adds more and more duties for everyone in the clinic. I understand they want to be the best in the indusrty, but they have a widespread reputation for burning out their employees. From the looks of, it's going to get worse. As I was on my way out, I saw that they were rolling out more programs with no extra hands for all the extra work. This might not be the worst place you've ever worked at, but it's also not all fun and smiles like they make it seem (especially how they make it seem at Academy).