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Vancouver Public Library

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Vancouver Public Library Reviews

3.2

64% would recommend to a friend

(49 total reviews)
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Mary Lynn Baum

42% approve of CEO

42% positive business outlook

Vancouver Public Library has an employee rating of 3.2 out of 5 stars, based on 49 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Vancouver Public Library employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Government and public administration industry (3.6 stars).

Reviews by job title

49 reviews
2.0
8 June 2017
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Employees generally work here because they want to do something meaningful that benefits the most vulnerable in the community, so they're generally positive, patient and helpful. The work environment is very relaxed, performance targets are relatively low, and it's an enjoyable place to be. They offer 4 hour shifts, which can be great for people with other part time commitments or people with mental health issues. Supervisors are friendly and fair. It's a unionized workplace, so starting pay was pretty high even before the City of Vancouver became a living wage employer.

Cons

Advancement is difficult and not performance based. HR is in charge of even minor promotions and your direct supervisors have very little influence. People have to work part time, often for years, before getting full time work. Getting work involves hustling for shifts and is fairly time consuming and unpredictable. Benefits are almost impossible to actually get. I've heard multiple horror stories about management blacklisting people, even for lateral moves, if they have the union grieve a hiring. The organization is also very top heavy with way too many managers that have to justify their existence by reorganizing everything, and then changing it back once it becomes obvious that they've made it worse.

3.0
27 Apr 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Excellent entry-level positions for students or those who want a second job. Can choose how many hours you want to take on, although when I was working on-call I couldn't pick up more than 20 hours a week, 4 hours a day without going into overtime. Shelving shifts were 4 hours, which works well for those who want flexibility or have other commitments. Laid back, low-stress for the most part. Coworkers were pretty nice and helpful.

Cons

It is difficult to obtain regular employment and to move up. My position was unionized and while seniority wasn't the sole deciding factor, more often than not it gave applicants a strong competitive advantage. Employees typically worked on-call and part-time for many years before securing something more stable and high paid. Hours for full-time positions could be slashed so that employees no longer qualified for benefits. This was not a workable/realistic arrangement for everyone, so there was a fair amount of turnover. Changes were slow and communication was often not unified across departments and the organization as a whole. The performance management process had room for improvement, as it was not always clear what criteria employees were being evaluated on and there was a lack of regular feedback/check-ins with supervisors and managers. Management tended to pick on and try to resolve insignificant issues while missing the big picture and ignoring more looming and pressing problems.

1.0
10 Nov 2021

Terrible place to work - Don’t recommend

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-living wage -some benefits -some decent coworkers

Cons

-Caused repetitive strain injury - benefits not enough to cover medical bills - and Worksafebc claim keeps getting rejected for unfair reasons -Thousands of dollars lost for medical bills to recover from injury and lost wages - a year of being off work only to get worksafe claim rejected -limitations on future employment due to lifelong injury - had a mean, nasty coworker who made my life hell, talked to management about it and they did nothing but promote her.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 49 Reviews

Glassdoor has 54 Vancouver Public Library reviews submitted anonymously by Vancouver Public Library employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Vancouver Public Library is right for you.