5 Ways to Prevent Veterinary Burnout in Your Practice

If you own a veterinary practice, it’s your responsibility to keep your practice running smoothly. The patients you care for deserve nothing but the best, and that means creating a safe and welcoming environment where they can receive the highest-quality care possible.

But it can be hard to run an entire practice and be responsible for so many individuals – both employees and clients. If you’ve noticed that your employees’ work performance has slowed down or started suffering, it might be because they’re feeling burned out. Employee burnout can lead to poor performance and productivity, greater employee turnover, and more. When this happens, your customers will be affected and their furry friends may not get the proper care they need and deserve. Your company’s culture will take a hit and so will its reputation. 

Unfortunately, veterinary burnout has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, in surveys conducted by the AVMA, 50.2% of surveyed veterinarians suffered from high burnout levels. The causes of veterinarian burnout vary, with educational debt and long working hours being contributing factors. Aside from veterinarians, the staff at these clinics is also suffering, with a mere 26.1% of surveyed staff “flourishing,” according to Merck. 

So, how do you recognize veterinary burnout in your practice, and how do you prevent it? 

Signs of Employee Burnout in Your Veterinary Practice

What causes employee burnout in a veterinary practice? Burnout in veterinary medicine is often a result of:

• Overworked employees operating under long work hours, on-call duties, and time pressure
• Conflict between staff and clients 
• Unexpected outcomes, like high mortality rates 
• Poor communication and support from managers 

If you’re unsure as to whether your veterinary practice is dealing with employee burnout, there are a few tell-tale signs to look out for:

• Tiredness: Is your staff feeling or looking exhausted and worn out? That could be a problem and may affect job responsibilities and productivity. 
• Negative attitudes: Frustration and irritability are two other signs that your employees are suffering.  
• Disengagement: You might also notice that your practice is struggling to keep employees or the employees you have aren’t showing up to work on time or at all. 

Of course, there are several other indicators, too, and burnout can affect everyone differently. Perhaps your employees are feeling guilty or anxious about their jobs – after all, it can be difficult when you can’t help every pet that comes through your doors. 

If you’re noticing any of these signs, it’s time to take action. 

Ways to Prevent Employee Burnout in Your Vet Practice 

Burnout can lead to all sorts of difficult situations and outcomes, including harm to your employees, patients, and veterinary practice’s reputation. Prevent employee burnout from happening with the following steps. 

Provide Employees With a Good Work/Life Balance

While it’s always been important to juggle both work and personal responsibilities effectively, more people want a good work/life balance than ever before. Ways you can support this for your employees include: 

• Flexible work hours 
• More/longer breaks 
• Additional and mandatory vacation time 
• Mental health days in addition to personal time off 
• Wellness programs, especially those geared toward mental health 
• Useful benefits, including those aimed at parents such as longer maternity/paternity leave and daycare tuition assistance

Don’t Take on More Clients Than Your Team Can Handle

As a veterinary practice, you naturally want to do your best to help all the animal companions that come your way. Unfortunately, it’s not always realistic to accept everyone as a patient. You should only take on as many clients as your staff can handle. This is especially true if you have a smaller practice with only a handful of team members. 

Taking on too much will overwork your staff members and cause them unnecessary stress. It will also affect your standing clients who may be unable to get an appointment due to overbooking.

Yes, it’s hard to turn away an animal in need, but sometimes you will have to make that call. It’s important that you focus on your current clients and, if you’re able to, a few new ones along the way. Make sure that you’re leaving some room for your team to breathe and have breaks when needed. 

Show Appreciation to Your Employees 

Everyone wants recognition for a job well done. Showing appreciation goes beyond just a pat on the back and a “good job!” You should be actively showing your employees how much you value them and how much you care. 

There are a few ways you can show your gratitude. You can implement an employee appreciation program, such as employee of the month recognition with rewards like gift cards to their favorite store or restaurant. You could also treat your entire staff to a catered lunch or pass out gift bags with various accessories, goodies, and personalized thank you notes. Do these to celebrate traditions and milestones or just as a way to say thanks for their hard work. 

Encourage Community Among Your Staff 

It’s important that your team feel like they are part of a community and working toward shared goals and interests. Your staff is obviously here because they care about animals and want to make a difference. Use that to build community among your staff. 

You can encourage community through veterinary team building activities, like hosting regular meetings, inviting your team to lunch, enjoying games during lunch hour, or even encouraging them to volunteer and participate in local events. 

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Talk and Listen to Your Team

Communication is so important in the workplace. It prevents misunderstandings and conflicts. Your employees want to be heard and have their concerns addressed, so do your best to do just that. 

Be clear and concise in your communication efforts. Explain exactly what you mean and expect. And encourage your employees to share their thoughts and concerns by ensuring your practice prioritizes psychological safety. 

You can send out surveys and emails asking for feedback, with an option for those who wish to remain anonymous, or meet with your employees in person. Conferring with your employees one-on-one will show them that you truly care and are invested in what they think. 

Improve Your Veterinary Practice

Don’t make the mistake of letting your veterinary practice suffer from employee burnout. Veterinary burnout can lead to so many issues – including difficulty retaining veterinary staff and the ability to provide quality care to your patients – so prevention is crucial.

If you’re interested in finding employees to add to your team, check out iHireVeterinary’s hiring tools that connect you with qualified veterinary job seekers. And if you’re looking for more ways to improve your business and the lives of your team members, check out our additional free resources for employee engagement and retention.