Recruitment, induction and team development
Putting together your team
You’ve planned out your practice, but there’s one key area remaining – and it’s arguably the most important of all. Your team will form the heart of your practice, and it’s vital that they share your vision.
Great things in business are never done by one person, they're done by a team of people.
Click on any of the sections below to find out more information or use the arrow on the right-hand side to move through the pages.Team roles and outsourcing
Recruitment and selectionInduction, appraisal and development
Team building
HR management and support
One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team.”
It’s fairly obvious what role your vets will play for the most part – but have you considered what roles they shouldn’t be taking on? From dispensing prescriptions to second vaccine appointments, dental charting and scaling to simple stitch-ups, there are a whole host of tasks traditionally performed by vets that can be delegated to experienced RVNs.
Delegating effectively can help to free up your vets to use their time more efficiently, whilst also upskilling your nursing team and increasing job satisfaction. Your approach to delegation will strongly influence the ratio of vets to nurses you need, and how you allocate roles in practice.
When recruiting vets you’ll also need to consider their skills and experience levels. Are you keen to employ new or recent graduates? You’ll need to consider whether they can take on sole charge or whether they’ll need additional support for things like surgery.
If you’re planning to offer high-quality diagnostics and hospital care, you may also want to consider recruiting vets with additional qualifications or interests in areas like imaging, medicine or surgery. While experienced vets may result in greater costs, they can generate substantial revenue, and offering a wide range of services can help to bond clients to your practice and improve satisfaction across the team.
Determining the ratio of nurses to vets in practice can be tricky, and will depend hugely on your individual setup. In many practices, nurses carry out roles like cleaning and reception tasks. However, it’s increasingly recognised that RVNs’ time can and should be utilised more effectively, both increasing efficiency and improving job satisfaction.
If you plan to offer nurse consults and encourage your nurses to take on tasks like stitch-ups, radiography and dental cleaning, you’ll need to ensure you employ sufficient nurses to allocate to these roles.
Again, you’ll want to consider whether to take on and support student nurses alongside RVNs. This is one way to help build a strong nursing team over time, as recruitment can be competitive.
Also referred to as Animal Care Assistants or Animal Nursing Assistants, VCAs play an increasingly important role in practice. Roles historically allocated to nurses, including animal restraint, laundry, basic care of inpatients and even monitoring patients during recovery can all be delegated to suitably experienced VCAs. It’s important to have clearly delineated roles for nurses and VCAs to avoid confusion, either within the team or for clients. VCAs can be especially helpful during busy times, freeing up other staff and providing support wherever it’s needed, whether that’s taking calls on reception or assisting the nursing team.
When recruiting VCAs, you may want to discuss their long-term goals. Many veterinary nurses spend time as a VCA before starting nursing, and you may wish to support your VCAs with this.
Whether they’re fielding a constant stream of enquiries and phone calls, scheduling your appointments and operation lists, or helping to manage clients in reception and triage emergencies, receptionists can be the backbone of a busy practice. They also have one of the most public-facing roles in the practice, so having an effective, empathetic reception team can make a world of difference to the client experience.
While it’s essential to have enough receptionists that clients can easily reach you, as an interim measure you can ask a VCA or RVN to help out on reception at busy times – so consider starting small with your reception team and scaling up when it becomes necessary.
Just make sure staff taking on reception roles have sufficient training to recognise emergencies, provide basic advice and know when to request a vet or nurse’s input.
The British Veterinary Receptionist Association offers a foundation course as part of its membership which acts as a great refresher and is also suitable for those new to veterinary practice.
Behind the scenes, there are a whole host of other roles involved in running a successful practice. Cleaning, for example, is a constant task and is essential both for biosecurity and to make a good impression on clients. It’s often easiest to outsource this to a cleaning firm after hours, although it may be best to have clinical areas like theatre and prep cleaned by practice staff. Alternatively, you may wish to employ a cleaner part-time.
HR responsibilities include managing payroll, health and safety, employee leave and sick pay, managing whistleblowing, bullying, harassment and disciplinary proceedings, and ensuring the practice is GDPR compliant. This may also include rota management. While these roles can be delegated in practice, for example to an RVN, the alternative is to outsource them. Advantages of hiring an experienced HR specialist include a clear, structured approach, an outside input that doesn’t cause conflict within the team and the ability to delegate various tasks without further involvement. There are also software solutions, which can help with HR functions and wellbeing programmes.
Accountancy and marketing are typically best outsourced to an external provider unless your practice becomes large enough that employing a bookkeeper or marketing team is a cost-effective option.
Employing a practice manager is one way to delegate some of the administrative tasks involved in practice ownership. This is a particularly good idea if you’re starting a practice on your own and want to maintain some clinical involvement, or if there are areas where you feel you would benefit from an experienced manager’s input.
They will be able to handle some of the HR tasks outlined above, in addition to assisting with finances, marketing and client relations. In small practices, a vet or nurse may double up as the practice manager; however, this can introduce conflicts within the team and can place excessive pressure on individuals in busy practices.
Employees increasingly value flexibility in their working lives, yet this is frequently not an option in veterinary practices. Where possible, it’s worthwhile considering how you can structure flexibility into your roles from the outset. While this flexibility may make handling rotas trickier, it can have a huge impact on staff retention and job satisfaction. A larger team with more varied knowledge and skills can also be a useful resource.
Time spent on hiring is time well spent.
The first step in successful recruitment is to be clear about your practice needs. Assess what your vacancy is and consider what solutions there could be. It could be a permanent position, a fixed-term contract or locum cover to provide more time to assess your longer-term needs.
Create a detailed job and person specification including what the person’s role will be and what they will need to succeed in it. Include the levels of qualification and experience, the range of procedures and surgical tasks expected, the areas of work (small animal, emergency care, exotics, etc) and the levels of supervision, team direction or management required. Encompass your standards of care, ethos and approach, and include the CPD and personal development support available.
Attracting recruits is not just a one-off exercise to fill a specific vacancy. Amongst such a close-knit profession, your practice’s reputation as an employer will be a significant factor, so it is vital to pay consistent attention to creating a positive culture and prioritising staff welfare. Word of mouth and recommendation amongst friends and colleagues are common ways to successfully recruit, and can add confidence for both candidates and employers. Many practices offer a ‘referral bonus’ to reward staff who successfully introduce a new recruit.
There can be benefits to using a well-established veterinary recruitment agency to find staff. A good agency will have a list of candidates looking for work and an established network of contacts through the profession.
They have the expertise to help a practice to nail down the details of a role, create adverts, market the role, screen applications and assess candidates. They should also be up to date with the trends and dynamics of the market and be able to provide insight into compensation packages and candidate expectations. An agency’s success at finding the right person for your practice depends on their understanding of your practice’s culture, personality and needs, so communication around this is important, and many agencies will build effective long-term relationships with practices.
Different agencies may have different pricing models, based on a percentage of the successful employee’s compensation package, or on a fixed fee basis, but rates can vary according to market conditions so negotiation may be possible.
There are many opportunities for practices to advertise job vacancies in veterinary media, job websites and on social media. Legal requirementsIf you are writing your own advert, it is essential to ensure that it is legally compliant with the requirements of the Equality Act and must not discriminate against protected characteristics including race, age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, sex, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment and marriage and civil partnership.
Selling your practiceIt is important to bear in mind that first impressions are influential, and the content of your advert will be what either attracts or deters candidates. The advert needs to do more than state the requirements of the role – it needs to sell your practice and its culture and values to the people you want to attract. Consider what your ideal candidate will be looking for: what will be important to them? What details will they need to know? What are the benefits your role can offer them? Why is your practice a great place to work?
Stand out from the crowdIn such a competitive market, you need to consider what your advert needs to stand out from the crowd in the context of the media you are using. Imagery and audiovisual media can help to grab attention and engage people with your advert. On social media and job websites, you may be able to use video to good effect to ‘tell a story’, allowing candidates to get a feel for your practice, its location and the role you are offering.
If you have a limited word count, especially in print advertising, think very carefully about what you include and what you must leave out. Is the free fruit you offer your team really going to be persuasive, or is it more likely a candidate will want to know what salary is being offered? If the magazine or organisation has a recruitment team, seek advice about what is working best to get adverts seen and to fill positions.
Recruitment can be a slow and costly process, with a big impact on your practice’s success, so it is worth investing the time and resources to get it right. It is also likely to be something you will need to repeat at intervals from staff turnover or through growth, so consider your recruitment efforts with a broad view, encompassing the welfare of your staff, the marketing of your practice’s brand, the contacts and relationships you develop and the reputation of your practice.
You should always focus on training and consider it a step forward. And each step is taking you higher and higher until you reach the top, which is where you should stay.
Ensures that information relating to your legal obligations has been covered (e.g. fire escapes, health and safety).
Helps with socialisation with the team so the employee knows where to go if they need support and reduces stress.
Provides an adjustment period during the transition to the new job.
Acts as an introduction to the company culture (how we do things around here) and reinforces protocols.
Improves efficiency and patient safety (the employee knows where relevant equipment and medications are stored).
An induction programme can be in the form of:
A checklist
Tasks that need to be signed off (e.g. confirming the health and safety manual has been read)
A video or digital tools
Work shadowing or building tours
Buddy system
The purpose of appraisals is to support the personal growth and development of employees and also to help managers make decisions around promotions, pay and training needs.
While appraisals can ensure employees feel listened to and provide a valuable opportunity to give feedback, when performed badly appraisals can be demotivating.
They often tend to be subjective and focused on past performance rather than future potential. Some argue that real-time conversations and regular feedback in small doses can be more valuable.
Active listening and ensuring that feedback is constructive can be key to the success of any one-to-one meeting with an employee.
One technique is to use 360-degree feedback that takes into account feedback from multiple stakeholders to reduce bias – however, this can also be affected by relationships between team members.
Involving an HR professional either in conducting performance conversations or developing a framework may be of benefit.
In addition to allocating a CPD budget to ensure that clinical skills are kept up to date, there are a number of other training needs that may need to be addressed. This can include:
Front of house/ receptionist training
Customer service training
Stress management
Communication
The so-called ‘soft skills’ around communication are not always highly valued but can be important clinically, helping to improve client buy-in to a treatment plan and encouraging compliance, or uncovering key information during history taking.
After mutual respect and understanding are achieved, it is possible to establish real, sincere relationships, which is the foundation of a solid long-term collaboration.
Busy days in practice can cause significant strain, and it’s easy for issues to go unresolved. Over time, a lack of communication can lead to disparate groups starting to emerge, with each venting frustrations about the perceived issues caused by the others.
In contrast, strong teams work more closely together when under pressure, with responsibilities becoming shared and individuals supporting one another in what can be a high-stress environment.
The key is to be proactive with your team building, making a concerted effort from the outset to encourage good communication, appreciation of one another’s roles, and to prevent resentment or frustration from developing.
The needs of high-performing teams can effectively be summarised as follows:
Effective leadership, supported by good processes and structures.
Clear roles and responsibilities, with all team members understanding how they can best contribute.
Supportive team dynamics, with the whole team working together towards a shared goal.
It’s fairly easy to envisage how you’d like your team to function – but getting there takes time and patience.
The stages of team building can be broken down into ‘forming’, ‘storming’, ‘norming’ and ‘performing’. Initially, a new team is formed, and there’s a great deal of positivity. As people take on roles they enter the ‘storming’ phase; conflict and power struggles develop from individuals not wanting to adopt their given roles or failing to understand other team members’ points of view. Eventually, the team enters the ‘norming’ phase and people begin to work together and build trust. Finally, in the ‘performing’ phase, the team work together at a high level and consistently deliver high-quality care. Unfortunately, some teams are never able to leave the ‘storming’ stage and essentially fall apart.
So, how can you help your team reach the ‘performing’ stage? First, recruitment is critical. Your team will need to include individuals with a range of different personalities and skill sets, from rapid decision-makers and good organisers to slow thinkers and problem-solvers.
Secondly, you’ll need to consider the best individuals for leadership roles. While leadership is often associated with confident, direct individuals, they may not always be the best fit; pay attention to how your team interacts and identify individuals who consistently provide support, direction and coaching to their colleagues, as they will often be best suited to these roles.
Thirdly, you’ll need to make sure the rest of the team’s roles are clearly defined; for example, by putting protocols in place in advance for what procedures you’d like your nurses to assist with, and allocating responsibility for things like repeat prescriptions to a specific role. Some of these responsibilities will require discussion with your team to establish their enthusiasm and confidence, and whether further training may be required.
Finally, to create a supportive team dynamic, it’s essential to prevent resentment and frustration and provide an outlet to problem-solve any issues. Consider a regular monthly or even weekly team meeting, potentially with a suggestion box or book for issues to discuss. This could cover small gripes like people leaving dirty mugs in the sink, larger issues like dissatisfaction with appointment and operation scheduling, or even positive suggestions for how the practice can perform better. Providing an open, safe space for constructive discussion of any issues and subsequently implementing changes before resentment builds can make a huge difference to your team’s performance.
In addition to providing a safe space to discuss concerns and suggestions, your team can also benefit from socialisation and bonding outside work. Consider team-building days or even just after-work drinks or dinner every so often, as a way for the team to decompress and get to know each other better as individuals.
Progress is rarely a straight line. There are always bumps in the road, but you can make the choice to keep looking ahead.
Outsourcing HR responsibilities can be an effective way to delegate these tasks. However, if you’re planning to take on some or all of these tasks in practice, we’ve put together some helpful tips.
Rota managementOne of the most time-consuming HR tasks is rota management. Allocating staff shifts and managing absence, holiday bookings and other factors can be a huge drain on time. Without a proper system in place, you’re also at greater risk of clashes and mistakes.
Rota software, or a PMS like VetIT which includes rota management, can save you a lot of time. One concern is that such software may leave inexperienced staff without more senior assistance; however, the systems are often able to factor in such requirements.
While these systems cannot fully automate rota management, they can provide a clear, easy-to-use framework for rota scheduling, holiday planning, absence tracking and more. Depending on the system, they may offer additional assistance with things like timesheets and expenses, training records and even drafting employment contracts. Some systems also offer dedicated HR support and advice which can be invaluable as you start out.
HR Legislation & requirementsIf you’re keen to take on your practice’s HR in-house, you’ll also need to allocate significant time for either you or your practice manager to thoroughly get to grips with the relevant legislation, requirements and processes needed to successfully manage your practice’s team.
It’s essential you’re familiar with things like employment law, equality and diversity guidance, and health and safety regulations. You may even want to consider a specific HR training course to develop these skills.
