The veterinary profession is inherently rewarding, but presents unique challenges that can be mentally, physically, and emotionally taxing. The emotional cases, long hours, and heavy workloads typical in many practices can lead to chronic veterinary team stress and, eventually, burnout.
As we approach the holidays, the added pressures on team members’ time, energy, and finances can turn stress into distress and negatively affect individuals, teams, and hospital performance. Savvy practice leaders must consider how their action – or inaction – contributes to stress and burnout and how they can support employee mental health and well-being.
Understanding veterinary team burnout
Burnout is a workplace phenomenon that results from chronic, unrelenting veterinary team stress. Employees can feel exhausted, mentally checked out, or cynical about their jobs, with the disconnection leading to poor job performance. Studies point to organizational and industry-wide cultural factors as the leading causes of burnout in the veterinary profession, which means interventions aimed solely at individuals don’t have the hoped-for impact.
Common burnout contributors include unfair treatment, excessive workload, lack of control over work conditions, and inadequate leadership support. According to a 2023 Frontiers in Veterinary Science review, many veterinary professionals expect poor working conditions, which perpetuates the “suck it up” attitude that results in burnout. And while only one team member may be obviously struggling, burnout can negatively impact the entire team.
Barriers to effective stress management
By now, most veterinary leaders are aware that stress and burnout are rampant in the industry and want to take steps to address these issues. However, real change is difficult, and several barriers exist to implementing successful stress mitigation in veterinary practices.
Workload is an ongoing problem for veterinary professionals, especially those working on understaffed teams. The solution seems simple – see fewer patients or schedule fewer surgeries. However, many veterinary team members feel pressured to earn revenue that keeps the independent hospital afloat or meets corporate leadership benchmarks. Hiring more people can be challenging, as many professionals leave the industry after a few years – ironically, because of poor working conditions.
Unfortunately, managers and practice owners are often ill-equipped to prevent veterinary team stress and burnout. Burnout is more likely to occur in people who feel undervalued or ignored, but managers may not understand how to create a sense of belonging and invest in an employee’s long-term growth. Plus, leadership workloads can also be high, leaving them equally susceptible to stress and burnout.
Strategies to minimize stress and burnout
Minimizing veterinary team stress and burnout requires a holistic strategy and commitment from every level of leadership. Here are some actionable steps veterinary professionals can take to progress toward their goals.
Evaluate workloads
If most of your team feels overloaded, it’s time to evaluate and adjust workloads. This requires an intentional perspective shift – the expectations you’ve put on your team are too high, and you need to make changes. The problem could be team members who are poorly trained, bogged down by inefficient software systems or outdated protocols, or suffering because of a negative practice culture. Or, star employee schedules may be packed too tightly. If you aren’t sure where to start, an outside consultant may be able to provide some insights.
Provide autonomy and choice
What’s your leadership style? If you tell employees what to do but don’t allow them to participate in decisions that involve them, they may feel that they don’t matter. A democratic style allows leaders and teams to co-create outcomes, giving teams more control over their working lives. Flexible scheduling is also crucial for helping employees improve their work-life balance and won’t cause the chaos and anarchy that some leaders seem to expect. Your team members are adults capable of reasonable and rational thoughts and decisions – that’s why you hired them.
Develop a supportive leadership team
Supportive leadership is critical to overcoming stress and burnout. Leaders who aren’t confident in people management and don’t understand the psychology of work should consider investing in training programs or resources to help them learn how to better support their teams. Leaders should strive to recognize, acknowledge, collaborate with, and advocate for their team members, which surveyed veterinarians identified as desired attributes in an employee-leader relationship.
Build a positive culture
A culture that prioritizes wellness and, more importantly, doesn’t normalize distress as a rite of passage can reduce veterinary team stress and burnout. Reducing stigma and openly encouraging stress and burnout discussions can help employees feel safe taking concerns about personal or organizational well-being to the higher-ups, knowing their concerns will be taken seriously.
A proactive approach can help dispel the myth of veterinary suffering. Encourage team members to take breaks and vacations, speak up for themselves, and seek out resources when needed.
Provide resources
Veterinary work can be emotionally draining, even in an optimal environment. Leaders must acknowledge this emotional toll and help teams overcome this problem. Building mental health days and providing access to free or heavily subsidized mental health services is a great place to start. Creating a quiet, zen-like space where employees can step away and recharge after a difficult interaction or event, or offering stress-busting activities like yoga or meditation, can also help.
Addressing staff burnout in veterinary practices comes down to leadership. Leaders can enact meaningful changes, but they must commit to understanding the reasons for stress and burnout and then take steps to counteract those forces. As the holidays approach, veterinary practices should strive to recognize their teams’ efforts and ensure they feel valued, heard, and supported to enhance well-being and hospital performance.
Key takeaways
- Stress and burnout are pervasive and deeply ingrained in the veterinary profession, which can negatively impact individuals and the wider veterinary community.
- Effective leadership is necessary to prevent and address burnout. Leaders should focus on creating supportive work environments and learning the underlying issues that drive workplace stress.
- Combating burnout requires a multimodal approach, which includes addressing workload, improving culture, providing support, and investing in employees as valued team members.
Reducing stress with cloud-based software
Help reduce your veterinary team’s stress and avoid burnout by lightening their administrative workload. Modern veterinary software like Provet Cloud can streamline daily operations and give back hours to your team each week to focus on themselves.
Schedule a demo to learn how our innovative software can improve your team’s well-being.
