Resources
Paying Staff a Living WageStaff Meeting in a Box
Need staff meeting ideas? Welcome to our Staff Meeting in a Box! Each month, we provide a full staff meeting worth of materials on a particular topic, taking all of the planning off of your shoulders!
This month, we are taking it back to one of our first staff meeting’s – Staff Support in the Area of Personal Finances! By clicking on the link below, you will be directed to our online platform, where you will have access to a 20 minute video, created by Brenda Tassava Medina, a downloadable infographic, a worksheet and a quiz for your staff!
Wellness Tip
Regardless of your rate of pay, having strong budgeting skills is a benefit to everyone. The program (app/website) Mint is a great place to start. They have a multitude of features to enhance the knowledge you have of your own spending habits. Operating through the connection of your financial institutions, Mint lays out your income, comparing it against your expenses. It has features for you to manually categorize purchases and set spending goals. They also include different metrics to track your spending over time along with trends at a glance. It is a gratifying sensation to experience the financial fluency that comes with personal budgeting awareness and goals.
*As with any online program that requests access to your personal data, due diligence must be applied for security and safety reasons. VetSupport does not endorse or make any assurances regarding Mint’s business practices.
Employee Handbook Tip
Create a raise and compensation structure that is as transparent as possible. A very challenging conversation to navigate is one where an employee is given a raise, but expected more. Just like with our clients, if we do not have clear conversations on financial expectations there will often be frustration. Creating a transparent compensation/raise structure is not about knowing how much other team members make, it’s about knowing what I need to do as a team member to reach my financial potential for the practice and myself. Two important factors when creating these structures is: 1. Quantitative goals (not up to opinions) 2. Potential is in the hands of the employee. Here are two examples of how to do this:
1. Job Levels: This system is where multiple layers of skill are incorporated into a specific position. For instance, within the Veterinary Assistant position, you would create a level 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Each level requires a certain level of skill (soft and hard), and different compensation structures. The process is clear, and the rewards are clear. Learn more about the program and consult that VetSupport offers.
2. Quantitative Raises: These are clear raise opportunities that are based off of quantitate things. For example, the practice could offer all staff a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) as long as they are not under a probationary period. In addition to the COLA, the staff could have the potential to earn an extra 1% raise by accomplishing quantitative things that benefit them and the practice. These quantitative goals could include, but not be limited to: a certain number of CE hours, perfect attendance, attending community events, completing a work projects (ex. present content at staff meeting). On an annual basis the practice evaluates each employees performance, and what quantitative raise goals they accomplished.
By making these two things as transparent as possible it allows the staff to meet their full financial potential, and puts the control in their hands.
The VetSupport Job Levels Program Consult
If you’re looking for a way to get your team more fully engaged, while thinking and acting like true veterinary professionals then adding a Job Levels Program to your practice’s infrastructure is the solution you’ve been seeking. Your staff will no longer expect a raise simply for being employed “one more year, they’ll understand exactly what is expected of them in order to move up in pay and seize control of their future within your practice.
Your Job Levels Program Consult begins with a salary normalization, and guidance on how to have crucial conversations with staff who might be underperforming. Next is a customized departmental job levels program, complete with required continuing education requirements for each level, along with career path projects designed to cement their learning, and master their skills while implementing real life solutions to support your practice. Choose between 2 departments (CSR and Technician), or 3 departments (CSR, Technician, and Vet Assistant).
This consulting work is performed remotely with a dedicated VetSupport Consultant who will meet with you regularly and guide you through an implementation plan to fully launch your program in about 4-6 weeks.
*After purchase, a VetSupport team member will be in touch to begin the process and gather needed materials from you with 1-2 business days!
Book Review/Recommendation
Worth It: How a Million-Dollar Pay Cut and a $70,000 Minimum Wage Revealed a Better Way of Doing Business by David Price
“You don’t get into this profession for the money.”
This book is an intriguing read on a subject that is immediately relevant. We have bad habit in our profession of wearing our pain and suffering like a badge of honor. One of these “badges” is being in this profession for the passion, not the paycheck. This mentality is both prevalent in the support team mindset and from managers.
We must challenge this mindset. This book helps to do that. While it isn’t a plug and play method (at least for our industry) for achieving a better balance with livable wages, it does tackle the values-based ideal that the veterinary industry can identify with. Pay your employees well and it will inspire more loyalty and better quality work.
What I got out of this book was reasoning and motivation to ask, “Why not?” Why aren’t we paying a living wage in our practices? What is holding us back? Is it a valid reason? Meaning, do we understand and have enough control over our finances that we can answer this question accurately? Even if the method doesn’t work exactly for us – what method might work? The benefits to both the team and the business are numerous – can we start the conversation about how to make it work instead of why it won’t?
– Carol Hurst, LVT, CVPM, CVJ, CCFP
Recipe: Simple Potato and Sausage Hash
This recipe is perfect for when you may be trying to use up extra veggies in your fridge and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
Serves 3-4
- 3-4 Yukon Gold Potatoes, diced
- Approx. 14oz of your favorite sausage (the crumbly kind, not patties or links) – I particularly like Impossible Foods Spicy Sausage roll
- 2 whole carrots (or any other vegetable you may have on hand), chopped
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- Dried Thyme (or any other psices you may like – this recipe is very versatile and you can change the flavor profile with spices!)
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Drizzle oil into a large pan on medium-high heat. Once heated, add your sausage and cook until browned. Add some salt and pepper. Remove from heat and place sausage into a bowl – you’ll use it again later.
2. Drizzle some more oil into the same pan on medium-high heat. Once heated, add onion and garlic. Saute for a few minutes until onion is translucent.
3. Add potatoes and carrots to pan and mix. Add salt, pepper and a few pinches of thyme.
4. Continue cooking and stirring until potatoes and carrots are tender. The time needed will depend on the size of the cut potatoes and carrots, but approximately 15-20 minutes. Poke a potato with a fork – if the fork easily goes through the potato, then they’re done!
5. Add sausage back to pan and cook for just another minute or 2, until the sausage is heated through again.
6. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking and enjoy!