Mental Health Awareness Week: Vet Wellbeing Awards

Supporting mental and physical wellbeing for practice teams 

The awards are in their fourth year and we’re already amassing fantastic examples of practice initiatives to support and promote wellbeing in key areas.

It’s clear from previous entries that not all measures suit all practices. The teams which are most successful engage in active listening to their colleagues’ unique experiences within their practice setting. Suggestions from staff, discussed openly and trialled with follow-up feedback and monitoring are more likely to lead to positive changes for the longer term. There are also certain tools which staff may not recognise the benefit of until they have been through the learning process. These include personality profiling, coaching, mindful meditation and resilience training. Investing in practice-wide personal development initiatives nurtures both the individual and by extension the team as whole.

Supporting wellbeing is also good business sense. Research by Elinor O’Connor, lecturer in occupational psychology at the University of Manchester, who helped in the development of the awards, shows that improving wellbeing has a positive impact on retention rates, reducing stress and improving team spirit. Stress reduces individuals’ engagement with their work, which has implications for performance and productivity. Stress is associated with increased absenteeism and increased employee turnover. Improved retention of staff, reduced time off due to stress and ill health, and improved performance all contribute to happier workplace and healthier practice finances. We’re all champions of preventative care to our patients and clients. As a profession we need to apply the same principles to preventing stress and burnout for our staff. Our desire is to see the wellbeing awards flooded with examples of practices doing the best for their staff. We want the judging process to be almost impossible as we attempt to separate out the most outstandingly supportive and happy places to work. By championing the examples from previous practice entries, we hope to inspire increasing uptake of these measures and stimulate discussions about wellbeing solutions across the profession. What follows is just a snapshot of the responses by entrants from previous years.

The awards examine six key areas and we have some great examples of how each area is managed by different practices:

Work demands

This includes dealing with clients, animal suffering, and inevitable complications and mistakes. Practices which actively champion a no-blame culture deal with mistakes and complaints in round table discussions or morbidity and mortality rounds as a learning experience for all. This normalises mistakes and turns them from a negative experience into positive learning, with measures discussed and agreed as solutions to reduce future occurrences. There has also been investment in client communications, especially for front of house staff. Bereavement and compassion CPD courses have been funded by practices, with learning shared practice wide. Time is undoubtedly our most precious resource, and practices have introduced additional paid days off for birthdays,‘peternity’ leave (when a new pet is brought in the home), charity work, and a day when the kids start their first day of school. These measures all show awareness and appreciation of the person outside of work and support a fulfilling home life.

Workload and work scheduling

Retaining an element of control over the working day can be key to coping with the pressure of busy practice life. Admin half hours allow much needed catch-ups for inevitable reporting of lab results and writing up notes. Equine vets at one practice are permitted to zone their days and only book appointments in a set area to reduce commute times. Protected lunch breaks are key, and setting the culture is important within the leader’s shadow with practice leads ensuring they take their own lunch break and lead by example. It’s not just okay to have food and drink – it’s necessary! Flexible working is actively promoted and encouraged in agile practices with a desire to retain experienced staff with multiple demands on their time.

Relationships at work

Some practices have gone to the lengths of DISC profiling their staff and displaying the results. While this may not work for every practice, an understanding of personality types can be helpful in making allowances for the way different people behave and respond in situations. Effective anti-bullying policies and regular check-ins to ensure staff are okay is important. One practice manager had a sign ‘You can tell me anything’, on the desk backed up by an actively listening ear. WhatsApp groups have been used, especially by ambulatory teams, to regularly check in and support one another on the road.

Career development

Annual appraisals are not uncommon, but some practices check in monthly or quarterly with their staff. Budgets for CPD have been flexed according to personal goals and aims. Mentoring in practice or buddy systems allow staff to check in and ask any questions in an informal manner with colleagues. Non-clinical development, such as resilience and self-awareness training, is increasingly recognised as important.

Communicating at work

In some practices daily morning check-in meetings help hospital staff communicate effectively about cases. Team meetings are embellished with food provided by the practice and a fun element included. However, this shouldn’t distract from the importance of having an open culture where everyone feels listened to and their opinions appreciated. Gratitude boards have been put up to allow staff to post little thanks to their team members – in addition to circulating thanks from clients.

Promoting physical and psychological health at work

The initiatives promoting health at work have been particularly uplifting to read. Provision of snacks vary from the comforting chocolate and cake to healthy fruit and veg. One practice even bought ingredients to provide lunch every day, with staff taking it in turns to whip up quiches and salads for everyone to enjoy. Another practice regularly embarks on coffee runs, with huge trays of ultra-skinny-soya-mocha-lattes (or any other beverage of choice) transported door to door. The community aspect around breaking of bread should not be underestimated, and a phone free half hour with the whole team enjoying lunch together enables a real period of relaxation and team bonding.

Some practices have held meditation and mindfulness sessions for staff, or insist on 30-minute fresh air breaks. In the winter, medical lightboxes have been introduced in some offices to reduce seasonal affective disorder for those bleak months where staff arrive and leave in the dark. Staffrooms have been embellished with comfortable cushions, games, magazines, drinks and even a footspa! Physical activity is supported with practice runs and activity sessions, paid-for personal trainers and discounted gym memberships.

These measures are hugely encouraging to read and we’re delighted to raise awareness and celebrate what practices are doing well. We hope you are inspired to enter your practice into the awards, which are open to all businesses – large and small – in the veterinary industry. Please share your wellbeing tips, and nominate a Practice Star; a team member who consistently goes above and beyond for the benefit of others. We’ll endeavour to share these examples far and wide to inspire others to follow suit and develop truly WELL practices. The 2019 awards are due to be launched at WellVet weekend 7 September 2019. Visit the Vet Wellbeing Awards website.