Good veterinary workplaces

Health and wellbeing in veterinary workplaces

The importance of health and wellbeing

For teams to work effectively, looking after everyone’s health and wellbeing is essential. As well as its impact on individuals, poor health and wellbeing can have a financial impact on a business.

Poor health and wellbeing can affect productivity, performance, absence rates, inefficiencies, frequency of mistakes and accidents, quality of care provided, and the number of complaints received. Healthy, happy teams are better placed to cope with unexpected challenges and additional pressures, like those posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

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How to improve health and wellbeing in veterinary workplaces

Wellbeing at work is the responsibility of both employer and employee. There are many legal and code of conduct requirements related to this topic, so it is vital everyone is aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Employers need to work to resolve any structural or systemic problems in the workplace environment, and employees need to make sure they are taking care of themselves.

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Good workplaces:

  • develop, establish, and track good physical and mental wellbeing, and are supportive of the needs of all team members;
  • ensure personal safety always takes precedence, including over professional responsibility;
  • have a culture of respecting personal health rather than one of “pushing through” illness or injury;
  • proactively manage workplace stress;
  • foster and support a culture of psychological safety, in which all team members’ mental health and wellbeing are supported; and
  • recognise the potential risks posed by lone working and domiciliary visits and take steps to mitigate those risks.

Read pages 4 to 16 in our position on good veterinary workplaces, to equip yourself with a better understanding of the key issues related to health and wellbeing, and how you can help.

Webinar

Watch the recording of our webinar on health and wellbeing with BVA President James Russell and Head of VDS Training Carolyne Crowe. 

Our fifth webinar in our Good Workplaces Webinar Series explored the importance of health and wellbeing in the workplace. BVA President James Russell and VDS Head of Training Carolyne Crowe shared their thoughts on creating a culture that promotes good physical and mental wellbeing, dealing with workplace stress, creating safe working environments, psychological safety, and the importance of open, honest conversations. 

Discussion topics included:

- Good physical and mental wellbeing
- Dealing with workplace stress
- Creating safe working environments
- Psychological safety
- The importance of open, honest conversations

Watch the recording
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