Expectation vs. reality: Does your day job in vet med meet your expectations?

Whether you’ve been working in clinical practice for a week, a year, a decade, or a lifetime, I invite you to think back to the moment you decided to pursue a career in veterinary medicine. What did you expect your days to look like? How did you picture your team working together? What kinds of interactions did you anticipate having with your clients?

And how does that compare to your reality today?

In Phase 2 of our Stay, Please retention study, we asked 2713 respondents across various roles to share how closely their experience of nine key retention factors matched the expectations they had around those factors when they entered the profession.

Key retention factors identified in Phase 1 of Stay, Please, were:

• Fair compensation
• Work is appreciated
• Opportunities for career development
• Caring and inspiring leadership
• Staff is a team
• Support for wellbeing
• Flexibility in scheduling and job duties
• Ability to practice modern and/or sound medicine
• Work is meaningful

These respondents represented most roles in clinical practice (veterinarians who own a practice, nonowner veterinarians, practice managers/hospital administrators, veterinary technicians, assistants, and customer service representatives [CSRs]). However, CSRs did not respond in large enough numbers to provide statistically significant data, so the findings focus on the other roles.

To quantify the expectation vs. reality scores, we asked respondents to use the following scale:

• 5 – Much better than expected
• 4 – Somewhat better than expected
• 3 – About as expected
• 2 – Somewhat worse than expected
• 1 – Much worse than expected

How this rating system works: Scores close to three or higher are considered positive. Scores below three indicate a disconnect between what these professionals expected their jobs to be like and what they actually experience each day in clinical practice.

We know from Phase 1 of Stay, Please that nearly a third of veterinary professionals say they’re planning to leave their current jobs within the next year. And it’s not a huge stretch to assume that this desire to move on to a new job (whether in another practice or outside of veterinary medicine entirely) is tied to job satisfaction. Therefore, understanding how each role feels their reality stacks up against their expectations is an important step toward creating a workplace culture that inspires retention—for everyone on the team.

A clear challenge

The biggest takeaway from these findings is that the further a role tends to be from the top on a traditional organizational hierarchy chart, the lower their expectation vs. reality score is likely to be. So, while owner/leaders indicated that their reality tended to meet or exceed their expectations, when we get to technicians and assistants, those scores drop lower and lower.

For example, let’s take a look at the highest and lowest expectation vs. reality scores for each role:

Remember, scores three and above are considered positive; the further they are below three, the more indicative the scores are of a strong disconnect between what this role expected in their jobs and what they’re seeing at work each day.

Those who identified as owners/leaders scored the highest by a considerable margin; all factors saw scores well above three. And while both nonowner veterinarians and administrators/managers had scores ranging into the mid twos, they also had scores that were near or above three.

This changes when we look at our technicians—and even more so with assistants. If every key retention factor ranks between “somewhat worse than expected” and “much worse than expected,” is it any wonder many of them are looking to make a change?

Reasons for the expectation vs. reality discrepancy

Now, it’s crucial that we not only take note of the differences in these scores across roles but also consider why those differences might occur.

Of course, it could be that technicians and assistants in general have a less positive experience at their jobs. And considering how important fair compensation is, and how far off the mark that tends to be for these roles, it’s certainly possible!

But that’s not the only potential reason. There’s also the fact that some roles, by their nature, are likely to enter the profession with more experience, which would certainly influence what they expect. For example, a veterinarian, even in their first job, has had experience as a resident. They’ve also likely had access to professors and former students who can pass along what they know, paving the way for what to expect. And those in management positions have often worked their way up; they may not have known what to expect when they first joined the practice, but now that they’ve climbed the ladder to an administrative role, they’re well-versed in how the place is run.

Some technicians and assistants have been in the profession for quite some time, but others haven’t—and that can lead to unrealistic expectations. And unrealistic expectations pave a clear path to disappointment.

Managing expectations

To avoid this, it’s important for managers or the hiring team to set clear expectations during the recruiting and hiring process. Provide opportunities for these new or potential employees to ask questions about what’s most important to them; if they want to know about opportunities for career development, be transparent about what they’d need to do to move up. (And, if the steps are not defined enough to allow you to be transparent, that’s something you might want to address, regardless.)

While there are a few reasons why certain roles may feel that their daily experience falls short of their expectations, one thing remains true: If you want to retain the amazing people you’ve hired for your team, you must ensure their needs are being met. The Stay, Please white papers (Phases 1 and 2) will help you understand what those needs and desires are in general, but there’s no better way to learn about your individual team than to ask them. Surveys, meetings, and conversations—paired with follow-up actions—will go a long way toward making your practice one where people truly want to stay.

Photo credit: NickyLloyd via E+/Getty Images

Disclaimer: Trends content is meant to inform, educate, and inspire by providing an array of diverse viewpoints. Any content published should not be viewed as an official stance, position, or endorsement by the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) or its Board of Directors.