Setting up a workplace wellbeing program

For decades, studies have detailed that veterinarians are at risk for depression, psychological distress and burnout. Many veterinarians show a progression from idealistic enthusiasm to a gradual loss of energy and commitment.  Fatigue, frustration, and mental anguish may lead to feelings of incompetence, helplessness, and hopelessness – and can shorten a career or lead to a toxic environment within your veterinary team. You, your associates and colleagues, and your entire veterinary team are at risk.

Start your clinic's wellbeing journey by setting up a workplace wellbeing program for your team. Positive emotions and responsive communication can reduce stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. You can implement changes both within your personal life and within your practice.

Remember: Workplace wellbeing begins with personal wellbeing. If you can't take care of your own health, you'll find it difficult to care for your patients and support your team. Start by assessing your personal wellbeing, then review our resources to determine how you can develop a self-care program to improve your work-life balance, reduce compassion fatigue, and improve your physical health and financial health.

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Learn to identify at-risk colleagues and guide them to seek professional help. Sign up for AVMA's QPR suicide prevention training program, available to AVMA and SAVMA members for free. 

Getting started

Workplace wellbeing is good for employee health and retention, and may reduce the costs of insurance, sick time, and employee turnover. Employers who help staff cope with emotional trauma also help their practices.

Commit to developing and maintaining a culture of wellbeing in your practice. Your practice's wellbeing program might be narrow or broad, depending on your resources and needs. You can start right away by implementing one or more of the ideas you find in this section, or by conducting an assessment of your current situation to focus your efforts where they are most needed. Create a supportive environment that encourages employees to make physical and mental wellbeing a priority, and also to talk about their feelings. Take a team approach to wellbeing. Invite your employees to talk jointly about what your staff members would most like to have included in your wellbeing program.

One starting point could be the CDC's Worksite Health Scorecard, a tool designed to help assess the extent to which your workplace already has implemented evidence-based health promotion intervention. You also might ask employees to fill out an anonymous survey about workplaces stresses, such as this questionnaire from the Health and Safety Executive (UK), or you could simply organize a voluntary staff meeting to discuss wellbeing needs and concerns, and let the group's priorities guide you.

When you put together a wellbeing program, don't forget to consider all of the dimensions of wellbeing and self-care​, including: physical, psychological/emotional, spiritual, intellectual, financial, social, occupational, and family.

Is your workplace suffering from compassion fatigue?
Watch for these organizational symptoms of compassion fatigue.

Wellbeing basics

A few workplace practices stand out as basics for any wellbeing effort. If you're not already doing these things as a practice owner, start here:

• Create a healthy environment that encourages and allows employees to take regular breaks – preferably, breaks that get them outside for a change of scenery and fresh air. You might need to make scheduling changes to make this possible. It's not enough to mandate breaks; there has to be enough time between appointments for your staff members to get more than just a restroom stop.

• Encourage employees to talk with you and each other about traumas or difficulties they experienced during the day. Reward this sharing, and leverage your whole team to act as a support network to give colleagues advice and, when needed, emotional support.
• Acknowledge good work, and show appreciation for your employees.

• Lead by example. Don't just mandate breaks; take walks around the building yourself. Bring in nutritious snacks for your staff, and tell them you're focusing on keeping everyone healthy. Ask each employee to give you a short list of family-related dates – birthdays, anniversaries, etc. – that they would like you to schedule around if possible to allow them time with their loved ones. Share information about wellbeing with your staff – through email links and articles posted in staff areas of the office. Be proactive in making self-care an important topic for your employees.

State veterinary wellbeing programs

The AVMA believes "that each state (should) organize, develop, and fund a Veterinary Wellbeing Program," and we've created a model program for wellbeing to assist in that process. This model is intended for use as a template for state programs. In addition, our guiding principles for state veterinary wellbeing programs can guide veterinary organizations in developing and implementing wellbeing programs. The guidelines include information about how wellbeing committees should be composed, what purposes they should serve, and what they should strive to ensure. Provisions of veterinary professional state wellbeing programs provides a state-by-state look at laws and regulations governing state wellbeing programs for veterinarians, including confidentiality provisions.

How AVMA can help

Countdown to wellbeing – Five things you can do to create a wellbeing-centered veterinary workplace. (Developed by the AVMA Future Leaders class of 2015-2016)

• Wellbeing quick start: Who's at risk?
• Healthy behaviors shape your practice wellbeing program 
• Overcoming barriers to workplace wellbeing​ 
• Wellbeing check-ins for veterinary practices
• Wellbeing champions in practice​

100 Healthy tips to support a culture of wellbeing (PDF) – Tips and activities you can apply at the individual and organizational level to support a
culture of wellbeing.

Podcast: Wellbeing in the workplace – Advice and tips from Dr. Ernie Ward to make your wellbeing program successful. (Developed by the AVMA Future Leaders class of 2014-2015)

Organizational symptoms of compassion fatigue

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