The clash of commerce and culture

Millennials, considered ages 26-41, have reinvigorated a work-life balance philosophy. Is your practice affected? The culture of veterinary medicine has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. While the dedication displayed by veterinary school applicants seeking entry to programs seems not to have diminished, the emerging work ethos is arguably less enthusiastic than it once was. This shift in mentality, should you subscribe to this assessment, is often explained in terms of the dueling axioms describing our younger workforce’s approach to work-life balance: “working to live” rather than “living to work.” Some credit millennials with the introduction of these reorganized priorities. It is a shift in sensibility that reflects more humane values than those we had once espoused. After all, the ability to enjoy life outside our working hours is a prerequisite for sanity, is it not? Without a strong drive to live full, non-professional lives we would probably lapse into the rat-race mentality our culture is all too familiar with. We do not want that for ourselves. The rub, however, is veterinary medicine’s overall evolution seems to favor longer (and odder) hours, heightened client demands, and less personal freedom, all of which tend to make life at work harder than ever before; it also makes maintaining a satisfactory work-life balance increasingly difficult. More hours, anyone? If you are a veterinarian in companion animal practice you have noticed an increased pressure to log longer hours. Some of us are finding we are working through lunch more often, showing up earlier to get a jump on our lengthier surgery days, and staying later than ever to write up our records or attend to all the afternoon cases we had fallen behind on …usually after losing our minds catching up on drop-offs and hospitalized patients during lunchtime. Banker’s hours have never been a thing in veterinary medicine but it was never this bad, was it? Sure, we have always gotten the late afternoon C-section or blocked cat. Happens all the time. The challenge I’m referring to here, however, is more insidious. It is more about the gradual increase in pressure to spend longer hours in the workplace seeing more cases than we had previously been expected to take on. Whether you are a practice owner trying unsuccessfully to cut down on her hours (like me) or a relative newcomer working for a corporate stronghold, you likely have felt the burn. Some of it has to do with the scarcity in veterinary workers and overall increased caseload, of course. However, I’ve also been paying attention to associate complaints, and much of it seems to come down to higher expectations from management. Evolving employer demands The genesis of these employer demands is no trade secret. They are fueled not just in response to the shortage of veterinarians but also by the industry’s increased reliance on a retail-driven business model. In this well-established paradigm, a practice’s competitive advantage is bolstered by capturing a harried, convenience-driven client base. The corresponding profitability strategy relies on making hay of fixed costs by leveraging longer operating hours resembling a Walmart or Walgreens more than a traditional veterinary clinic’s. It is no secret no one likes to work these hours. They are convenient for everyone else, sure, and they are awesome for business, it’s true. Yet, we veterinary professionals have families and lives, too. Trouble is, we do not have the power to set the hours like we used to. Now that we are less likely to own our own practices, we are increasingly subject to the financial wiles of our nameless, faceless bosses who do not have to suffer CVS hours alongside us. They get to decide what is best for business, hire those of us willing to play along, and hope we get used to this new way of doing things before we wake up and decide it is not in our best interest. Client expectations are up If you have been in practice for more than five years, you are aware of this inconvenient truth: Our clients are absolutely willing to pay more for veterinary services than ever before. Alas, they also demand a lot more for their money. Where once we could get away with spaying and neutering or removing masses, spleens and limbs without having to justify, cajole or explain over-much, those with the kind of educated clientele we all covet will now spend a much larger percentage of their time engaged in complex client interactions. For better and worse, we have never had to work this hard for our money. Less self-determination and a limited up-side potential Arguably the single most stress-inducing alteration in the veterinary landscape has to do with the fact we no longer own our own places. It is not just that we have less control over our working lives (how we practice, our hours, our pay, our coworkers, even our outfits), it is also that we do not enjoy the financial up-side of it all –– nor can we take solace in the satisfaction of manifesting our own destinies when confronting the stresses of life in practice. While we may make more money earlier on in our careers than ever before, we max out fairly quickly these days. Moreover, I believe it is innately stressful to labor under another’s financially flexed thumb (and never more so when they are invisible to you). Balancing the equation So what happens to a profession where on-the-job stress is up, job satisfaction is increasingly elusive, and working hours are not just longer but less lifestyle-friendly, too? Nothing good. However, when the workforce is sourced from a culture that increasingly desires more meaning from their working hours and a better work-life balance overall, the equation gets even harder to balance. Which is arguably what is really fueling the shortage in veterinary workers. Generation Z, if anything, has pushed the limits of this paradox even further by cementing declines in practice ownership and a diminished interest in total work hours. This, despite the fact that crushing student loan debt would appear to increase the financial pressure to put in more hours. Even as their employers’ keen demand for work hours is fueling higher compensation across the board, they are increasingly rejecting formal, full-time positions in favor of relief work and other nontraditional approaches to practice. It is not just the Zs and the millennials with their drives and demands. Plenty of X-ers and boomers have compounded the problem by exiting the profession prematurely, often demonizing the younger generation’s work ethic even as they make for the exits. It is easy to point fingers. Too easy. As we all know from current events, empathy is a common casualty of any intergenerational struggle. The crucial thing here, anyway, has less to do with our changing personal values and how they affect one another. It has more to do with some very fundamental structural issues that make work in this profession seem less meaningful and what we plan to do about it so we can all enjoy job satisfaction and achieve our own personal version of work-life balance –– whether we hope to “work to live” or “live to work.” Patty Khuly, VMD, MBA, owns a small animal practice in Miami and is available at drpattykhuly.com. Columnists’ opinions do not necessarily reflect those of VPN Plus+.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
JSESSIONID	session	The JSESSIONID cookie is used by New Relic to store a session identifier so that New Relic can monitor session counts for an application.
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
vuid	2 years	Vimeo installs this cookie to collect tracking information by setting a unique ID to embed videos to the website.
_ga	2 years	The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat	1 minute	This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to restrain request rate and thus limit the collection of data on high traffic sites.
_gat_UA-	1 minute	A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.
_gid	1 day	Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
__gads	1 year 24 days	The __gads cookie, set by Google, is stored under DoubleClick domain and tracks the number of times users see an advert, measures the success of the campaign and calculates its revenue. This cookie can only be read from the domain they are set on and will not track any data while browsing through other sites.

Cookie	Duration	Description
ADV_u_id	3 months 8 days	Unique customer identifier used to track unique ad views and interactions with some ads.
anj	3 months	AppNexus sets the anj cookie that contains data stating whether a cookie ID is synced with partners.
fr	3 months	Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE	1 year 24 days	Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile.
loc	never	AddThis sets this geolocation cookie to help understand the location of users who share the information.
OAGEO	session	OpenX sets this cookie to avoid the repeated display of the same ad.
OAID	1 year	Cookie set to record whether the user has opted out of the collection of information by the AdsWizz Service Cookies.
test_cookie	15 minutes	The test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
uuid2	3 months	The uuid2 cookie is set by AppNexus and records information that helps in differentiating between devices and browsers. This information is used to pick out ads delivered by the platform and assess the ad performance and its attribute payment.
_fbp	3 months	This cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.

The clash of commerce and culture

A look at the emerging paradox in veterinary practice

Membership Required