A shortage of vets in Ireland has necessitated “significant” salary increases and benefits.
70% of practice owners who participated in the recent HLB Sheehan Quinn fifth annual report on veterinary practices revealed that they are offering “attractive” salary/conditions to attract/retain staff.
A further 20% are offering mentoring/training, while the remainder answered ‘effective’ leadership.
Some practice owners highlighted that they encourage staff to take holidays, while others said they give employees an extra day off on their birthday.
While 79% of practice owners who participated in this year’s research think that salary increases are their employees’ top aspiration, only 48% agree.
In 2019, 79% of employees listed salary as a top aspiration, while in 2020, this fell to 52%.
Shorter hours, holidays and further training featured “strongly” in the responses to this particular question.
Both remote work and part-time hours did not feature strongly amongst employees this year, with both sitting at a mere 3%.
68% of all respondents said that a work/life balance is the most career aspiration to them, followed by funding retirement (26%) and growing your own practice (20%).
9% said owning your own practice, while 2% answered ‘other’.
In terms of job satisfaction, 69% of all respondents said they are satisfied, while 21% are neutral and 10% are unsatisfied.
Vets in Ireland
As That’s Farming reported, the report also looks at the current structure for educating vets in Ireland and working hours and pre-tax earnings.
Following the publication of the report on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022, HLB Sheehan Quinn, managing partner, Mark Butler, said:
“We have found that growing demand for veterinary services is creating opportunities for ambitious practice owners.”
“However, long hours and heavy workloads continue to be a heavy burden on many vets resulting in burnout.”
“It is also notable that acute staff shortages are likely to result in further consolidation this year as ambitious practices look to mergers and acquisitions as a means to increase capacity and access additional resources,” Butler concluded.
