Blog
Check out our recent blogs below or browse by category on the right.
Working for a Younger Boss: Six Tips on How to Transform This Experience
When you’re new to the workforce, supervisors are typically older than you are, and that just feels like the way the world works. As time passes, though, you may find yourself in a situation where you are older than your boss. In fact, a Harris Interactive survey...
When Dream Team Employees Reach Pay Caps: Three Strategies to Use
Originally Published in Today's Veterinary Business, March 2018 At your practice, let’s say you have the veterinary nurse of your dreams. Not only is she wonderful with the animals brought to the practice, she is compassionate with their owners. She communicates...
Unions in the Veterinary Industry: Pros, Cons and What to Consider
In the summer of 2017, a small group of veterinary personnel formed the National Veterinary Professional Union (NVPU). The members of this grassroots movement are largely from Seattle, and they have prompted plenty of conversation about the benefits of unionizing the...
7 Steps To Take When Employees Refuse to Sign Disciplinary Notices
Originally Published in Today's Veterinary Business, April 2018 You’ve created disciplinary policies and procedures that are clear, fair and approved by your attorney, and so it appears you’ve got all your bases covered. You carefully document misconduct and poor...
Workplace Gossip – and How to Control the Rumors
Originally Published in Today's Veterinary Business, April 2018 “Maria’s skirt is awfully short, isn’t it? And she sure doesn’t have the figure to pull that off!” “You’re not going to believe what I heard about our new client . . .” “Did you hear who is getting...
Put Some Thoughts into Personality Assessments
Originally Published in Today's Veterinary Business, February 2018 It can be tempting to consider an extraverted person as a “good” employee and an introverted one as less attractive. In reality, people all along the spectrum can make outstanding employees. Workplace...
Am I Practicing The Standard Of Care?
In the law of professional negligence, the standard of care is the benchmark by which others assess a veterinarian’s competence. To be within the standard of care, veterinarians must perform their duties with an average degree of skill, care and diligence exercised...
Wrongful Termination and Constructive Dismissal
Wrongful termination occurs whenever you fire an employee for reasons that are illegal and/or against your practice’s policies. Illegal firings include those that involve discrimination, whether because of race, gender, citizenship status or other class protection. If...
Listing Agreements: Key Sections and Common Issues
Veterinary medicine is no stranger to change, both on the medical side and the business side. As an example of the latter, much to the chagrin of many veterinarians, the storefronts of veterinary practices are shifting from “mom and pop” to corporate as corporations...
3 HR Challenges And What You Can Do
Originally Published in Today's Veterinary Business, December 2017 Recruiting, training and retaining quality employees is an ongoing challenge for veterinary practices of all sizes. Successfully doing so, though, is crucial if a practice is to thrive. Team...
Dissecting and Creating A Paid Time Off Policy
When it’s time to create your paid time off (PTO) policy, it’s important to answer the five Ws and the H: who, what, when, where, why and how. Focusing first on the “why,” note that, in the actual policies, you don’t typically share why policies are created in the...
How #Me Too Affects You, Too
Originally posted in Today's Veterinary Business, February 2018 Sexual harassment in the workplace must be dealt with promptly, fairly and firmly. The #MeToo movement started last fall with claims of sexual harassment and rape against movie producer Harvey Weinstein....
