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Veterinary Practice News Editorial Blog:
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Hard Economic Times Take a Toll on Employee Morale
Somyr McLean Perry
Managing Editor of Vetpracticenews.com and Veterinary Practice News
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The health industry, including veterinary health, is typically considered immune from hard economic times because people and pets still get sick--and need to be treated--no matter how much money people don't have. So veterinary businesses and jobs will probably stay healthy.
But I'm still very worried about the employees. The veterinary assistant whose rent just jumped $100 a month. The receptionist who spent $40 to fill up her modest commuter car. The technician with two kids who used to pay $15 for a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk and two loaves of bread, but yesterday that same grocery list cost her almost double.
Are their salaries keeping up with these drastic increases in cost of living? Doubt it. And it takes a toll on the mind.
Employee morale must be down in the dumps. I know it is in my industry, publishing. The mortgage crisis has cost many their homes, which means rent prices increase as the demand for housing goes up. People with college degrees, even post-graduate degrees, find themselves needing a second job to make ends meet.
Everyone's stressed, tired and distracted. Employers should be paying attention to their employees' emotional health. Typically stress is viewed by corporations as a personal matter and employers may view intervention as an invasion of privacy. But it's well-proven that job performance suffers when people are stressed out. They lose concentration, they take shortcuts, they forget; which translates to missing doctor's charges in the computer, accidentally sticking themselves with a needle or grabbing the wrong medication off the shelf.
During these difficult and uncertain economic times, I implore veterinary employers to:
- Pay attention to your people. Ask if they are OK. Listen to what they are telling you and believe them if they say they are in crisis.
- Stay flexible and open-minded about how to help. You can't pay their grocery, gas or mortgage bills, but brainstorm incentives and perks with your hospital managers about what will work for your hospital.
- Finally, I ask that you buy into the need for true work-life balance. It's so necessary for mental and physical health, especially in a profession with high-stress tendencies.
Bosses can't fix everything but it makes it easier to go to work everyday when you know your boss cares.
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