Creating a Healthy and Dynamic Workplace

So we’ve just finished talking about factors that cause stress and burnout in our workplace, the veterinary practice. These are issues that we can look at personally, to help to minimize the effect of stress and the occurrence of burnout.

Yet as you know, you do not function completely autonomously within the workplace; you are surrounded by other factors, many of which are NOT in your control! It’s easy to see how the management and leadership of a practice affect the workplace and therefore the team, whether it’s a positive or negative effect. The interesting thing is, it’s also easy to blame the leadership for a negative culture, and yet we forget to credit the leadership when the culture is positive.

But enough about “them”, let’s talk about us, the technicians working in the practice. Most of us are “worker bees”, part of the line staff that does the work of a veterinary technician in the truest sense of the word. But still, regardless of the culture or atmosphere of the practice, you ultimately have control over how well you survive, or thrive, in the practice. It’s easy to sit back and blame management, but it’s more important to take your share of the responsibility and create a healthy workplace in whatever way you can.

Yet some of us may be “one of them”, a part of middle management, whether we want to admit it or not. If you hold the title (or even the UNSTATED position) of lead tech, head tech, technician supervisor, senior technician, or anything that implies you have achieved a higher “status” than the rest of the line staff, then you are a part of middle management.

Now “higher status” doesn’t mean you’re “better” than anyone else on the team, necessarily. It simply means you’ve either been there longer, or know a bit more, about the position of technician. You’ve become the “go to” person when a question needs answered. Your opinion is requested about various things that affect the technician team, and perhaps the entire practice. You have either agreed to be in this position, or you have slipped into this position without really having a say.

In fact, sometimes “management” completely sneaks up on you, and before you know it you realize you’re in a different space altogether! Perhaps, as happened to me, “they” meaning the practice leadership began requesting certain tasks from you that led you eventually to being a member of management: first the schedule for the technicians, then perhaps checking out a candidate for an open position, then maybe they wanted you to mentor the others on the team, and before you know it, you’re full-fledged management without ever having signed the dotted line, so to speak! Well, now that you’re here, a member of the leadership, it’s time to start thinking beyond just your own personal experience and realize that you have a responsibility, an obligation in fact, to create a healthy workplace for everyone on your team.

Then the question becomes, how DO we create a healthy workplace, one that is impervious to burnout, one that doesn’t allow compassion fatigue to thrive, and one that we all want to come to each day? Patricia Smith, founder of the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project (www.compassionfatigue.org) has given us some advice in the form of Eight Laws Governing a Healthy Workplace. Let’s take a look at each one, and see what WE can do, as either a technician “worker bee” or a middle manager of some sort, to create this positive culture and healthy atmosphere.

Law 1: Provide a Respite for the Team

The first law recognizes the fact that everyone needs a break! Yes, there is the “gimme a break” type of break, like let’s get real, and then there is also the actual physical break of taking some down time in the middle of a stressful day, exhausting week, or grueling month.

On a daily basis, you are entitled to a lunch break, and typically most employers WANT their team to take a lunch break! Yes, things get busy, emergencies arrive unexpectedly, people call out sick, and life goes on. But in the middle of it, you physically and mentally need a break to recharge your mind and refuel your body. Work together as a team to make sure that everyone receives a lunch break, even if that means moving things around a bit. Thirty minutes is sufficient, an hour is even better, because it’s important to eat of course and nourish your body, but it’s also important to have some “down time” for your brain to disengage from the stress of the day.

By the way, this does NOT mean you can go sit in the employee break room and wait for the intercom to bark your name before you jump back up! It means, disengage. Go outside and eat a picnic lunch. Take a walk around the block. Listen to some music on your headphones. Indulge in a dozen pages of your favorite book at the moment. Actually disconnect from work. You’ll come back to your shift with your body and mind nourished to finish the day strong.

It’s also great if you can get a couple of short breaks during the day. These are not as disengaging, so to speak, because they are short. But they can still be reenergizing. As lame as it may sound, it really is important to spend just a few minutes of mindful breathing several times a day. It’s quick, easy, and doesn’t take any instructional video! You simply turn your mind toward the inhalation and exhalation of air in your body, and focus for a few minutes. What if you can’t get a break from the floor? Well, we all have to use the potty from time and time, and I shudder to think that we’re a profession that is actually PROUD of how long we can “hold it!” Take those bathroom breaks: your bladder will thank you, AND you can do a few minutes of breathing in the privacy of the stall!  If you’re in a supervisory position, you have a role in making sure your team gets these lunch breaks and shorter breaks, and yes, potty breaks too! (No, placing an indwelling catheter is NOT allowed!)

While the definition of the word “respite” is actually “a usually short interval of rest or relief”, we know we need more. We need days away from the practice where we can nurture the other areas of our lives that are important, in fact vital. The other definition of respite according to the American Heritage dictionary is “the temporary suspension of a death sentence”, and while this may sound drastic, it does apply. If you don’t take time away to nurture yourself, your family, your friendships, your interests, you will see the “death” of your ability to sustain a career in veterinary medicine. Would it be appropriate here to mention the disturbing rates of suicide and addiction in our professionals? I think you get the point. You NEED time off!

Most practices understand this, and in fact want you to take time off. Now, they may not always ACT like they want you to take time off, because it means change in the schedule, change in the productivity perhaps, and change in the workforce, and it would be best if management always showed affirmation and even excitation when an employee wants to take some personal time off. If you’re in that supervisory position, then you need to realize the absolute necessity of time off and demonstrate to the team that you know it’s important. Then you need to facilitate it happening, whether it means asking someone to switch shifts, change their schedule, or even you putting aside your administrative work for the day and jumping on the line.

The important thing is to give everyone that respite that they need, and justly deserve. Do it with a spirit of giving, and it will mean more to the employee who is taking the break. As an employee yourself, whether management or not, recognize that you need those breaks and be certain you get them. It isn’t selfish when you realize that the better attitude you have at work, the smoother the day will be for everyone on the team…and they absolutely appreciate your good attitude!

Resource: Healthy Caregiving: A Guide to Recognizing & Managing Compassion Fatigue, Patricia Smith, 2008