Embracing Change: Is Yours a Female-Friendly Practice?

It’s no longer a rumor: the veterinary profession has undergone a gender shift from being a male-dominated profession to veterinary classes graduating over 80% women.

This creates a variety of implications for the management of veterinary practices. Denying or ignoring the difference between the sexes in the workplace can have a negative impact on a practice’s financial health and the team’s well-being.

Statistically speaking, a practice owner should count on several things in the profile of a recent graduate: Demographically, she will be female; she will be Caucasian; and she will be 28 years old.¹ Professionally, this future associate has had access to the latest techniques and advances in medicine and surgery. Along with being technologically savvy, she will be capable of practicing high-quality medicine and surgery.

Within a few years, the associate will likely have bonded with clients, developed her own client base, come to understand and support the clinic’s practice culture, and will be comfortable working up in-depth medical cases and performing surgery. She has become a seasoned, hard-working, productive associate—the type of associate any team would hate to lose.

What else do we know about her? In her early 30s, she is entering the late stages of her prime reproductive years. According to a 2006 Census Bureau survey, she will have an 80% chance of having at least one child during her lifetime.² In other words, the probabilities are more than 80% that a new associate will be female and will have a baby within 3 to 5 years of entering the work force.

What’s a Practice Owner to Do?
One option is to do nothing. A practice owner can ignore her pregnancy, give her a few weeks off without pay, hire a relief veterinarian, and hope for the best. Maybe she’ll return to the team; maybe not.

A second option is to address the associate’s pregnancy with warmth and support. Plan for her pregnancy and return to the practice. Talk with her openly about pre- and postpartum work expectations, and consider the idea of renegotiating her contract to include a “female-friendly” benefits package. After all, she is a highly valued associate, one whom a practice owner would hate to lose.

Female-Friendly Benefits
A few policy or scheduling changes, flexibility, and a positive attitude will go a long way toward keeping young mothers in a practice working to their fullest capacity during their child-bearing years. All female team members will appreciate the care and understanding shown to them during this phase of their work lives.

Flexible Scheduling
Flexibility can be crucial for a new mother’s peace of mind. Scheduling options can be in any number of configurations. One might begin at 8:00 a.m. and end at 4:00 p.m. On other days the shifts may not begin until later in the day and extend through evening appointments. Some mothers may take on extra Saturdays in exchange for days off in the middle of the week. Obtaining the services of occasional relief veterinarians can help with flexibility of scheduling, too. No one should hold it against the employee, emotionally or financially, when she uses flexible scheduling.

Breast Milk Pumping Room
The ability to provide breast milk is very important to most new mothers and a breast-fed baby is more likely to stay healthy according to the American Pediatric Association, which translates to less sick leave taken by a new mother. The room used for pumping breast milk need not be dedicated to that purpose alone; no construction required. This room needs only to have an electrical outlet and privacy when in use.

Set Up a Dependent Care

Savings Account
These accounts (tax-deductible for employers) are easy to set up and allow employees to designate up to $5000 of pretax income for childcare-related expenses over the year.

Paid Maternity Leave
Paid maternity can be the single biggest incentive to motivate your experienced associate to return to full-time practice. Many practices may not be able to afford to extend this perq to all team members, in which case details should be spelled out in the clinic’s employee manual. While it will cost the owner of the practice money, providing the benefit will help bond the valuable, production-oriented, client-friendly associate to your practice or enhance her desire to return to it. Replacing a seasoned, client-bonded associate costs approximately 1.5 times that associate’s salary and does not necessarily include the time involved in recruiting, interviewing, and training. The University of Wisconsin offers an online employee turnover calculator at uwex.edu/ces/cced/economies/turn.cfm.

Women are a dynamic addition to the veterinary profession. One cannot ignore the fact, however, that female veterinarians coming out of school are usually entering the later stages of their prime reproductive lives. Making it viable for women to return to full-time practice provides an opportunity to bond your team, offer more continuous patient care, and ultimately improve the financial health of your hospital.

References
1. Counseling: The Nursing Mother. Lauwers J, Swisher A. Jones & Bartlett; 2006.
2. Fertility of American Women: Population Characteristics. Dye JL. U.S. Census Bureau, www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p20-558.pdf.