9 Nov 2016
Adam Bernstein discusses why, despite technological advances, it will always be the staff who make the difference between success and failure in practice.
Adam Bernstein
Job Title
A veterinary practice can only ever be as good as the people who work in it.
With this in mind, how should practices go about finding the right people? How should they keep them motivated? And how should a practice deal with a staff member who is upsetting the team?
No practice can afford to recruit using the old-fashioned “warm-body” approach. It’s neither healthy for the practice environment, nor likely to be compliant with the law. Recruitment needs careful thought and planning. Renay Rickard, VPMA president, suggests thinking carefully about the post being filled so there is a focused approach.
She said: “Write a clear person specification and word the advertisement carefully to attract the right people and comply with non-discrimination rules.”
From her point of view, it’s sensible “to have some criteria that are essential, while also being flexible on some areas that are desirable”. In her opinion, it is worth employing the right person who may need some extra training, rather than the wrong person who meets all the criteria on paper.
Part of this means looking at what the job entails and, by extension, what skills, experience and qualifications the applicant should have. Practices need to be aware of the law regarding discrimination, and the Acas website contains a lot of useful detail1. For example, specifying 10 years’ experience is key to an application will mean, by definition, the practice will fall foul of age discrimination legislation, as younger applicants cannot comply with the requirement. It’s important to note there are nine characteristics the law protects (Table 1).
Discrimination law goes further and has a considerable bearing on the recruitment process, especially when a practice advertises and interviews. Discrimination doesn’t have to be direct – it can also be indirect. An advert in the church notes is less likely, for example, to be seen by those following other religions. Further, few realise a practice is responsible for those who help them recruit – agencies being a case in point. On this, Ms Rickard said: “My advice is to advertise in the most effective place for the vacancy – so, for example, Veterinary Times for veterinary surgeons, VN Times for veterinary nurses and local press or job sites for support staff.”
The interview process is clearly about finding the right person and, again, practices need to be aware of discrimination law. They shouldn’t ask about, say, a woman’s plans for a family, an applicant’s health, or any other protected characteristic. Instead, the interviewer should aim to enquire only about an applicant’s ability to perform, while basing any questions on the application, the job description and the skills specifications. Here, Ms Rickard suggests using the same questions for each candidate to ensure a fair process.
She said: “I like to use open questions that require the interviewee to give full answers, such as ‘give me an example of a situation you found to be a challenge, and how did you overcome this?’, or ‘describe the personality of your perfect boss?’” Good HR advice is, however, imperative.
Losing and replacing staff is expensive. In February 2014 Oxford Economics published a report2 entitled The Cost of Brain Drain. It revealed the cost of replacing a member of staff could more than £25,000; taking into account loss of productivity caused by the time it took a new recruit to get up to speed – 28 weeks on average.
Practices will clearly need to spend time and money on the recruitment process, either to fill a new position or to replace a departed member of staff. It makes sense on every level any new staff should be made to feel at home as soon as possible. Whether it’s a formal introduction to colleagues, or a dedicated induction process where staff are told not just what they need to know to work, but also about practice etiquette and policies – time expended getting this right will repay the investment. It’s crucial to create staff loyalty. But, as Ms Rickard notes, practices can also maintain a happy ship by managing expectations effectively: “from the initial application process, do not promise things that cannot happen”.
Going beyond this initial introduction, staff need motivation. Of course, motivation isn’t all about money – staff work for other reasons too. Some just want to work, do their job and go home. Others want to progress and a practice should recognise the needs and drive of the individual concerned. Practices should consider offering help with CPD, whether in terms of paid learning time or with the costs involved. If significant investment has been made, the practice may want to consider a term in the employee’s contract so there is some recompense if the employee departs soon after with the knowledge the practice has paid for.
Ms Rickard sees career development as an important motivator: “A lack of development and progression opportunities will lead to a demotivated workforce that will look elsewhere.”
Remember, motivation can be both extrinsic (such as more pay) and intrinsic (a staff member wants to see a job completed and done well). Practices should seek out what makes each member of staff tick and try to match motivation accordingly.
Consider the impact of the internet has had on pay transparency. Twenty years ago staff would have had to look through job adverts and talk with others to see what the market rate was for a given position. Now, a quick Google search will suffice. This means practices need to be competitive with their pay and rewards. Going beyond pay, some practices might find value in giving staff bonuses based on how well the practice performs over the year; if nothing else, it should concentrate the minds of staff when it comes to cutting out waste and cost.
Employers that are rigid when staff need latitude to sort out personal issues will rarely gain favour. Giving staff flexibility where, for example, they have child care issues, can be hugely beneficial to the employee, yet costs little – especially if the time can be made up later.
Like it or not, employees feel they have a right to be involved in the direction their employer is moving in. It’s a point that can be argued from different standpoints, but it exists nevertheless. Clearly, staff shouldn’t determine the strategy and financial management of a practice, but they can certainly add value to the day-to-day running of it. Allowing staff to share in the ideals of the practice so they can see what it’s trying to do and where it wants to go will make them feel part of the practice.
Recognition is an important part of staff motivation. While good work should be formally noted and praised, and frequent, simple recognition can work wonders for morale; everyone likes their 15 minutes of fame. Practices could consider creating a reward for reaching a set number of positive comments. It makes no difference what the reward is so long as it is genuinely valued by the (potential) recipients. The key is an attainable form of reward and recognition.
But whatever else you do, the advice from Ms Rickard is to have an effective review process. She said: “From the initial induction right through to regular performance and development reviews and the exit interviews. This enables regular discussion so that any problems are dealt with quickly.
“The team members will also get regular feedback – a major source of stress or discontent in practice is staff knowing what is expected of them, or how they are doing.”
Just as hiring and motivation are key to the performance of a practice, it’s just as important to ensure no one person is in a position to destroy practice harmony. Granted, it’s harder to deal with problems from the top; everyone should be treated equally and with respect. When serious or potentially serious problems over behaviour arise they need to be dealt with quickly before disharmony spreads.
Talking to the individual concerned may only get a partial resolution and it may be necessary to apply a process to a situation – which, depending on the seriousness of the problem or the offence, may amount to either misconduct or gross misconduct.
To avoid being wrong footed, practices need a staged disciplinary process that involves a verbal warning, followed by a first written warning, a final written warning and, then, if necessary, dismissal. This is a process an employment tribunal would have expected a practice to follow.
But, whatever stage of the process a practice is at, the practice needs to hold a fair investigation to ascertain the facts, while giving the staff member a chance to rebut any allegations. If necessary, the matter needs to progress to a disciplinary meeting where, again, the employee is offered the chance to defend him or herself, with the right of appeal should the matter go against him or her.
A key part of the process is the documentation of decisions made and action taken. Again, Acas has detailed guidance on how a disciplinary process should be managed3.
The ideal is reform of the individual, but ultimately the practice needs to maintain a happy and contented team.
Finding the right member of staff takes time and effort. But just as important is how staff are retained and motivated. Treat staff properly and they’ll rarely have an excuse to see what their rights are or if the grass could be greener elsewhere.
