Workplace Culture Episodes

Are you an employer looking for ways to enhance the quality of life for yourself and your team in the workplace?

Do you often find your team feeling overwhelmed and out of control?

As a team leader, do you struggle to provide the right support during difficult times?

While the saying "focus on what you can control" can seem trite and unhelpful, it's critical for the well-being of your team.

Today is all about practical strategies to help you and your team regain balance and empowerment in yo...

Want to improve job satisfaction and attract high-performing employees?

You need to prioritise Quality of Life in your Workplace.

This Culture-Positive concept is gaining popularity.

But what is it exactly and how does it benefit both employees and employers?

Stay tuned as we explore the benefits of Quality of Life in your Workplace, how it can be your clinic’s recruitment superpower and how it can enhance your professional life.

We look at the original six Quality of Life in the Workplace ...

Are you a veterinary clinic owner, HR, or Practice Manager struggling to recruit and retain top performers?
Or maybe you're a veterinary professional on the hunt for your next career move?
Either way, this episode is for you!

We're diving into Vet Clinic Employer Branding, the power of employee testimonials to showcase the best clinics in town and how they can help you find the good employers.

As a veterinary clinic owner, attracting more, and retaining the top performers you’ve already got, i...

Gaslighting, microaggressions, and passive aggressive behaviour create toxic relationships – at work and at home.

If you – or someone you know – wonders whether you’re going a bit crazy or feel like you have to walk on eggshells around certain people, then this is for you.

Today we look at some gaslighting, microaggression and passive aggressive warning signs and what to do about them, so you can protect yourself and others by recognising these toxic tactics for what they are.

"Microaggressio...

Equality vs Equity for Cost-Effective Veterinary Recruitment Here are 10 distinct ways "equity" is different to "equality" in the veterinary clinic workplace. We look at how you can address those differences to make you a more attractive PEOPLE.FIRST employer. Being a PEOPLE.FIRST employer will make retention and recruitment of high calibre veterinary professionals much (much!) easier… and more cost effective! To make it easier for you to remember all the different components I've i...

There’s been a bit of a jargon bandied around the recruitment and HR worlds over the last few years of DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion.

Let's look at some DEI language - and how that plays out in your clinic - to either encourage inclusion or create cultural divides.

Here are seven different things you can look at inside your clinic to encourage diversity and growth – personal, professional and financial, as well as ways to get a better response from your job advertisements.

We also loo...

So far, we’ve looked at the cost of employee turnover – episode 64 – how to lower the cost of churn – employee turnover by starting an Employee Retention Investment Fund at your clinic.

Last week we looked at the 5-P questions – Pride + Place + Possibility + Permanency + Propel
Today we’re looking at the next series of seven survey questions - in line with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - you can ask your team – or yourself – to check the State of the Nation at your clinic.

This episode is especi...

Vet Clinic Employee Engagement Index Questions The second of a multi episode series focussed on helping vet clinics retain the top performing vets and vet nurses in your clinic and then how to attract more vets and vet nurses just like them. Recent Employment Relations Authority determination around Restraints of Trade If you’ve been listening to Paws Claws & Wet Noses for a while you’ll have heard me comment quite a few times that Restraint of Trade clauses can stand up in a court of l...

Julie South interviews Jocelyn Birch Baker of Smooth Operating Vets + High Street Veterinary Clinic in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

Jocelyn’s vision at Smooth Operating Vets is to ensure all veterinary women have the opportunity to work in a team where everyone knows their talents and calmly does their very best in an encouraging and supporting place…. That women can return to veterinary practice after the birth of their babies with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need, to work ...

Julie South interviews Jocelyn Birch Baker of Smooth Operating Vets + High Street Veterinary Clinic in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia

Jocelyn’s vision at Smooth Operating Vets is to ensure all veterinary women have the opportunity to work in a team where everyone knows their talents and calmly does their very best in an encouraging and supporting place…. That women can return to veterinary practice after the birth of their babies with the skills, knowledge and confidence they need, to work ...

Dr Megan Alderson of The Strand Veterinarian in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand, talks about implementing various wellness progs into her veterinary clinic - her trials and tribulations.

Dr Megan is very open and forthcoming with the information she shares:

what's worked and didn't work
her clinic's budgets and
how much she budgets for staff wellness and wellbeing
She also shares how her personality style worked against her, until she realised she needed to change her approach (which she did).
...

Part 2 (of 2) with Dr Francesa Brown on how to have a healthy vet clinic and a healthy bottom line. Dr Brown covers: What KPIs to measureWhere to start in supporting your team to be / get / stay healthyWhat questions to askHow to implement and how not to implementJohari WindowsThe real and true cost of staff turnoverShe also asks for input / support / information as she gets ready to start her next research project. VetStaffleading veterinary sector recruitment in New Zealand | veterinaria...

This week is part 1 of a two-part series with Dr Francesca Brown of Otago Polytechnic. If you don’t know Dr Francesca, she’s a veterinarian who graduated from Massey University’s class of ’98. After graduating and gaining experience in clinical practice Francesca moved to education and then into leadership in Allied Veterinary professional education, at both Otago Polytechnic, as the Head of the School of Veterinary Nursing and nationally as the Chair of the Educational Standards Commi...

Dr Alejandra Arbe-Montoya a PhD candidate from the University of Adelaide and Julie South discuss: Why veterinarians are leaving clinical practice,Moral Distress – what it is and why it needs to be included as part of the curriculum at vet school,How setting personal boundaries can help when you find yourself morally distressed,What types of communication you need to practice,How to handle Moral Conflict, andWhat being a Conscientious Objector means in the veterinary context.When Dr Ale's not...

Today’s episode is about the importance of having a GROWTH MINDSET vs a FIXED MINDSET and how to use take that approach to bring about positive change in your life and veterinary clinic.

Either you’ve got a growth mindset or you’ve got a fixed mindset.

They were coined by Carol Dwek, an American Psychologist, about 6 years ago. Dwek earned her PhD in Social and Developmental Psychology from Yale University.

She coined the terms fixed mindset and growth mindset to describe the underlying belie...

This is the fourth episode (004) in the series supporting the parliamentary petition at GetVets.NZ. Today we look at some strategies to help you counter compassion fatigue – both as an individual veterinarian and, if you’re a clinic owner or practice manager, a few different things you can implement in your clinic. We hear an excerpt from a Ted-X talk, as well as a couple of sound bites from veterinary professionals and we’re going to finish up with some positive psychology and mindfulness s...