How can we close the loop?

“All the vets in our program have left, and now we have to again train new ones.”

Have you faced something like this before?

As per my experience, this is a very common scenario that is hindering the smooth functioning of many ABC programs in India. Vets are leaving the job after a couple of years, sometimes just after 6-8 months. Amidst facing the challenge of recruitment and training of a new vet for the job, the system feels betrayed, and this can result in anti-veterinary comments or suggestions that the vets who had left were not dedicated or compassionate enough.

But is the matter so simple? What are some of the reasons behind high vet turnover rates in the entry-level jobs in the veterinary profession, such as ABC-programs, and what could be done about it? Is it helpful to just slap the matter with a label stating that vets are just not compassionate enough?

Role of the salary structure

Many municipality ABC-centers do not employ vets on fixed monthly salaries but simply by paying Rs x per dog operated. This can provide a good salary for vets who are able to operate large numbers of dogs every day, provided the center has all the other facilities, such as skilled vet assistants and adequate dog-catching capacity to bring in enough dogs daily to maintain numbers and therefore also keep the vet’s salary at a sufficient level.

However, the downsides of this salary structure are:

1. It is entirely dependent on the timely reimbursement from the municipality and on the number of dogs that are being brought in for surgery, and
2. It does not provide an incentive for the vet to feel belonging and ownership with the project, which can lead to a lack of motivationto train new recruits to learn surgical skills and the ways of working of the center.

Monthly salary, on the other hand, as well as an opportunity to operate and attend other cases than only spay/neuter surgeries, would provide a better model for vets to develop a deeper interest in the workplace and create a stronger sense of belonging to the team, of ownership of the program. It would allow them time to study and prepare for other, more complex cases, as well as enable them to think about possible solutions to commonly observed problems.

These opportunities to develop and grow in the veterinary profession are likely to motivate the vet to stay on – not forever, of course – but hopefully until they have had a good time to provide mentoring and skills development for the new junior vets joining the program after them. To stay on until they would have closed the loop.

This workplace training and mentoring of newly recruited vets is an essential element to develop a “closed-loop system”, a system that is not at such a high risk of collapsing just because one vet or a set of vets moves forward in their lives and careers.

Role of the opportunity for other surgeries

Being good in spay/neuter surgeries is great, but in the end, vets need to be looking beyond their time in an ABC program and what skills they are getting. Wanting to learn more and become better are good signs, definitely signs of dedication to the profession.

If the work provides opportunities to utilise the surgery skills gained when doing spay/neuter in other surgical procedures, there is a higher chance for the vet to stay on. However, if there is nothing else in sight except spay/neuter surgeries day in and day out, and salary is based on just the number of spay/neuter surgeries performed per month, a vet is likely to begin to look for other, more meaningful job opportunities after some months or years of work in the ABC center.

Also, if the workplace provides opportunities for growth beyond being a spay/neuter machine, such as mentoring and guiding junior vets, it not only helps to bring in the next vets, but it also indirectly provides leadership training for the more experienced vets.

I recently heard someone well-experienced from the ABC charity field saying that they do not have time for training vets because they have to keep up their surgery targets. Another shelter founder-cum-manager said that they were not interested in investing in the training of their young vets because their veterinary turnover is so high (but they want to improve their team’s ability to treat rescue cases brought to them).  

It may seem a waste of resources to invest in junior vet training if the assumption is that the vet will be leaving the job soon, in any case. This point of view from the management side can be understood. Unfortunately, this way of thinking carries the risk that when, ultimately, the vets leave for other jobs, further studies, or to move back to their home towns or states to get married or simply for the need to be closer to family, the ABC program does not have any backup plan for the veterinary structure.

Starting from scratch with a newly recruited vet can cost the system a lot in the form of staying behind in the targets or not being able to handle well all the rescue cases brought in.

Investing in a closed-loop system becomes worth the time.

ogs .