Attracting and retaining the best employees in highly competitive and stressful fields can be a challenge, especially within the veterinary industry, which has a higher than average turnover rate.
Indeed, the average annual employee turnover rate at veterinary practices is 29.7%, according to a compensation and benefits guide published by the American Animal Hospital Association. This is close to double the overall national average turnover rate, which falls between 12% and 15%.
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“Because of the passion veterinary professionals have for helping pets and the lengths they go to do so, they are faced with rewarding opportunities but also unique challenges,” says Brian Garish, president of Banfield Pet Hospital, a chain of privately owned veterinary hospitals. “They encounter extremely emotional situations every day, many of which include heartbreaking life-or-death decisions involving beloved pets.”
Banfield teamed with IBM to develop the People Power Index, an AI tool that enables the practice to accurately predict the top drivers for doctor turnover and provide resources and support to keep them with the team.
The People Power Index launched in 2018 as part of a broader data science effort that helped Banfield gain a deeper understanding of doctor attrition. The tool has provided insights that helped reduced doctor turnover at Banfield by half, according to the organization. During the pandemic, the PPI has been helpful for managers to assess the need for benefits like mental health support and flexible work arrangements.
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“We created a business tool that would allow managers to very quickly look at their portfolio of hospitals and we tried to [identify] some of the most common indicators impacting hospitals and within managers’ control to change,”Michael Kilpatrick, who was director of people analytics at Banfield before taking on the role at its parent company, Mars Veterinary Health. “We wanted the result to be less doctor turnover and increased productivity for the hospital.
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Additionally, the tool allows managers to identify gaps in leadership and support for the doctors in the practice. This awareness helped the hospital support their employee population and change their perspective on care.
“The data can help managers understand where their hospitals might be lacking from a people perspective,” Kilpatrick says. “We were looking at what was driving the productivity for the hospital, but also what was impacting burnout among the doctors. You can have the data and the analytics, but it doesn't do anything if we're not using it right.”
