Boost employee morale
These first-hand tips can help boost morale among veterinary team members. Also, they can help increase customer satisfaction.
Honor the leaders
In our clinic, salary increases have been frozen for the past two years. Therefore, our boss demonstrates his appreciation for our dedicated work with this morale-boosting tool: In every meeting, he recognizes the employee who has surpassed everyone and everything in the past month. Such an employee receives a check for $ 25, and his name is put on the leader board of the month.
Rest time: encourage paramedics and team members
The team members of the Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota Animal Clinic receive consistent rewards for their hard work, and one week a year, they have great fun. “We are running a staff reward week,” says manager Liane Lafin, a certified veterinary paramedic.
Why not? This event has become a regular event. Here are some of the bonuses over the past year:
Half an hour professional massage
Free cinema tickets
Breakfast with a fresh omelet
Apple dessert with melted caramel, nuts, cereals, and confectionery
products
An hour of relaxation after work
Delivery of lunch to the workplace
$ 50 coupon for pets
In recent years, they have come up with ice cream desserts (different types of ice cream with different flavors and fillings) and also order coffee individually for each team member.
After all, let clients know your paramedics and other team members by sight. Make an Our Team board.
Add flavor to staff meetings
I try to make our monthly staff meetings informative but exciting and fun at the same time. Once I had a questionnaire on dog breeds, I arranged a competition between veterinarians and paramedics to determine who would give the correct answers.
I then provided a summary of the problems and diseases for these breeds. Another time, to give the team an idea of ​​how much it costs to run a veterinary clinic, I gave them a blank piece of paper with categories of expenses, such as utilities, supplies, and taxes.
I asked them to write down which expenses they think fit a certain category. They were very surprised when they learned the real numbers, after which they understood even better how important it is to enforce our high standards.
The next month, we invited firefighters to organize a demonstration fire in the parking lot and show everyone how to use a fire extinguisher. As a result of these actions, our team members look forward to the monthly staff meetings, not fear them.
Exchange ideas about finances
With this economic decline, we are always trying to find ways to save money for our clinic. We set up a feedback box and asked employees to leave feedback or advice on how the clinic can save money.
Once a month, the doctor pulls out an idea, and if he likes it, he uses it, for which he gives the employee a bonus in the form of material incentives. It seems like it’s a morale boost in times like these, and everyone just loves to come up with new ways to save money.
Party for team members
Portland, Maine, and Portland Veterinary Specialists, funds that are not included in recurring income and expenses, such as reimbursements, discounts, and incentives for participating in surveys and pilot studies, go to the fundraising fund.
These funds go to support recreational activities in the form of rewards for the most hardworking team members. They are endlessly pleased with such events. Team members say these events are a great opportunity to meet other employees and work more fun. “
A bottle of soda for a smile: a game to impress customers
Each veterinary clinic has its picky client who has already brought more than one employee to tears. It seems that whatever you do, she will ruin everyone’s mood by the end of the reception.
The next time you see her name on your list of visitors, argue with your coworker as a joke. You will find that a compliment about a piece of jewelry or clothing, or even better about a pet, is an easy way to make even the most capricious client smile. Also, you will feel satisfaction and help build or repair a relationship with such a client.
Of course, maybe you can’t please everyone at once, but you need to try. At least from time to time, you will get a soda for free.
Competition between teams: stickers that help to cheer up
Wondering how to reward teamwork and high productivity? Run the competition with stickers, as does Robin Pack, manager at All Care Animal Hospital, Minneola, Florida. Every month Pack gives his employees a sticker magazine and buys stickers for motivational or seasonal themes.
“When an employee puts in a lot of effort and helps another, or when they take on additional tasks on their own, they get a sticker,” Peck says. – At the end of each month, the employee with the most stickers wins a gift card to a local cafe.
The gift card is always different and has a specific theme. For example, if it’s a Starbucks card, it could be with a cup. The employees love this competition, and I see that it makes them work more efficiently and more pleasantly. “
