Ethos Vet Life: Caring for our Veterinary Caregivers
December 21, 2020
At Ethos, we care about our people as much as the pets we care for. The veterinary industry comes with its fair share of mental health challenges on top of everyday stresses about finances, health, relationships…the list goes on!
It’s Ethos’ responsibility to set our employees up for success and live healthy lives at work and at home. And we truly, genuinely want our people to live happier, healthier lives and fulfill their goals!
Our Partnership with League
Our People & Organization team wanted an easy, one-stop-wellness-shop for our busy workers from Hawaii to New Hampshire.
So Ethos partnered with League! League is a digital platform (with a mobile app!) that our employees can access for whatever they personally need regarding their physical, mental, spiritual, financial, and social wellness. Whether it’s improving sleep patterns, drinking more water, picking insurance plans, managing stress, and more.
How We’re Helping Our Veterinary Staff
Making Healthcare less confusing
And less stressful! The healthcare world is complex and difficult to navigate. There are so many partners, carriers, vendors, and confusing lingo involved that it can get quite overwhelming to keep track of and make decisions.
We know our medical teams are busy and the last thing we want is for a technician to complete a 12-hour overnight shift and then stress over their financials, insurance coverage, or physical/mental health. League helps us make this easier for our teams by consolidating each individual’s custom health information right in the app.
If, say, one of our doctors suddenly isn’t feeling well, or a technician needs to change their insurance coverage or find a new doctor in their network, there’s a live chat feature to troubleshoot any health question or concern with an actual Registered Nurse or professional.
encouraging a bit of selfishness
To take care of yourself, you have to be a little selfish. That’s easier said than done in an industry of givers!
Veterinary workers care so deeply about the work they do with animals and spend their shifts putting their heart and soul into their patients. On top of that, our ER & specialty hospitals are seeing the toughest, sometimes saddest, cases.
But you can’t care for others if you don’t care for yourself first.
We want our employees to realize that they do need to be selfish sometimes. Treat themselves. Take some “me time.” There are tons of resources and programs to help our teams get into the habit of doing this on League.
helping our staff achieve their goals
Our employees are real people with real lives. They don’t always have time (and sometimes the energy) to be setting big, idealistic goals requiring tons of time and long commitments. League sets realistic, reachable goals with 15-30 day behavior change programs. The app also nudges you, rewards you as you complete goals, and you can even earn money to spend in their life market for products and services that further support you.
Achieving small tangible goals can end up making a big difference.
COVID-19: An Added Layer of Stress
And then COVID happened! On top of everything, the pandemic is an additional stressor and has rocked the veterinary industry. We all have quarantine fatigue, we’re feeling not as accomplished, and burnout and compassion fatigue are even more prevalent.
Being healthy, both mentally and physically, is more important than ever. Setting these reasonable goals can not only improve our vet teams’ health, but also bring some normalcy back and help take their minds off of these “unprecedented times.”
improving our benefits we offer to our employees
On a quarterly basis, League checks in with the Ethos P&O team with a report card based on aggregate data (no personal/individual data is ever given). This helps us improve what benefits we offer to our teams.
If a lot of our employees are investing in mental health resources, perhaps P&O will look at our PTO policy. If diet & exercise seems to be trending, perhaps we implement new food options or programs to help.
It helps us listen to our teams, and change.
In the long run, a healthier workforce and less insurance claims can end up reducing the costs of healthcare plans too. This is reflected as smaller increases our teams have to pay for their policies.
What We Want for Our Ethos Teams
In the end, yes healthier employees are a win-win. It creates a better work environment, less absenteeism, better patient/client care, less turnover, etc.
But it also comes down to on a human level, we do care. We’re all in this crazy industry together and there’s always better, healthier ways to live. We hope our veterinary teams (Veterinary Technicians, Veterinarians, Client Care, etc.) discover all that League has to offer and find out what works for you.
Take the time to care for yourselves. We know you’re used to taking care of everyone else, but we couldn’t do it without you.
Written by RACHAEL GILLIS