The cost of keeping non-DVM staff

Where can non-DVM staff find the most competitive wages? The answer may surprise you. Although Alberta and British Columbia appeared to be the best bets in 2007, the high cost of living in these provinces hurt them when this factor was taken into consideration. Quebec emerged as the winner, while Ontario finished dead last.

The results of the 2007 CVMA Practice Owners Economic Survey are brought to you in partnership with the provincial veterinary medical associations and the following industry partners: Hill’s Pet Nutrition Canada Inc., Petsecure Pet Health-Insurance, Scotiabank, and Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health. The national response rate to the survey was 27%.

Explaining the data

This article focuses on the hourly wages for clinical support staff only, breaking down the compensation received by receptionists, credentialed technicians, non-credentialed technicians, and kennel assistants. The differences in the compensation received by hospital management require an article of their own.

For each province, adjustments were made for the cost-of-living. This information comes from Statistics Canada’s 2005 Survey of Household Spending. Adjustments were made for cost-of-living differences between the provinces to provide a true comparison of hourly wages.

Before adjustment

The hourly wages for non-DVM staff before adjustments are shown in Table 1. Alberta offered the highest hourly wages for receptionists in 2007, boasting a median figure of $14.00, while British Columbia wasn’t far behind at $13.50. The lowest hourly wages were found in eastern Canada; Newfoundland and Labrador reported a median hourly wage of $9.00 last year, while Nova Scotia offered a median of $10.50/h.

Table 1.

2007 median wages for non-DVM staff by province

	Receptionist	Credentialed technician	Non-credentialed technician	Kennel assistant
CA	12.58a	15.64	13.61	9.58
BC	13.50	17.50	14.00	10.13
AB	14.00	17.50	14.00	10.83
SK	11.65	13.50	11.00	8.55
MB	11.50	16.00	13.50	9.50
ON	12.25	15.50	14.20	9.20
QC	12.60	14.15	13.10	10.03
NB	11.00	13.00	11.00	8.38
NS	10.50	14.63	11.50	8.00
PE	10.64	12.00	11.25	na
NL	9.00	14.50	11.00	8.25

^aDollars per hour

CA — Canada, BC — British Columbia, AB — Alberta, SK — Saskatchewan, MB — Manitoba, ON — Ontario, QC — Quebec, NB — New Brunswick, NS — Nova Scotia, PE — Prince Edward Island, NL — Newfoundland and Labrador

This pattern repeated itself for credentialed technician wages. Alberta and British Columbia offered the highest median hourly wages in 2007, each reporting a figure of $17.50. Again, the lowest wages were offered in eastern Canada, with Prince Edward Island’s median figure at $12.00/h and New Brunswick’s at $13.00/h.

Non-credentialed technician wages were the only ones that deviated from this trend. Ontario came out on top for this staff type in 2007, reporting a median hourly wage of $14.20. However, Alberta and British Columbia weren’t far behind, each offering a median hourly wage of $14.00. Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador tied for the lowest median hourly wage, each reporting a median of $11.00/h.

Alberta and British Columbia again asserted their dominance with kennel assistant wages, reporting median hourly compensations of $10.83 and $10.13, respectively. Nova Scotia brought up the rear with a median hourly figure of $8.00, with Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick offering slightly higher compensation with medians of $8.25 and $8.38.

Alberta and British Columbia were also the only provinces that consistently exceeded the national median wages for each type of staff member in 2007. Quebec, Manitoba, and Ontario each exceeded this benchmark for certain types of staff, but all other provinces fell noticeably short.

After adjustment

When adjustments were made for the cost-of-living, Quebec and Manitoba rocketed to the front, while British Columbia dropped to the middle of the pack and Alberta lagged behind. The maritime provinces also showed considerable increases once the cost-of-living was taken into consideration.

The cost-of-living-adjusted median wages are shown in Table 2. Receptionists in Quebec earned the highest cost-of-living-adjusted median wages in 2007, boasting an hourly wage of $15.22. This figure far exceeded that of New Brunswick, where receptionists earned the second-highest median hourly wage of $13.69 last year. Ontario’s cost-of-living adjusted wage of $10.79 was the lowest in Canada in 2007, with Newfoundland and Labrador offering the next lowest wage at $11.44.

Table 2.

2007 cost-of-living-adjusted median wages for non-DVM staff by province

	Receptionist	Credentialed technician	Non-credentialed technician	Kennel assistant
CA	12.58a	15.64	13.61	9.58
BC	13.23	17.15	13.72	9.92
AB	12.42	15.53	12.42	9.61
SK	13.49	15.63	12.74	9.90
MB	12.78	17.77	15.00	10.55
ON	10.79	13.65	12.50	8.10
QC	15.22	17.09	15.82	12.12
NB	13.69	16.18	13.69	10.42
NS	12.51	17.43	13.70	9.53
PE	13.42	15.14	14.19	na
NL	11.44	18.43	13.98	10.48

^aDollars per hour

CA — Canada, BC — British Columbia, AB — Alberta, SK — Saskatchewan, MB — Manitoba, ON — Ontario, QC — Quebec, NB — New Brunswick, NS — Nova Scotia, PE — Prince Edward Island, NL — Newfoundland and Labrador

Newfoundland and Labrador made a surge to the front when credentialed technician wages were adjusted for the cost-of-living. Credentialed technicians in this province earned a median hourly wage of $18.43 last year, with Manitoba coming in second at $17.77. Again, Ontario offered the lowest wages by a significant margin; credentialed technicians there earned a median hourly wage of $13.65, while the next-lowest hourly wage, reported by Prince Edward Island, came in at $15.14.

Quebec again led the way with cost-of-living adjusted median hourly wages for non-credentialed technicians, reporting a figure of $15.82 last year, while Manitoba offered the next highest wages at $15.00. In a turnaround from the earlier trend, Alberta reported the lowest cost-of-living adjusted wages for non-credentialed technicians at $12.42. Ontario’s median figure wasn’t much higher, coming in at $12.50.

Quebec also boasted the highest cost-of-living-adjusted wages for kennel assistants last year. This type of staff member earned a median hourly wage of $12.12 in Quebec in 2007, exceeding the next highest figure by $1.50 (Manitoba’s median hourly wage was $10.55). Once again Ontario reported the lowest median hourly wage after the adjustments, with kennel assistants earning a median of $8.10/h. Nova Scotia reported the next lowest figure at $9.53.

The cost-of-living adjustment caused most provinces to fare much better when numbers are compared with the national median figures. Only Ontario and Alberta fell behind the Canadian medians on a consistent basis, and only Ontario did so by a significant margin.

So what does this mean? Even if you’re paying competitive wages for your area, you may not be offering competitive compensation for the veterinary industry, especially when you consider the cost-of-living in your province. Hospitals paying wages that increase once this factor is considered are less likely to lose non-DVM staff to competing industries. Skyrocketing inflation in Alberta may explain the dramatic drop in cost-of-living adjusted wages, but inflation likely isn’t the explanation for similar drops in Ontario and British Columbia. If this discrepancy remains, non-DVM staff may begin moving to provinces where wages are more consistent with the cost-of-living.

The bottom line

At first glance, Alberta and British Columbia appear to offer the best compensation for non-DVM staff; however, high wages in these provinces aren’t keeping up with the cost-of-living. The adjustment was especially hard on Alberta, which led the way before the cost of living was considered, and Ontario, which had the lowest adjusted wages of any province. Ultimately, Quebec and Manitoba are the best bets for non-DVM staff looking for the most competitive wage.