2011 Non-DVM Wage Report

In 2011, non-DVM wages in Canada rose by 3.7%; this was slightly ahead of inflation, which ran at 2.9% over the same period. Veterinary practices in western Canada led the nation with the highest non-DVM wages, followed by central Canada, and then those in eastern Canada, which were a distant third. However, once the provincial cost-of-living adjustments were applied to wages, it was an altogether different story.

On the practice management side of the analysis, there was a clear relationship between DVM net incomes and wage expenses; practices with the highest incomes generally had the lowest wage expenses. More importantly, low income practices should look to their non-DVM wage expenses as a possible solution to depressed incomes.

The results of the 2011 Practice Owners Economic Survey provide provincial statistics for staff wages, categorized by employment type, seniority, and region within the province. Each province publishes these data annually, which may be obtained through the CVMA or provincial VMA. This article compares average wages in each province, before and after adjustments for the cost of living. It should be noted that Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland both had insufficient observations for certain figures to be included in this report.

Average wages

Provincial wage data for various non-DVM employees is presented in Table 1. The 2011 figures include companion, mixed and large animal practices, as well as equine only practices, in all provinces. Within each province, the “average wage” is a weighted average, calculated using a staff mix which reflects the average animal hospital in Canada. The national average is a weighted average based on the number of veterinary hospitals within each province.

Table 1.

Average non-DVM hourly wages

	CND	BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NS	NB	PEI	NF
Receptionist	14.22	15.00	15.50	14.00	13.00	14.00	13.98	12.50	13.00	12.63	12.00
Animal health technologist (registered)	17.26	19.50	20.00	17.00	17.50	17.00	15.00	15.28	15.00	N/A	18.15
Non-registered technician	14.33	14.50	15.50	16.25	12.50	13.78	15.00	14.00	12.50	14.00	13.00
Kennel/Barn assistant	10.58	9.18	12.00	11.50	10.25	10.70	11.40	9.83	10.00	N/A	N/A
Office manager	19.23	21.16	19.90	17.45	19.63	18.55	20.00	18.00	13.40	N/A	16.63
Practice manager	19.37	22.38	25.50	25.20	22.22	24.64	N/A	20.00	20.00	N/A	22.12
Practice administrator	22.06	23.67	27.40	N/A	24.34	25.30	20.00	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Average wage	14.88	15.55	16.27	15.21	14.05	14.54	14.91	13.73	13.29	N/A	N/A

N/A — Not available.

The highest non-DVM wages for 2011 were garnered in Alberta, with an average pay of $16.27 per hour; 9% higher than the national wage rate. Alberta hospitals consistently paid the highest wages for most non-DVM positions. One exception was non-registered technicians who earned slightly less than their counterparts in Saskatchewan and office managers who earned $1.26 less than those in British Columbia.

British Columbia was the second highest paying province in Canada for non-DVM staff, with an average wage $0.72 lower than Alberta. Clinical staff, such as receptionists, registered technologists, and non-registered technicians were paid between $0.50 and $1.00 less per hour in British Columbia than Alberta. The gap was larger for practice administrators and managers; however, office managers in British Columbia earned over $1.26 more per hour than their Alberta counterparts.

Wages in Saskatchewan were the third highest in the country, giving the western provinces a clearly defined higher wage rate compared with the rest of Canada.

Central Canadian provinces, such as Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec had average non-DVM wages that were around the middle of the pack for the nation (Figure 1). Receptionists in Ontario and Quebec earned a nearly identical hourly wage, but it was a different story for both registered technologists and non-registered technicians. While they earned $17.00 and $13.78 in Ontario, respectively, in Quebec, both earned on average $15.00 per hour. Practice administrators were paid significantly higher wages in Ontario, compared to Quebec, while the situation was the opposite for office managers.

Figure 1.

Average provincial non-DVM hourly wages.

Eastern Canada had the lowest non-DVM wages in 2011, with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both having average hourly wages below $14.00.

Echoing the findings from 2010, national non-DVM wages were tilted downwards from west to east coast: western Canada had the highest wages, Eastern Canada the lowest, and Central Canada was resting in the middle. However, once adjusting for the cost of living, this trend disappears, giving way to a more random set of highs and lows.

As in 2010, Quebec had the highest cost-of-living adjusted average wage, while Alberta had the lowest, followed closely by Ontario. After the cost-of-living adjustment, eastern provinces looked very attractive to non-DVM staff, while the two largest provinces, Ontario and Alberta, offered adjusted wages that were $2.00 less per hour than those obtained in the east.

Alongside Ontario and Alberta, British Columba had a downward adjustment in wages from the cost-of-living adjustment, but still remained above the national average even after the adjustment.

Managing staff expenses

Staff expenses are one indicator of how well a hospital is managed. While the average level of staff wages as a percentage of gross revenue was 20% for the nation, more profitable hospitals often had wage expenses that were well below this mark. The quartile analysis in Figure 3 shows that the hospitals with higher DVM net incomes had lower non-DVM wage expenses.

Figure 3.

Net income quartiles and non-DVM wage expenses.

This relationship first became apparent during an analysis of the top 10 hospitals in one province. In a sample of more than 200 hospitals, the ten hospitals with the highest profitability were separated and compared to the average. The only statistic that was considerably different from the average was wages as a percentage of gross revenue. Nine of the ten top hospitals in the study had wage expenses that ranged from 3% to 6% below the average. Instead of posting non-DVM wages at 20% of gross revenue, the most profitable hospitals had wage expenses of 14% to 17%.

Nationally, the same relationship holds true. The hospitals with the lowest net income per veterinarian, “lowest incomes” quartile, had non-DVM wage expenses that were 10% higher than the average (30%). The higher amount spent on non-DVM wages was restricting net incomes. As the income levels rose, DVM wages as a percentage of net income fell to a low of 18.8% for hospitals with the highest net incomes. This should not be that surprising since non-DVM wages make up close to a third of wages in most veterinary hospitals.

The solution to managing non-DVM wage expenses involves better human resource management in the veterinary hospital. For the hospitals in the “lowest incomes” quartile, it is not a simply a matter of lowering non-DVM wages or cutting benefits. In many cases, the solution involves reducing the number of staff. For example, if a hospital in the lowest income quartile had non-DVM wages that were 10% higher than the national average, the only solution would be to reduce staff. It would be mathematically impossible for that hospital to cut wage costs by simply reducing the hourly wages. The required cuts would be impossible since the resulting wages would come in below the legal minimum. A common rationalization for more staff is that higher numbers translate to a better quality of medicine or service, both of which would suffer with fewer staff. Judging from the success in the 2 quartiles with the lower than average wage expenses, this is clearly not the case. Veterinary hospitals would be better served to have fewer, highly trained staff members. With fewer staff, it would be economically easier to increase wages thereby allowing hospitals to be more reactive to changes in the cost-of-living.

Figure 2.

Cost-of-living adjusted average non-DVM wages.