Last year provided mixed results for Canadian associate veterinarians. In the good news column, most associates were satisfied with their employment, and saw their annual compensation climb from 2017 to 2018. On the other hand, wage gains failed to keep pace with inflation.
Data for this investigation are provided through the CVMA sponsored 2018 Provincial Surveys of Compensation and Benefits for Associate Veterinarians. All figures presented are for full-time associate veterinarians employed in private practice, representing 974 total respondents from across Canada.
Asked to indicate their satisfaction with their employment, half of all respondents stated that they were satisfied, with an additional 24% very satisfied. Seven percent of respondents stated that they were dissatisfied, while only 3% felt very dissatisfied (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Satisfaction with current employment of Canadian associate veterinarians.
The Conference Board in the United States assesses employee satisfaction on an annual basis; in 2018, they found that 51% of American employees were satisfied with their jobs. This would suggest that associate veterinarians are, on average, more satisfied than the general public with their careers.
Associate veterinarians were then asked to identify their primary sources of dissatisfaction or stress. Perhaps unsurprisingly, burnout/compassion fatigue was the most common stressor, with 60% citing this as a source of dissatisfaction. Office politics, practice management, and compensation were the next most common sources of dissatisfaction, with nearly 1/3 of respondents indicating each (Figure 2).
Figure 2.
Primary source(s) of professional stress and dissatisfaction among Canadian associate veterinarians.
Comparing associates’ reported satisfaction against various factors such as the type of practice they work in, their total years of experience, and if they are required to work on-call, showed remarkably little correlation. Even the annual number of hours worked did not seem to show much of a relationship with satisfaction. Those associates who were very satisfied worked a median of 1843 hours annually, while those who were very dissatisfied worked a lower median of 1829 hours annually (Figure 3).
Figure 3.
Median annual hours worked by associate veterinarians, stratified by reported satisfaction with employment.
Given the high number of associates who identified burnout/compassion fatigue as a primary stressor, it is somewhat unexpected that hours worked does not correlate more with satisfaction; one could reasonably expect a veterinarian working fewer hours to incur less compassion fatigue, and therefore be more satisfied in their employment.
Compensation, however, did show a strong correlation with employment satisfaction. Those associate veterinarians who were very satisfied with their employment had a median annual compensation of $91 884; at the other end of the spectrum, those who were very dissatisfied had a median annual compensation of $80 311 (Figure 4).
Figure 4.
Median annual compensation of associate veterinarians stratified by reported satisfaction with employment.
This correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Yet, combined with the finding that nearly 1/3 consider their compensation a stressor, remuneration is quite important to associate veterinarians.
Despite this relationship between compensation and satisfaction, and the higher overall levels of career satisfaction, 2018 was a disappointing year for associate veterinarian wage growth. The national weighted average annual compensation climbed by 1.3% to $83 592. This may not seem concerning in isolation, but Statistics Canada’s inflation figure for 2018 was 2.3%, a full percentage point above wage growth.
While pay rises will be welcomed by those receiving them, it is necessary to measure against the increase in the cost of living, to determine real changes in purchasing power. If, for example, a veterinarian’s wage climbs by 1%, and inflation concurrently ticks up by 3% (as the cost of shelter, food, fuel, etc., rise), this veterinarian’s real purchasing power has declined, which may eventually necessitate a reduction in their standard of living.
Setting 2014 as the base, the national weighted average associate annual compensation had nearly caught up to inflation in 2017, after falling behind through 2015 and 2016. The 2018 results cede further ground to inflation (Figure 5).
Figure 5.
Actual national weighted average associate veterinarian annual compensation and inflation adjusted associate veterinarian annual compensation, 2014 to 2018.
Overall, the 2018 Provincial Surveys of Compensation and Benefits for Associate Veterinarians shone light on some good, and some less than ideal findings. Compensation increased, albeit at a pace that lagged inflation. Professional satisfaction was high, and associates were more satisfied with their employment than was the general public. If compassion fatigue can be reduced, and wage growth accelerates beyond inflation, Canadian associate veterinarians will find themselves in an even better position.
Notes: Annual compensation, hours worked, level of satisfaction, and primary stressors/sources of dissatisfaction were determined using the 2018 Provincial Surveys of Compensation and Benefits for Associate Veterinarians. Information on general public satisfaction taken from The Conference Board’s 2018 Job Satisfaction Survey. Information regarding inflation taken from Statistics Canada data on Consumer Price Index.
Footnotes
This article is provided as part of the CVMA Business Management Program, which is co-sponsored by IDEXX Laboratories, Petsecure Pet Health Insurance, Merck Animal Health, and Scotiabank.
Use of this article is limited to a single copy for personal study. Anyone interested in obtaining reprints should contact the CVMA office (hbroughton@cvma-acmv.org) for additional copies or permission to use this material elsewhere.