Becoming a vet is far more than a job. It’s a calling and vocation. It’s borne out of a deep desire to care for animals and their families in pursuit of the best possible experience, joy and quality of life. For most veterinary professionals this is a lifelong purpose established from a very young age.
However, despite being one of the most advanced markets in which to practice, veterinary work in the UK increasingly involves managing difficult conversations.
Creating fulfilling and enjoyable work for veterinary professionals is notoriously hard. Aggressive KPIs, financial targets, unrealistic workload. A limited ability to exercise clinical judgement, and decreasing resources. The result is often burnout, wellbeing crises or exit from clinical practice altogether. We are changing this.
A significant number of the conversations veterinary professionals have are less about what’s best for the patient and client (appropriate treatment) – than they are about costs. The gaps in expectation and ability to pay that ensue and the pressure this puts on veterinary teams is enormous. No wonder our profession is facing retention issues. The business model has to change.
By working at Garden Vets you will be making a conscious choice to make a difference to yourself and the community we serve. You will be helping us to change an entire profession and industry. You will be a part of creating a positive legacy for people, pets, the planet and building a sustainable future for generations of veterinary talent.
If this sounds like the place you would want to work and the team you’d like to co-create, we want to hear from you.
We’ve designed Garden Vets to attract people who want to develop a unique relationship with the community. People who want to make a difference in an environment that’s far more innovative than today’s ‘normal’ working practice.
Garden Vets will be a professional destination of choice with low turnover, offering some of the most positive and enlightened working experiences for today’s – and tomorrow’s – veterinary talent.
We are always creating new opportunities, to cater for individual growth and every better fit for team members. Always an eye on helping to move you into those new opportunities. Never holding someone back simply to avoid the inconvenience of recruiting new talent.
We actively seek to take our methods and work into the wider profession and will develop a vibrant alumni programme. Fostering new working models, methods and assets that will benefit the entire profession.
We see development and education as a primary purpose – and constantly pursue opportunities for research, innovation, continuous professional development and a far broader application of veterinary science.
We believe that supporting people to develop on their own terms is the only strategy and often missed in traditionally short-term working realities. We believe thinking and working this way yields significant benefits for the profession and society over time.
We provide a safe working environment – which includes training and committed resources in committed pursuit of wellbeing and high performance. We respect and believe in you as a veterinary professional and care for you as a human being.
We avoid tokenism and speak in plain language. We mean it when we say we embrace access, diversity, inclusion, equity and fairness for the serious opportunities they are for our entire community.
Our mission is to bring measured and ambitious culture change for the veterinary profession. We’re human and we’ll get things wrong but we’re determined and we care passionately about the value we will bring for the whole profession.
A culture of open feedback, a safe place to have challenging conversations and deal with difficult issues. We strive for the right values, purposeful support mechanisms and a restless desire to do better for ourselves, our stakeholders and communities, our environment and our planet.
Investment in innovation and experimentation in pursuit of continuous positive change and advancement – without succumbing to initiative overload.