5 ways to thank your team … next month and every day.
Excerpted with permission from PSIvet vendor partner LifeLearn.
Clinics across North America have been participating in National Veterinary Technician Week since 1993 as an opportunity to honor the commitment, compassion and hard work that veterinary technicians provide every day.
In recognition of all they do, veterinary technicians usually aren’t looking for earth-stopping rewards, like a free trip to the Bahamas (as much as many people would enjoy an opportunity like that).
Like veterinarians, vet technicians are fundamentally motivated by their love of animals. So their daily opportunity to make a difference in the lives of animals (and their owners) already has its rewards. Yet as their work often goes unsung (and given the physical and emotional demands of their profession), a little can go a long way in showing your vet techs the spirit of National Veterinary Technician Week, Oct. 15-21, 2023.
Here are five simple ways to show your practice’s veterinary technicians that you appreciate all they do:
1. Write a thank-you note.
On its own, saying thank you to your technicians already means a lot. However, when you write your thanks into a note (meaning actual paper), your thanks become extra special in a time when more people opt to send texts and emails than leave handwritten notes.
Adding specifics tends to deepen the impact and meaning of thank-you notes. Example: “Thank you for all that you do each day for our team, our clients and their pets. Special thanks for providing emotional support for the pet owner who came in last week. Your compassion for clients and their pets is something you should be proud of.”
Adding specifics to a thank-you note shows veterinary technicians that what they do each day doesn’t go unnoticed. And when people feel recognized, they feel valued.
2. Surprise them with snacks.
Whether your vet technicians are in the habit of grabbing a coffee and doughnut on the way to work, a box of free doughnuts, muffins or other delicious treats is always a welcome sight in clinic break rooms—made all the more special by wrapping the box in a simple ribbon or crowning it with a bow. Order a variety of treats to allow people the enjoyment of trying things they may not normally order on their own. And to accentuate the sense of celebration, bring in enough so that people have the option of indulging in seconds.
3. Acknowledge your team on social media.
Celebrate the hard work and contributions of your veterinary technicians by thanking them on your social media channels. Whether posting a few written lines of thanks or uploading photos of them with patients, when you publicly celebrate your veterinary technicians, you show the care-centered, human quality of your practice, which resonates with pet owners.
4. Decorate!
Streamers, balloons and other decorations hung in your lobby are an easy and colorful way to show your vet techs some love while also showing clients that you’re the awesome veterinarian who didn’t forget National Veterinary Technician Week.
5. Hand out fun gifts.
T-shirts, coffee mugs and similar gifts are a fun and budget-friendly way to say thanks to vet technicians while acknowledging their often-challenging roles in animal healthcare.
A few favorite T-shirt and coffee-mug sayings that we found online:
- “Veterinary technician, because multitasking ninja is not an actual job title.”
- “I’m a vet tech. What’s your superpower?”
- “Being a vet tech is easy. It’s like riding a bike … 23 bikes at the same time … and the bikes are on fire … and did I mention the bear?”
- “I’m a vet tech. I can’t fix it, but I can sedate it.”
- “It’s all fun and games until someone ends up in a cone.”
- “Caring for animals is not what I do. It’s who I am.”
- “I am a paw-holding, owner-consoling, blood-taking, back-aching, tick-tweezing, anal gland–squeezing, injection-giving, always-forgiving, fur-shaving, life-saving vet tech.”
- “Vet techs are pawsome.”
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