Staying Power

For three Florida practices, employee longevity means higher productivity, a cooperative culture and so much more.

Employees of three practices owned by Drs. Steven Elliott and David Griffin are in it for the long haul.

Of the nearly 100 employees who work at this family of practices—Animal Care Center of Pasco County, Best Care Animal Hospital and Country Oaks Animal Hospital, all located in New Port Richey, Florida—63% have been with the group for more than five years, and 20% have been there for more than a decade.
Photo caption: Practice managers Joanna Flower (Best Care), Melissa Leonor (Country Oaks) and Heather Justice (Animal Care Center).

Heather Justice, who started as a technician at Animal Care Center in 1997 and became practice manager in 2004, says turnover is extremely rare: “If someone leaves, it’s because they either moved or decided that animal health is not for them.”

Having long-term employees benefits the company in myriad ways. Long-time team members typically fully understand the practice’s services and culture, respect their co-workers and truly care about the business. This translates to higher overall productivity, fewer mistakes and a more cohesive team, which all help improve the bottom line. The sister practices averaged 16.5% in profit over the past three years, which the owners attribute largely to the strength and skill of their long-term teams.

A True Team Effort

Leadership in any business starts from the top, and Elliott and Griffin lead with trust. They know that surrounding themselves with a team that shares their passion and their goals means that they don’t need to have a hand in every single decision.

“When you own more than one practice, you absolutely can’t do everything yourself, so hiring a reliable practice manager is a must,” says Elliott. Griffin agrees: “We couldn’t function without our managers, and we certainly couldn’t have grown the way we have without them.”

Monthly meetings with the owners and all three managers—Heather Justice from Animal Care Center, Joanna Flower from Best Care and Melissa Leonor from Country Oaks—are intended to share ideas and put out fires, but the managers are given leeway to make decisions without consulting the owners each time.

“We’re really empowered to do what we think is best because the owners know we have the practices’ best interests at heart,” says Justice. “And giving us decision-making autonomy also gives the owners the freedom to practice more medicine because they don’t have to worry about day-to-day issues.”

In turn, the managers empower their teams with extra responsibilities and leadership roles. “We’ve got lead receptionists and lead technicians who help us with scheduling, training and putting out fires,” says Flower, who started as an animal care attendant at Animal Care Center in 2000 and has been practice manager at Best Care since 2008. “That allows us managers to focus on bigger-picture concerns.”

For example, setting goals. “We’ll set a goal and try to achieve it as a group, with each of us taking some of the responsibility for executing the strategic plan,” says Flower. “Then we’ll come together after we reach the goal and celebrate each other’s successes.”

Shared Wisdom

Justice, Flower and Leonor are all self-starters. “We see something and we do it,” says Flower. “Because the doctors are so good about sharing the vision and values for their practices, we know that what we’re doing is going to follow along with what they want.”

The three practice managers sit down together at least once a month, and each also meets regularly with their individual practice teams. This type of ongoing open communication means that problems can be solved quickly and effectively. It also offers the luxury of adopting successful endeavors across clinics.

For example, when the team noticed recently that appointments were taking longer than they should at Best Care and Country Oaks, the managers sleuthed it out together and determined that the delay was due to a breakdown in communication between the technical team and the front desk team. The staff at Best Care implemented a new 60-day strategy for loading exam rooms upon clients arrival, which increased productivity quite a bit. “We then made the same changes at Country Oaks because we knew they would be effective,” Flower says. “We like to make a change for 60 days. If it works, we adopt it across clinics. And if it doesn’t, we stop.”

Other positive forces at work at the trio of practices:

• Culture Counts. The management team agrees that it’s the staff members who make each clinic successful. “We hire people as much for their personalities as for their skill sets,” says Flower. “As long as they jive well with our team, our doctors and our culture, then we can teach them what we do in our practice to make us stand out with our clients.”
  
  Mentorship of support staff and veterinarians is part of the magic. “We start support staff at entry-level positions and allow them to grow by fostering their likes and dislikes,” says Flower. “We want to have a level playing field where everyone is comfortable and continues to learn.”
  
  
• Psychological Safety. An open-door policy across practices provides psychological safety. “We listen to everyone, and we include them in the vision and mission,” says Flower. “If someone is having a problem, they know they can come to any of us and not be judged for what they say, whether they want us to take care of a problem or just listen and be supportive. There’s no fear of speaking up.”
  
  
• Work-Life Balance. To ensure a good work-life balance, full-time staff across the practices are typically scheduled to work just 28 to 32 hours per week. “Dave and I have families and hobbies and don’t want to be consumed by work, and we want to make sure that that message reaches all employees,” says Elliott.
  
  “We explain that we’re not doing it to limit their hours but rather to make sure they don’t work 60 hours a week,” says Griffin. “That added time for appointments that come in right before closing is built into the schedule. And I think everybody appreciates that.”
  
  
• Top-Tier Benefits. Flower and Justice agree that longevity is off the charts largely because of Griffin’s and Elliott’s magnanimity. Benefits include an “extremely generous” pet discount program, a 401(k) plan with a 4% company match, and up to 100% paid medical benefits (see chart below). “So they’ve got our medical needs taken care of, our pets’ needs taken care of, and they also want us to have a good future,” says Justice.
  
  Engaged team members who are aligned with the clinic’s culture strengthen the clinic overall. “We’ve never made it about us,” says Elliott. “It’s always been about letting our employees do what they do best, which is taking care of our clients and patients.”