Episode #
76
Recruitment, Retention, and Workplace Well-Being in 2025.
September 18, 2025
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Your Practice Deserves a Marketing Plan as Unique as You Are
To help you navigate the digital landscape more effectively, we’re offering our podcast listeners a complimentary Digital Visibility Audit. Lila Stone, Marketing Advisor at the Veterinary Business Institute and Marketing Director of ekwa marketing, will take a close look at your online presence, local SEO, and competitive environment. You’ll receive a customized plan filled with practical recommendations to enhance your visibility and connect with more clients.
Book your complimentary session here at a time that’s convenient for you
This isn’t a sales pitch—it’s our way of giving back to the veterinary community we truly care about .
What if your veterinary practice could build a resilient, high-performing team ready for the future? In this compelling webinar, the Veterinary Business Institute’s expert panelists Stacy and Andrea dive deep into the evolving human resource landscape reshaping veterinary medicine in 2025. From innovative hiring strategies emphasizing flexibility, urgency, and nimbleness, to building positive, inclusive workplace cultures that retain top talent, this conversation is packed with insights every practice owner and manager needs.
Discover how fostering open communication, embracing employee-centered compensation packages, and mastering conflict resolution can transform team dynamics and enhance workplace well-being. Learn how adapting recruitment and retention strategies to align with your unique practice culture unlocks long-term success in a competitive market.
Listen to this Episode on
Key Takeaways & Time Stamps
- 00:00 – 10:30: Effective Recruitment Strategies: The FUN Hiring Process (Flexible, Urgent, Nimble)
Discusses attracting top talent with an employee-centered approach using the acronym FUN: Flexible, Urgent, Nimble hiring processes; emphasizes strong employer branding, work-life balance flexibility, career development, positive hiring experiences, and healthy inclusive culture. - 10:30 – 20:40: Building Positive Workplace Culture
The need to define the ideal workplace culture with leadership, assess the current state, and bridge gaps with safe, two-way communication. They also emphasize inclusivity, coaching, no-blame environments, and long-term dedication to team growth. - 20:40 – 30:10: Retention and Cultural Fit
Retention depends on ensuring cultural fit during hiring and ongoing conversations to meet evolving employee needs, such as pay, flexibility, benefits, and career growth. Stacy and Andrea note that individualized attention to employees’ changing priorities supports long-term retention. - 30:10 – 40:30: Innovative Compensation Approaches
They describe how practices offer competitive compensation with large sign-on and retention bonuses, novel benefits like student loan assistance and wellness perks, legal support for non-compete disputes, and personalized benefits packages tailored to employee priorities within budget constraints. - 40:30 – 47:57: Conflict Resolution and Inclusivity
They share practical conflict resolution tips: avoid assumptions, ask open-ended questions, encourage courageous conversations, and cultivate unconditional curiosity, starting with self-awareness. They also cover diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies, focusing on bias-reducing hiring, celebrating cultures, measuring diversity, and creating spaces for diverse perspectives.
Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS
Founder & CEO, The VET Recruiter ®
Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS, is an internationally respected Executive Recruiter and Search Consultant, recognized as one of the top 1% of search consultants worldwide. Based in the United States, Stacy has over 25 years of experience in executive search and recruiting, specializing in the Animal Health, Veterinary, Pet Specialty, Animal Nutrition, Animal Science, and Agriculture industries. She has built a reputation as a Talent Scout, Workplace Expert, and Workforce Specialist, dedicated to helping organizations recruit and retain top-tier talent.
Stacy’s career is marked by several groundbreaking achievements. She was the first recruiter in the United States to specialize in the Animal Health and Veterinary professions, developing these industries into niche specialties for executive search. Known as a trend spotter and trailblazer, Stacy has filled more positions in these industries than any other recruiter in the country. Her expertise extends across all levels of hiring, including C-level executives, senior management, mid-level managers, and individual contributors. She has successfully assisted major Animal Health companies, start-ups, and veterinary hospitals—both corporate and privately owned—to find exceptional talent, including executive leaders, medical directors, associate veterinarians, and board specialists.
Stacy holds a BA in Broadcast Journalism from Oklahoma State University and began her professional journey in the television broadcasting and advertising industries before transitioning to the recruiting profession in 1997. Her entrepreneurial spirit, keen insights, and commitment to excellence have earned her a stellar reputation in the field.
Today, Stacy continues to lead the way in executive recruiting for the Animal Health and Veterinary industries, helping companies in the United States, Canada, and abroad build world-class teams. Her unparalleled success rate and ability to adapt to industry trends have solidified her place as a leader in her field.
Connect with Stacy Pursell:
Andrea Crabtree, BS, CVPM, SPHR, PHRca, CCFP
Owner and Consultant, FurPaws Consulting
Andrea is a Southern California native and was raised in San Dimas. She graduated from Cal Poly Pomona with a BS in Animal Health Science in 2004. She became a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager in 2011, received her Professional in Human Resources in 2016, California Professional in Human Resources in 2017, accomplished both her Certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources and Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional in 2019. She is also Fear Free Certified. In January of 2016 Andrea received the Southern California VMA Paraprofessional of the Year Award. She is currently the owner of FurPaws Consulting in Orange, CA where she works with practice owners and hospital managers to develop their team as well as to expand and develop their business.
When Andrea is not busy in a veterinary practice, she can be found speaking at veterinary events, doing what she loves – teaching, coaching and training. She has presented at The North Orange County, South Orange County, Los Angeles – South Bay, and San Diego Manager’s Group Meetings, as well as California Veterinary Specialist Veterinary Spring Forum. She has lectured at the VCA AVCC Annual Wet Lab, ASEC’s Annual Symposium and the FurPaws Training Symposiums.
Andrea along with her co-host, David Liss, MBA, CVPM, RVT-VTS host the PAWsitive Leadership Podcast. They interview guests to elevate veterinary leaders by sharing relevant content, material, guidelines, instruction, feedback and pro tricks and tips. They deliver real-life experience, along with super smart guests, that will get you through the obstacles you are facing.
She has also published in Veterinary Team Brief, Idexx Practice Life, Veterinary Practice News, and the SD VMA. Her passion for veterinary medicine also keeps her busy with Southern California VMA events and the Manager’s Group in Orange County, which she co-founded, the SoCal Veterinary Manager’s Network, and is currently the Treasurer. She is a member of Southern California VMA, VHMA, and VetPartners, where she chairs the Ethics Committee.
Andrea lives in Orange with her newlywed husband, Andrew, son John, two cats, a dog, and her horse. She loves professional football, and the Green Bay Packers have been her favorite team since she was four years old. She is active and loves to hike and go horseback riding. Her other favorite pastimes include going to Disneyland and reading novels. She became a member at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Orange in 2008, where she met and married her husband in 2016.
Connect with Andrea Crabtree:
Michael Walker, Leadership Coach & Mediator (Q.MED), WFA
Co-host, Veterinary Business Podcast
As an influential leader, Michael looks for opportunities to add value to people. He believes everybody has untapped potential, and most of us have a desire to unlock and engage this potential as we experience the adventure of life and achieve the success that matters.
Part of that success for Michael looks like empowering leaders to lead themselves and others and helping them achieve prosperity in every area of life that they can’t wait to give away to others!
Michael is a recognized Leadership and Business Advisory Coach within an exceptionally diverse range of businesses and organizational sectors.
He is also a professional mediator and facilitator. In addition, he also holds the following qualifications and designations: Qualified (Q.MED) mediator with the ADR Institute of Canada.
Top Skills:
- Leadership Development
- Business Advisory Coaching
- Mediation and Conflict Resolution
- Facilitation and Training
- Empowerment Strategies
Connect with Michael:
