Strategic Relief Integration: Building Profitable, High-Performance Veterinary Staffing Models in Today’s Market

Adeesha: Dr. Andrew, let’s start with the big picture. You worked across private practice, nonprofit leadership, and large-scale operations. What shifts are you seeing right now in the veterinary relief market, and how is the cooperation model between clinics and relief veterinarians evolving?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah, I think the biggest change we’ve seen is just the growth in number of veterinarians working in relief. Over the last three years we’ve had approximately 60% increase and now we have about 10%, or 1 in 10 veterinarians, working in some type of relief role or contract work. So the pool has become much larger, it’s become a much more normal thing for veterinarians to offer relief work, which has its pros and cons. That means there’s more options for clinics to find relief veterinarians, but they need to be much more intentional about developing those relationships and finding the relief vets that they want.

Dr. Andrew: I think what we saw certainly over the pandemic was a growth of what I term like a transactional-based model for relief work, where a bunch of these different platforms popped up and you could just sign up for shifts and you work one shift here or there at a clinic, you may never return. I think we’re starting to move away from that and get back to what I think the heart of veterinary medicine is, which is really relationship-based. I think we’re seeing clinics have an interest in getting back to really developing a relationship with the relief vets so that they can have better coverage and gain all the benefits that we’re going to talk about on this podcast.

Adeesha: Now talk to me about that a little bit. What do you mean by intentional? What do you mean by hiring intentionally?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah, I think if you just hire any relief vet off the street, you don’t necessarily know what you’re getting, if they’re a good fit for your clinic or not, or for your clients. You don’t even really know until you try. But what you should try to do is find those relief veterinarians that fit best within your practice and try to create a consistent relationship with them, where you’re bringing them in regularly to your clinic so that they become more efficient with your workflows. They understand your operating system, they understand your team.

Adeesha: Now that evolution really changes how clinic owners need to think about their workforce. So from an operational leadership perspective, how should practice owners decide whether to hire an associate or invest in building a strong relief network instead?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah, I really think it’s not an either-or decision. I think they should always be working on developing a strong relief network because it’ll really smooth out those bumps in running a business. Because if you wait until you have that dire need, like someone gets sick and they’re going to be out the rest of the week and that’s the time you’re trying to find relief coverage — it’s going to be much more difficult. You’re less likely to get someone; if you do, it’s going to be much more expensive. Whereas if you take the time to cultivate those relationships in advance, those veterinarians that we would call in your network, your relief network, are much more likely to fill that gap for you in the short term.

Dr. Andrew: And as far as like when you’re approaching the time of, hey, maybe I do need to hire an associate veterinarian — you want to build that caseload up in advance. If you just hire that associate with no real buildup in caseload, those first few months it’s going to hit your P&L and it’s not going to look pretty. So you can use relief veterinarians on a more robust basis to help build that consistent caseload for them. And then once your associate’s on board and trained, you have consistent work available for them and it’ll improve the bottom line for your practice.

Adeesha: Do relief veterinarians become associates?

Dr. Andrew: That is very common. A lot of veterinarians are going to do relief work. It’s a change for them. They just need to do something different, but eventually they do want to get back into part or full-time work. And it’s a really good way for them to experience different clinics from the inside and then find that one that’s really a good fit for them. So we do see a lot of veterinarians that will eventually go to a full or part-time job after working a number of shifts at a practice.

Adeesha: Once a practice decides to lean in to utilizing relief vets, the next hurdle is consistency as we mentioned. What are some of the systems or leadership strategies that will help clinics build a reliable relief bench that consistently fills last-minute shifts?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah, I think the two keys are at the beginning and the end of a shift with a relief veterinarian. The beginning being key — like, first impressions are everything — and having really a robust onboarding plan for a relief veterinarian even if they’re only scheduled for one day. So that they don’t just show up and come through the front door and like, ‘Hey, I’m the relief veterinarian. Where do I go?’ and nobody even knows that that person is coming in. It just doesn’t feel good as a relief veterinarian if you show up and people are like, ‘Oh, who are you? Let me go find the manager, I guess.’ Make sure your team’s informed and they’re looking for this person and everybody introduces themselves.

Dr. Andrew: It doesn’t have to be a really long onboarding process, but at least make them feel welcome, show them where they can kind of operate from, introduce them to the people that will be working directly with them. Get them familiar with the systems and then let them get running, right? Because they’re there as a relief veterinarian, so you need them to work and that’s their expectation as well. But just making sure you have that structure and onboarding plan.

Dr. Andrew: And then where we most commonly see it kind of fall apart is after — at the end of the shift, they just kind of say, ‘Hey, thanks for working, see you later.’ And there’s never really any feedback. I think both sides should really provide feedback to each other. Like, ‘Hey, we loved this. We would also love to see you maybe do this differently. It’s still fine how you handled the case this way, but we really prefer if our cases are worked up in this manner.’ And the veterinarian should provide feedback back to the clinic, like, ‘Hey, I really appreciated that onboarding plan you gave me, it was really helpful. But I really feel like I could have used at least one more assistant in my shift for me to really be efficient for you.’

Dr. Andrew: Providing that feedback — it’s a challenging thing. And I think that applies even outside of relief, really. We’re just not that great at giving feedback all the time. So if you provide feedback in a more consistent and in-the-moment way, I think you can build those relationships a lot better.

Adeesha: And is that feedback structural? Like, is there a form, or is it kind of a conversation?

Dr. Andrew: I think it can be either, truthfully. And I think that’s really dependent on your culture and your clinic, which approach you prefer. I think on the veterinarian side, they’re just going to be happy to receive something. It doesn’t just have to be blind praise, talking them up. We all want honest feedback on how we could have supported that clinic better.

Adeesha: Now, let’s get back into the financials. How should practices determine the right price for a shift to remain profitable, and what compensation structures tend to attract and retain high-performing relief veterinarians?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. This is a topic we could talk about for quite a while. I think it’s really helpful to understand what your numbers are in your practice — the revenue you’re generating, what percentage of profit that’s typical for a normal day in your practice with your associate veterinarians. Now, we know a relief veterinarian often doesn’t quite produce exactly the same as like an owner would. Typical average check transaction for a relief veterinarian is somewhere around $317 on average; a permanent associate veterinarian is $323; and then an owner would be like $350. That all comes from the 2026 Veterinary Payroll Report.

Dr. Andrew: And so we know there’s a difference in what they produce. But if you still use typical averages within your practice, you can determine what your range is. And I think when most clinics really look at it, they’ll be really surprised to see they can actually afford to pay more than they would expect for a relief veterinarian. And then knowing what the average in the area is can be really helpful. So, how much are relief vets typically making? How does it differ if they’re offering surgical services or urgent care? Having that information on hand can help you be competitive, because if you’re offering low rates compared to the average — even if your profit might be really high on that — the odds of you getting coverage aren’t very high.

Dr. Andrew: But you also asked about what are some compensation models for relief veterinarians that can help attract talent. And with that, I really recommend being as flexible as possible. I think traditionally we think of relief vets like, yeah, I’m either paying them an X amount for the day or I’m paying them X amount per hour. And those are definitely the two most common strategies clinics will use and relief veterinarians accept. But I do think there’s other options as well. Certainly if you get into urgent care and emergency work, actually offering to pay relief veterinarians on a production-based model — more like a pro-sal but off of a single day — can attract top talent.

Dr. Andrew: So, they still want to be guaranteed some type of base amount of pay. I’m making at least this much if I come in and help your practice. But hey, if I’m really productive for you, if I see a lot of emergencies and I drive a lot of revenue for your practice, I’m compensated more by that production-based bonus essentially. And it can be a really good way to attract some higher-producing talent for your practice.

Adeesha: Do you have any average benchmark numbers for us? With regards to how much of the production you’re going to give away?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah, it can vary a bit. I think the most common we see is somewhere around between 23 to 25 percent. Typically wouldn’t see higher than that. And that might be higher than you pay your associate veterinarian in terms of pro-sal, but you have to remember you’re not paying all these benefits and other things — they’re not accruing PTO. And so you can afford to go a little bit higher.

Adeesha: We’ve covered the business side, but culture is what keeps people coming back. In your experience, Dr. Andrew, what differentiates clinics that successfully integrate relief veterinarians into their own culture from those that constantly struggle with coverage and continuity?

Dr. Andrew: Yeah. I’ll start with a quick story of maybe how not to do it. Maybe a few years ago, I was working a relief shift at a practice. First shift I had done for them. I showed up and they did a good job with like introducing me to everybody, but then they introduced me to the main technician that was working with me, and she was also a relief technician working her first shift at the practice. And so it was a first-time relief vet with a first-time relief tech, basically the blind leading the blind for the entire shift, which is not the best experience. We made the most of it and we had fun with it, but little things like that really make a big difference. So you want to set up a relief veterinarian with a good support team, because we can’t expect them to know how to do everything within your practice. You kind of do need to provide them the best of the best within your team.

Dr. Andrew: I think treating them like colleagues and not just temporary workers is a really big important part of that culture. Going back to that survey we did — that burnout is really driven by that lack of feeling like you belong to a group. And so treating relief vets like you do anybody else within your team can be really valuable. Spend time getting to know them. You don’t have to get deep into conversations, but at least have some personal conversations with them when time allows. If you’re taking a break for lunch, invite them to lunch so that you can just get to know them a little bit more.

Dr. Andrew: And then I just want to reiterate that feedback piece. Feedback is really important to create that culture — beginning of the shift, end of the shift, middle of shift, whenever you have an opportunity to provide feedback and solicit feedback, to show that you care as well. That will really build that relationship and the culture that you want.

Adeesha: Is there any time when feedback can backfire?

Dr. Andrew: I think sometimes you have to have hard conversations around feedback and you just never really know how someone’s going to react to it. But it doesn’t really help anybody if you just ignore it. And just a little trick in terms of giving feedback is to try to focus on what we call low-inference behaviors instead of higher-inference behaviors. What that means, if you’re unfamiliar with the terms, is just pulling out something that they did and not necessarily your interpretation of it.

Dr. Andrew: So, if someone was interacting with a client, say, and they had a really stern face and just didn’t seem very approachable, and the feedback you wanted to provide them was to be a little bit more friendly — you’d say, ‘Your face was just really stern. You weren’t really smiling. Really intense eye contact and the client seemed uncomfortable.’ What that will do is oftentimes people will be like, ‘Oh, I actually didn’t even realize I was doing that.’ Whereas if you provide that interpretation, they get defensive and then it’s harder for them to receive that feedback.

Dr. Andrew: So really spending some time — I think one of the most valuable things you can do as a leader is getting good at feedback and taking some courses on how to provide really good feedback. It can be really valuable across your entire organization.

Adeesha: Now, I was just wondering about the robust onboarding plan. What do you mean by that? Are you having a manual, a manual to go, or is it a specific champion or person in the clinic itself that is always responsible for the onboarding process?

Dr. Andrew: I think it’s a little bit of both. What I’ve seen from the clinics that do the best is they have kind of like a one-pager that they can send the relief veterinarian in advance. You really don’t want to be much more than that because they’re probably not going to read it, but I’d often take time to read a page of the most important information so that I’m prepared. But then also have that person that can kind of be their go-to, that champion, when they get there — to just reiterate anything in that one-pager and touch on any aspects that maybe didn’t quite rise to the level of the one-pager but would be really helpful.

Adeesha: Before we let our listeners go, I would love to get the key takeaway from our conversation here. What is one thing our listeners can take away from this conversation if they could only take away one?

Dr. Andrew: I think the biggest takeaway is, let’s get back to focusing on relationships with relief work. That’s, like I said, really the heart of veterinary medicine — our relationships — and business. Let’s bring that back into relief work as well.