Update on the Workplace Staff Shortage – May 2023
Comments Off on Update on the Workplace Staff Shortage – May 2023With the AVA Annual Conference coming up, it’s a good time to release some current figures to update the trends that Kookaburra Veterinary Employment is seeing in Australia, for the “State of the Market” panel discussion.
Vets
Of the current 735 open vet vacancies, 131 have been continuously advertised for more than 8 months.
In the last 3 months (February, March, April 2023), 1125 jobs have been advertised.
- 27% of these have been filled by Kookaburra,
- 2% have been filled by other advertising, or through personal contact
- 9% have been removed because the clinic either gave up looking or restructured their clinic staff to cope – although some clinics are now reporting having a reduced workload, following the post-covid boom
- 62% are still available.
As of 30th April 2023, 52 clinics had been advertising continuously for longer than 2 years without filling their vacancy
Vet Nurses
In March 2020 we had 236 vet nurse jobs listed.
In April 2021 we had 337 vet nurse jobs listed.
As of May 9th 2023, we have 316 vet nurse jobs listed.
Discussion
Kookaburra has noted the following factors
- An increase in the numbers of vets required to cover the workload in individual practices
- An increase in the numbers of new clinics opening – both corporate, and privately owned. 10 years ago Kookaburra had roughly 2100 clinics listed in Australia – we now have over 2600.
- Many of the practice owners and managers that we talk to on a daily basis are highly stressed by the workforce shortage, and many are also resigned to having great difficulty hiring suitable new staff
Kookaburra circulated a Salary survey in the winter of 2022 and one of the questions we asked was about future plans (see chart below).
26% of vets (63 vets ) who responded to the Kookaburra Vets Salary Survey 2022 said they were planning on leaving general practice by 5 years’ time, either retiring, leaving the profession entirely, taking a break, or moving into another area of the veterinary industry.
In the 2019 survey, 24% of responding vets (142 vets) were planning on leaving general practice by 5 years’ time. That’s a lot of vets leaving general practice – and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all.
(copy of the full Salary Survey 2022 report available here: https://www.vetsuppliersdirectory.com.au/salary-survey-2022/ )
Author:
Wendy Nathan
Kookaburra Veterinary Employment
This information includes the views and opinions of Kookaburra Veterinary Employment and is of a general nature only. Factual information is believed to be correct at the time of writing, however, should not be relied upon and any person should confirm details with the relevant authorities and through their own research prior to acting on any of the suggestions in this article.