Thank you to all the vets who participated in this year’s Salary Survey. There was a total of 595 respondents, compared to 336 in 2017.

Results have been published in 4 separate reports, of which this is the first:

1. Pay Rates compared by practice type, location, experience level, numbers of years graduated, corporate vs non-corporate, and by job classification (full time, part time, locums, and contractors)
2. Gender Differences
3. Out of Hours and Extras
4. Happiness and Future Plans

Minimum pay rates and conditions are set in the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award 2010, which you can find using Google, or at https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/documents/modern_awards/award/ma000118/default.htm

Methodology

The pool of vets was contacted by direct emailing the main clinic email for all the clinics in Australia in the Kookaburra database (1,909 clinics), direct emailing all the vets currently registered as job seekers with Kookaburra ( approximately 143), and by including advertising banners with a direct link to the survey on the Australian pages of the websites www.kookaburravets.com and www.vetsuppliersdirectory.com.au , and on all the correspondence sent out from Kookaburra during the survey period. We also asked the HR departments of the major Australian corporates to assist by distributing the link to the survey to their veterinary associates. In addition, it was posted on Facebook on two of the Australian Veterinarian network closed group pages (briefly, as it was considered to be ‘advertising’ and was deleted by admin).

The survey was open from 15^th July to 20^th August 2019. It was hosted on Survey Monkey and analysis of results was carried out in Survey Monkey and using Microsoft Excel Office 365. The survey was anonymous, and no IP data was collected. There was a total of 16 questions.

For a Key to the box and whisker plots used, please see the Appendix at the bottom of this document

To download this Report as a printable pdf please click here
https://www.vetsuppliersdirectory.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Survey-Results-2019-Part-1.pdf

We wondered whether salary would be better correlated with another gauge of competence besides the numbers of years since graduation, so we asked respondents to self-assess their Technical Experience level according to the following scale, increasing in competence from 1 to 9, and then also including an option for non-clinical roles:

1. Has broad theoretical knowledge, requires a more experienced vet to be available for discussion for consults/medicine, and guidance for surgery most of the time
2. Confident for consults, requires guidance for surgery/procedures most of the time
3. Confident for consults and routine surgery and seeks guidance for new procedures
4. Confident for consults and routine surgery, able to work sole charge regularly
5. Confident for consults, surgery, sole charge, and after hours emergencies
6. Has or is working towards post graduate qualification in medicine, or other non-surgical qualification
7. Has or is working towards post graduate qualification in surgery or ECC
8. Has additional qualifications, supervises and teaches less experienced vets
9. Has or is working towards specialist qualification

10. Experienced in non-clinical / Industry roles

* Respondents gave the postcode for their current job. This was categorised according to the Australian Tax Office region and postcode definitions for the 2016-2017 tax year.

Locums

For data on Locums, we combined the data for vets classified as Casual with Self Employed Contractors. There was a total of 98 respondents in these 2 categories.

1. Has broad theoretical knowledge, requires a more experienced vet to be available for discussion for consults/medicine, and guidance for surgery most of the time
2. Confident for consults, requires guidance for surgery/procedures most of the time
3. Confident for consults and routine surgery and seeks guidance for new procedures
4. Confident for consults and routine surgery, able to work sole charge regularly
5. Confident for consults, surgery, sole charge, and after hours emergencies
6. Has or is working towards post graduate qualification in medicine, or other non-surgical qualification
7. Has or is working towards post graduate qualification in surgery or ECC
8. Has additional qualifications, supervises and teaches less experienced vets
9. Has or is working towards specialist qualification
10. Experienced in non-clinical / Industry roles

Corporate Practices

Appendix

© Copyright Kookaburra Veterinary Employment

2nd September 2019

Australia, the UK, and New Zealand all have requirements for registered vets to keep up to date by recording a certain amount of continuing education. New Zealand and the UK have recently changed their focus from simply recording time spent on CE to actually evaluating and reflecting on the learning experience, in order to better support vets in practice, help vets find professional fulfilment, and to aid in retaining vets in the profession.

Australia

All Australian veterinary Boards have agreed, through the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC) and the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA), on a minimum requirement of 60 CPD points over a consecutive 3 year cycle. At least 15 of the required 60 CPD points must be structured points. The remaining 45 points may be either unstructured points or more structured points. You may use the AVA Vet Ed points scheme to record and validate your CPD achievement

https://www.ava.com.au/education-events/veted/veted-points/

Structured Points: Most courses, conferences and seminars are 1:1 (points:hour) & Workshops are 2:1 and require validation (eg by certificate)

Unstructured Points: eg. private reading, un-assessed computer based courses  are 1:2 (points:hour)

The registered veterinary practitioner who is currently undergoing formal post-graduate training with a view to the acquisition of a higher qualification in their chosen field of work or a related area of veterinary science, is considered to be fulfilling all the requirements for continuing education.

The  points allocation table is available from the NSW Vet Board website:

https://www.vpb.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/images/GR05%20CPD%20Points%20Allocation%20Table.pdf

UK

All veterinary surgeons listed on the RCVS Register as practising members must complete the minimum CPD requirement of 35 hours per year, regardless of whether they are working full-time or part-time.
Vet Nurses on the RCVS Register have to complete 15 hours CPD per year.

The RCVS has an online system for veterinary surgeons (and vet nurses) to record their CPD activities (1CPD). 1CPD is a new outcomes focused CPD system, and is available as a web portal or as a mobile app. From January 2022 it has become mandatory for all veterinary surgeons to use 1CPD. Reflection on CPD outcomes, an integral part of 1CPD, is now also mandatory from 2022 and can be done using the 1CPD app.

RCVS: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/cpd-guidance-for-vets/

https://www.rcvs.org.uk/lifelong-learning/continuing-professional-development-cpd/getting-started-with-1cpd/

All vets practising in the UK, whether they graduated overseas or in the UK, must comply with the RCVS requirement of 35 hours per calendar year. You may include CPD undertaken abroad, but you should ensure that your description of this, and the hours involved, are clearly recorded in English so that the details of what you have done are transparent to, and understood by, the RCVS and others with an interest in your CPD record, such as prospective and current employers.

There is no restriction on the number of hours of self-directed learning that can count towards your CPD as long as you document it or reflect on your CPD. Ultimately, the judgement of what should count as CPD will vary for each individual, and it is therefore up to you to decide how best to fulfil your own learning needs.

PDP – Professional Development Phase
This was a requirement for newly qualified graduates and those with less than one year’s clinical experience, regardless of where they qualified in the UK or overseas. It could also be used by anyone returning to work after a career-break. Average time taken to complete the PDP is 18 months depending on caseload, but it needs to be completed within 3 years. PDP required exposure to a general practice workload. The last enrolment for the PDP was in June 2021. It has been replaced by VetGDP – Veterinary Graduate Development Programme.

VetGDP – Veterinary Graduate Development Programme.  
This is a requirement for new veterinary graduates for any graduate vets employed from summer 2021 onwards – their employer must be signed up to VetGDP and there must be a VetGDP Adviser in the workplace to support them. It is focused on developing professional skills as well as clinical capabilities and is intended to be more supportive than the PDP. Vets who have been out of practice for 5 years or longer also have to take part in VetGDP. Overseas graduates who are new RCVS members who have less than one year of significant work experience as a veterinary graduate will be expected to enrol in the VetGDP. https://www.rcvs.org.uk/lifelong-learning/vetgdp/

New Zealand

The CPD requirements in New Zealand changed from 2021 onwards. 2021 was a trial year. 

The previous CPD requirements focused on using points to quantify time spent on CPD activities, categorising activities and setting quotas that had to be met. This new framework departs from that approach and instead focusses on the process of planning, taking part in and evaluating learning. In simple terms, it requires that veterinarians must:

1. Prepare a CPD plan
2. Do CPD
3. Record their CPD
4. Review the CPD plan.

The requirements are different for new graduates in their first year of practice. This is to reflect that they have different needs as they adjust to professional life and the requirements for them focus more on collegial support in the form of mentoring.  There is flexibility in who can act as a mentor. For many new graduates, the mentor will be their employer or supervisor at work. However, it could equally be someone independent. There are no qualification or training requirements for acting as a mentor.
The Vet Council hasn’t set a minimum amount of CPD that must be undertaken. “Our expectation is that veterinarians will take part in CPD, completing all of the four steps above, and that the amount of CPD they undertake should be appropriate to their needs. We recognise that some people appreciate having a clear number to work to, so, as a guide, we believe that veterinarians should aim to undertake at least 20 hours of CPD per year. This isn’t a strict requirement, and we won’t rigidly enforce it. We emphasise that the quality of CPD and the process of planning and evaluating it is of far more importance than the quantity.”
https://www.vetcouncil.org.nz/Web/Veterinarians/Continuing_Professional_Development.aspx

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.

Thank you to all the vets who participated in this year’s Salary Survey. There was a total of 285 respondents, which was disappointing compared to 595 respondents in 2019. We’ve been unable to use some of the information, in particular, location related, as there was insufficient data for a representative sample.

Minimum pay rates and conditions are set in the Animal Care and Veterinary Services Award 2020, which you can find using Google, or at https://awardviewer.fwo.gov.au/award/show/ma000118

You can download a printable pdf version of this report here Kookaburra Salary Survey 2022

Methodology

The pool of vets was contacted by direct emailing the main clinic email for all the clinics in Australia in the Kookaburra database & the vets currently registered as job seekers with Kookaburra (2.000 total), and by including advertising banners with a direct link to the survey on the Australian pages of the websites www.kookaburravets.com and www.vetsuppliersdirectory.com.au , and on all the correspondence sent out from Kookaburra during the survey period. We also asked the HR departments of the major Australian corporates to assist by distributing the link to the survey to their veterinary associates, however, in contrast to previous years where they have been happy to help, none agreed to participate this year. In addition, it was posted on Facebook on one of the Australian Veterinarian network closed group pages, on the Kookaburra Facebook pages, and on Linkedin. We’d like to thank The Lincoln Institute, who distributed the link to the survey to their members.

The survey was open from June 12^th to November 7^th 2022. It was hosted on Survey Monkey and analysis of results was carried out in Survey Monkey and using Microsoft Excel Office 365. The survey was anonymous, and no IP data was collected. There was a total of 34 questions.

For a Key to the box and whisker plots used, and a summary list of charts, please see the Key

Summary

Summary and links to Charts and Diagrams

1. Key to Box and Whiskers Plot
2. Hourly Pay Rates vs Years’ Experience
3. Hourly Pay Rates vs self-assessed experience level
4. Hourly Pay Rates for different General Practice Types (Small Animal vs Mixed vs Equine) for numbers of years since graduation
5. Hourly Pay Rates – comparing all Practice Types
6. Annualised pay rate for all full time, part time, and casual respondents
7. Actual annual pay rate for all full time, part time, and casual respondents using their actual hours worked per week
8. Paid Hours worked per week – comparing full time, part time, and casual
9. Paid Hours worked compared to Unpaid hours
10. Owners/Partners compared to Associates pay rate
11. Further Qualifications – effect on pay rate
12. Further Qualifications – proportions of respondents with additional qualifications
13. Locums – hourly pay vs experience
14. Locums – casuals vs. locums/short term
15. Locums – comparison of corporate & non-corporate pay rates
16. Happiness
17. 5 year Plans
18. Happiness and owner/partner vs. associate status
19. Happiness and corporate vs. non-corporate jobs
20. Satisfaction with pay rates
21. Preferred pay rate increase
22. Discussion
23. 2019 / 2022 comparison of job classifcations
24. 2019 / 2022 comparison of pay rates

Vets working as Casuals, Part-time, or Full-time

There were a total of 239 responses in this section – some vets gave data for more than one job, and each job was included as a separate data set.

Respondents were asked to self-assess their experience level for the job they were currently answering questions for, on a sliding scale from 1 (Basic Competency) through 5 (Confident and Competent) to 10 (Highly Skilled)

Locums

For data on Locums, we combined the data for jobs classified as Casual with those who answered ‘yes’ to the question “Are you currently working as a locum / doing short term contracts (under 6 months in length)”. There was a total of 51 respondents in these 2 categories.

Happiness and Future Plans

We asked “What do you think you should be paid for this job?” and the choices were “I don’t know”, “My current rate is fair” , or “My preferred hourly rate would be ….” – and the respondent could then nominate an amount (no-one nominated less than they were currently being paid!!)

Discussion

The amount of data collected in this survey was small, therefore it’s hard to discuss the results in a meaningful way. Kookaburra collected the data in order to make it available to vets and their practices in Australia. At Kookaburra, we are interested in the differences between this survey (2022) and our previous one, before COVID, in 2019.

Are more vets moving to working part time and casual?

Have pay rates gone up?

Pay rates have increased by above 30% for locums and casuals, and around 30% for part time and full time vets, between 2019 (pre-COVID) and 2022 (3 years).

© Copyright Kookaburra Veterinary Employment

29th November 2022