With 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 9^th 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.

Kookaburra Vets has listened to all the feedback from employers and job seekers – the new app for iPhone and iPad provides a simple, fast, map based veterinary job search experience.

Shortlist your top veterinary job choices easily using the map based search and filter features, save for later or send vacancy information to yourself or to friends. The most widely used Veterinary Employment Service in Australia & New Zealand now makes it simple for you to search worldwide for veterinary jobs, from support staff and veterinary nurses & technicians to all categories of veterinarian vacancy – and even practices for sale.

• Map or list based
• Choose and save your search area
• Sort by distance or by newest jobs
• Search for individual clinics
• Filter using a wide range of job categories, including suitability for graduates or trainees, or visa sponsorship opportunities
• Personalise your searches – save your filter
• Save your favourite jobs
• Share jobs, or email details to yourself
• Up-to-date job details
• No requirement for registration or to have an account

Visit the App Store to download Kookaburra Jobs.

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

The Register of AVE candidates, and the Return to Work program are 2 useful services provided by the AVA.

AVA Register of AVE candidates

As there’s such a shortage of vets at the moment, some clinics may consider hosting an overseas qualified vet while they gain experience prior to sitting the AVE – and potentially be in a position to subsequently offer employment.

To assist AVE candidates to gain work experience and enable veterinary clinics to gain access to available AVE candidates, the AVA maintains a database that can link the two groups. In order to practice in Australia, veterinarians who gained their qualifications overseas are required to first pass the Australasian Veterinary Exam (AVE). Candidates who have passed the Preliminary (MCQ) Examination are encouraged by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council Inc (AVBC) to gain practical experience at private veterinary practices to assist with their preparations for the Final (Clinical) Examination. They are also encouraged to take the appropriate steps to gain some form of limited, specific or conditional registration with the Veterinary Surgeons Board in the State or Territory in which they wish to gain work experience.

For more information and to request access to available AVE candidates, please visit the AVA website https://www.ava.com.au/member-services/vetsuccess/ave-candidate-hub/host-an-ave-candidate/ or contact them at 1300 137 309

AVA Return to Work Program

Now is a great time to return to working in clinical practice if you’ve been taking a break or pursuing other interests. Because of the intense competition between practices to secure vets, many practices will be very willing to listen to what you need in terms of hours, rosters and flexibility – and some are offering great packages, perks, relocation, and support. If pay rates contributed to you leaving the profession, then you could be pleasantly surprised at what some clinics are now offering.

On the other hand, if you are an employer seeking to support an employee returning to work – or encouraging a previous employee to return to work after a break – this can be part of your support toolkit.

About the AVA Return to Work Program

The Return to Work program is the AVA’s online self-paced learning program consisting of 5 clinical modules, 4 non-clinical modules and a practical skills guide. The program is recommended for veterinarians who wish to return to clinical practice after a career break or period of leave, or veterinarians in practice and industry who are seeking a refresher. It is also recommended for veterinary students.

Getting back to work and keeping up to date is important for building self-confidence, increasing social connections, recovering from an illness or injury, and for financial reasons. Work is beneficial to mental health and overall well-being. It’s a place to develop skills and enjoy a sense of purpose and identity.

For more information, visit the AVA website here https://www.ava.com.au/education-events/ava-return-to-work-program/

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.

Temporary changes to the Working Holiday Makers Visa conditions may be of benefit to Vets currently working in Australia from overseas – and to their clinics!

From 19 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, the 6 month work limitation has been temporarily relaxed.

Until 31 December 2022, Working Holiday Makers ​no longer need permission from the Department to work for the same employer for more than 6 months.

This allows employers to retain trained staff.

Working Holiday Makers can work in any location, occupation or industry while in Australia. Under Condition 8547, work with any one employer is generally limited to 6 months. From 19 January 2022 to 31 December 2022 the 6 month work limitation has been temporarily relaxed. The Condition 8547 does not apply until after 31 December 2022.

Normally, Working Holiday Makers cannot stay in the same position in the same location with one employer for more than six months by using different employment agencies, business affiliates or sub-contracting arrangements. The 6 months starts from the day they start work. It includes full-time, part-time, casual, shift and voluntary work. It is based on the length of time that has passed since they started working, not how many hours or days worked. However, they do not need to ask (Immigration) permission to work with the same employer for up to 12 months if working in different locations and work in any one location does not exceed 6 months.

For more information visit the Home Affairs website: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/work-holiday-417/6-month-work-limitation

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.