Ways to Appreciate your Team during the Pandemic

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Here are 9 ways to show your veterinary team how grateful you are for their hard work and dedication during the COVID-19 crisis.


Veterinary teams are all feeling stress, anxiety, and uncertainty daily. You have likely changed your working practices and protocols, including your team rotas. Everyone is exhausted, scared, and sceptical about the future. Here are 9 ways you can help your team feel appreciated during these tumultuous times.

  1. Provide breakfast, lunch or yummy treats for the team members who are in work. Local restaurants and bakeries will surely appreciate the orders!
  2. Hold frequent meetings with your staff and always ask for feedback. Your team has great ideas so use them! Make your meetings virtual so that furloughed team members can remain engaged.
  3. Schedule meditation or yoga sessions. Again, you can do this virtually to include staff who are at home.
  4. Set revenue goals and consider a reward when those goals are reached.
  5. Organise an ongoing potluck. Maybe  your team would like to pair up and cook lunch and dessert for one another. This can help to eliminate the stress for team members having to bring or pick up their own lunch every day.
  6. Write thank-you notes and place them around the practice for a nice surprise.
  7. After a long day, remember to tell your team “thank you”.
  8. Give the gift of time. On the other side of this pandemic, award those who weathered the storm with an additional day off to use at their leisure.
  9. Plan an “after-party” once all of this is over.

The sky is the limit when it comes to showing appreciation to your team, whose lives have literally been turned upside down over the past several weeks. Remember to utilise your drug representatives to help you with some of these ideas, as many of them would be more than happy to help. Take care of your team including those on furlough and they will take care of you.



Adapted from an article by Emily Shiver.