IT was recently reported that the profit margins of the UK’s top 500 practices had fallen to just 6.4% of sales, although the fall was not homogeneous as some practices actually saw increases. But what about vets’ earnings themselves?
Since 2010 CM Research has been tracking vets’ earnings and also their levels of job satisfaction/stress. In 2010 the average a vet earned was £41,767. This has since increased to £45,530 in 2012 and then to £46,221 earlier this year. That’s about a 4% increase each year. And as expected owner/partners took home significantly more than employed vets: £62,563 v. £39,377.
Considering the overall economy and also the grim reports re the leading practices’ profit margins, it’s really quite surprising to see this level of earning increases. However, we discovered that the increases were centred on employed vets and that owner/partners had not seen an increase since 2010. This could be an indication that some practices fear losing staff.
With limited incomes (and falling profits), owner partners are sacrificing their earnings to keep staff, most likely in the hope of better times to come. This comes as a stark contrast to the overall economy where employees accept pay freezes, or even cuts, to keep their job.
What is interesting is that this “pay rise” has resulted in a positive financial outlook (for the first time since 2010). There are now more vets who consider they are doing better financially than consider they are doing worse – but only by a small margin.
Stress levels remain high
But even if this may be somewhat good news, the numbers of vets who are considering leaving the profession (or at least thinking about it) remains unchanged. Since 2010, one in three vets had thought frequently or often about leaving the profession. Only one in four has never thought about it (also unchanged since 2010).
Stress levels have also remained high. Now more than half of vets consider that they are “very stressed” or “somewhat stressed”. Only one in 20 vets considers that they are completely unstressed. And not surprisingly those who are completely unstressed are also those who earn the most.
However, high earning does not bring job satisfaction as those thinking about leaving the profession were also the ones that earned the most. Maybe they are viewing new ventures.
- For more information contact CM Research at contact@cm-research.com.
