How Banfield will extend preventive care in 2021
Our associates never wavered from their commitment to #bhere for one another, our clients, and their pets this year. I believe the culture of inclusivity, two-way dialogue, and recognition that we have built over the past five years helped us turn challenges into opportunities throughout 2020. As we head into a more hopeful 2021, the collective strength of our organization has us ideally positioned to create an even brighter future for our people, pets, and society.
With more than 1,000 hospitals across the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Mexico serving over 3 million pets each year, Banfield has a vast amount of data at its fingertips. We leverage that data and insights to not only improve medicine within our own hospitals, but also throughout the profession. In 2015, we launched the veterinary industry’s first quality of care standards and we’ve continued to improve on them every year since. We’ve also generated reports to share our learnings with more than 250,000 professionals annually, hoping to help them deliver even higher quality care to the pets they serve.
Over the past five years, we’ve recognized that while we’re anchored by our purpose – A Better World for Pets – our associates are truly the heart of our business. As a company, we must care for them so they can care for pets. We’ve defined a holistic approach to associate health & wellbeing that addresses five interrelated dimensions: healthy mind, healthy body, healthy finances, healthy career and healthy community.
This is met through innovative programs like our Student Debt Relief Program, which aims to ease the financial burden student debt has on veterinarians, a profession with one of the highest debt-to-income ratios. Banfield is one of just 8 percent of companies in the U.S. to offer such a program. We cumulatively contributed nearly $15M toward helping our veterinarians pay off student debt and facilitated over $16M in educational debt refinancing for associates. Among Banfield veterinarians enrolled in the program, we’ve seen an 88 percent retention rate.
We’ve also improved the financial health of our Certified Veterinary Technicians by increasing their pay by $3 per hour, improving retention by 50 percent.
In addition to financial stresses, veterinarians face enormous emotional pressures. In fact, one in six veterinarians considers suicide. To address this, Banfield developed a first-of-its-kind suicide prevention training designed specifically for veterinary professionals. Since our “ASK – Assess, Support, Know,” training launched for Banfield’s hospital teams last year, thousands of veterinary professionals in and outside of Banfield have completed the training, which included proactively closing our hospitals for a two-hour workshop to discuss mental health.
Another important pillar of health and well-being is creating a positive culture in which the experiences and voices of every associate are heard and valued. Creating such a culture at Banfield is my top priority. I believe one of the primary ways it can be achieved is with a greater focus on equity, diversity and inclusion. In order to create true change within the industry and in society, you cannot be insular. Yet we know the veterinary industry is one of the most predominantly white professions in the U.S. and the least diverse healthcare profession. Much as Banfield brought the veterinary industry along in committing to specific quality standards of care, it’s now driving the industry to commit to EI&D.
In September, Banfield announced the “Diversify Veterinary Medicine Coalition” with several partners to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in the veterinary industry. Banfield is also partnering with Mars Veterinary Health, Royal Canin and the Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine to launch a Student Support Fund with an initial $125K gift to help Tuskegee veterinary students who have financial need.
Increased representation in the veterinary profession will also be necessary to deliver an increasingly diverse community of pet owners with the culturally competent care they deserve. We’ve taken steps toward this with a new interpretation service launched in 2019 that provides clients with interpretation in 350 languages, including a video for support in American Sign Language (ASL).
Culturally competent care will be of even greater focus for Banfield in 2021 – which will undoubtedly be our year of the client. Now that we’ve put the culture and systems in place that allow us to continuously listen to and act on what our associates need to thrive, we are ramping up our focus on innovating and personalizing the experience of our clients.
This year provided terrific opportunities to enact changes like curbside check-in and telemedicine, which have been enthusiastically adopted by clients and have created a new expectation around what veterinary care ought to look like. Looking ahead, we plan to introduce even more personalized services and digital solutions to lead the industry forward.
You can check out my Instagram feed for a look at other ways we’ve progressed our business and the profession over the past five years. The voice of our associates must be the most valued as they are closest to our clients. By tuning into the needs of clients and associates, Banfield is well positioned for today and tomorrow. I’m constantly influencing our discussions and decisions based on how we can improve the lives and realities of everyone in our care. Transforming society is what drives me, so leading with empathy, impatience and impact allows me to realize my purpose – to make a better world.
