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Community Mastermind - London Vet Show 2023

‘Jigsaw Practices’ - how do we make it work?

Flexee and XLVets’ recent project work has led us to identify the concept of ‘jigsaw practices’ as the frontrunner in flexible working strategies for veterinary businesses.

We were keen to hear insights from the wider veterinary community as to the perceived barriers and enablers to adopting flexible working so that we can identify and explore what needs to be in our ‘Jigsaw Practice Toolkit’.

What you told us:
insights & ideas

Rota Management & Technology

  • Rota management is very time-consuming
    • Individuals involved in it must be passionate about it and keen to take on the responsibility
    • It is not always the best use of the clinical staff’s time
  • Technology is useful to save time when generating rotas, but “real world” input is still important
    • There is a need to align factors such as level of experience across different employee groups, e.g. a newly qualified vet being on shift with more experienced staff
  • Transparency and fairness are key
    • The whole team needs to understand the rostering process: how staff and business needs are integrated to generate the rota
    • Team members need to be able to express preferences and concerns promptly to the person(s) responsible for the rota
    • Team members need to trust that the process is not biased by the person(s) responsible for the rota
  • There is a sense of mistrust around entirely outsourcing rota management to a non-clinical team or even to technology/software
    • Centralised rota management needs to allow for “local” influence at the practice level too

Salary & Budget Management

  • Offering flexible working can generate goodwill and staff loyalty in return. This has long-term benefits for the business:
    • ‘Part-time’ workers can often plug extra shifts at short notice.
    • Individuals who reduce their hours to accommodate childcare will often come back to work full-time, once their children are old enough. 
    • Practice teams that are made up of predominantly ‘part-time’ workers are generally more stable and report fewer issues with recruitment/retention.
  • Salary management can be complicated
    • Flexible workers value having a reliable, predictable income that doesn’t vary month to month, even if their hours do.  We need to look at considering how other industries manage this e.g. term-time only employees. 
  • Do we need to redefine “normal” business hours?
    • Should we revisit how ‘anti-social’ hours are defined and remunerated in the veterinary industry?  Evidence suggests that 5 – 9 pm shifts are now very popular with working parents. Staff supply and demand can be capitalised upon to benefit everyone if employers are imaginative about new ways to operate their business.

Culture & Team Alignment

  • Some part-time workers can feel relatively undervalued
    • There can be a perception of part-time staff not being as valuable as full-timers, e.g. redundancy being given to part-time workers first.
  • EVERYONE needs to understand how flexible working works so that expectations are matched:
    • there needs to be compromise and understanding on both sides
  • Morale and communication are the responsibility of the team’s leader(s)
    • They must be proactive about managing these to ensure the successful implementation of flexible working
    • ‘Not feeling heard’ is a common reason for individuals to move from a permanent position to locum work.

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Flexee Impact Study Requirements

Accreditation Level Requirements

Bronze 

Flexee’s Bronze level of Accreditation in Flexible Working is appropriate for practices which demonstrate an interest in flexible working.
Flexee Practice Account Administrator must Complete and pass Flexee’s course: “Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working” (qualifies for CPD credits should the participant wish to claim them)

Complete the Flexee online Assessment in Flexible Working and achieve a compliance score of at least 50%

Silver

Flexee’s Silver level of Accreditation in Flexible Working is appropriate for practices which supports flexible working.
Flexee Practice Account Administrator must Complete and pass Flexee’s course: “Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working” (qualifies for CPD credits should the participant wish to claim them)

Complete the Flexee online Assessment in Flexible Working and achieve a compliance score of at least 70%

Submit 2 case studies demonstrating how your practice applies the Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working for our assessors to give you feedback.

Requirements:

  • Two different roles within your practice (roles:vets/nurses/receptionist/admin or managers).
  • One case must be a formal flexible working request with changes made to employment terms/contract

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Flexee® Accreditation Requirements

Accreditation Level Requirements

Bronze 

Flexee’s Bronze level of Accreditation in Flexible Working is appropriate for practices which demonstrate an interest in flexible working.
Appoint a Flexee Practice Account Administrator (who automatically becomes a “Friend of Flexee” and can join the community*)

Flexee Practice Account Administrator must Complete and pass Flexee’s course: “Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working” (qualifies for CPD credits should the participant wish to claim them)

Complete the Flexee online Assessment in Flexible Working and achieve a compliance score of at least 50%

Silver

Flexee’s Silver level of Accreditation in Flexible Working is appropriate for practices which supports flexible working.
Appoint a Flexee Practice Account Administrator (who automatically becomes a “Friend of Flexee” and can join the community*)

Flexee Practice Account Administrator must Complete and pass Flexee’s course: “Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working” (qualifies for CPD credits should the participant wish to claim them)

Complete the Flexee online Assessment in Flexible Working and achieve a compliance score of at least 70%

Submit 2 case studies demonstrating how your practice applies the Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working for our assessors to give you feedback.

Requirements:

  • Two different roles within your practice (roles:vets/nurses/receptionist/admin or managers).
  • One case must be a formal flexible working request with changes made to employment terms/contract

Gold

Flexee’s Bronze level of Accreditation in Flexible Working is appropriate for practices which actively embraces flexible working.
Appoint a Flexee Practice Account Administrator (who automatically becomes a “Friend of Flexee” and can join the community*)

Flexee Practice Account Administrator must:

Complete and pass Flexee’s course: “Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working” (qualifies for CPD credits should the participant wish to claim them)

At least 30% of Practice Team to complete the Flexee online Assessment in Flexible Working and achieve a compliance score of at least 70%

Submit 3 case studies demonstrating how your practice applies the Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working for our assessors to give you feedback.

Requirements:

  • Three different roles within your practice (roles:vets/nurses/receptionist/admin or managers).
  • Two cases must be a formal flexible working request with changes made to employment terms/contract

Platinum

Flexee’s Bronze level of Accreditation in Flexible Working is appropriate for practices which excels in flexible working.
Appoint a Flexee Practice Account Administrator (who automatically becomes a “Friend of Flexee” and can join the community*)

Flexee Practice Account Administrator must:

Complete and pass Flexee’s course: “Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working” (qualifies for CPD credits should the participant wish to claim them)

At least 50% of Practice Team to complete the Flexee online Assessment in Flexible Working and achieve a compliance score of at least 70%

Submit 4 case studies demonstrating how your practice applies the Foundational Principles and Practices of flexible working for our assessors to give you feedback.

Requirements:

  • Four different roles within your practice (roles:vets/nurses/receptionist/admin or managers).
  • All cases must be a formal flexible working request with changes made to employment terms/contract
Complete the Flexee Professional Conversation with Flexee’s HR consultant in order to demonstrate further evidence that the practice’s leadership and culture wholeheartedly embraces and excels in flexible working.

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