Running a Veterinary practice is like conducting an orchestra: every section—clients, staff, and finances—needs to hit the right note. Get it wrong, and you’re either swamped with urgent cases, burning out your team, or so slow that staff are reorganizing the supply closet (again) while clients like Mrs. Butterworth, who loves her 30-minute chats about “Teddy,” wait for an unanswered phone.
In my 40 years of practice, I’ve seen both extremes, and neither works. The sweet spot—what I call the “Goldilocks Zone,” not too hot, not too cold, but just right—is where clients get stellar care, staff stay engaged, and owners thrive.
The key? The 2025 Veterinary Hybrid Model, paired with smart hiring and HR strategies to keep your practice humming. Let’s dive in.
The Current Scene
Veterinary practices ride a seasonal rollercoaster. Summer brings a surge of urgent cases—hit-by-cars, GDVs, blocked cats—pushing staff to their limits, racking up overtime, and leaving clients feeling rushed. Come fall, the pace slows, and you’re overstaffed, paying techs to twiddle their thumbs while payroll eats profits. This isn’t just a scheduling problem; it’s an HR challenge.
Overworked teams in peak seasons burn out, leading to turnover. Underutilized staff in slow months disengage, making silly mistakes or jumping ship for busier practices. Clients notice, too—rushed exams in summer or slow service in winter erode trust.
The solution? A hybrid model that balances wellness and urgent care to smooth out seasonal peaks and valleys, paired with hiring and HR strategies to maintain the right team size and skill mix. This approach keeps staff challenged but not overwhelmed, delivers consistent client experiences, and protects profits so you can focus on leading your practice.
The Overtime vs. Undertime Trap
Let’s get real. Over busy practices hit “overtime” mode: mistakes multiply, tempers flare, and clients feel shortchanged. I once lost a client, Mr. Jenkins, whose Lab, “Rusty,” got a rushed 10-minute vaccine visit during a chaotic summer day. He left for a competitor, and that hurt.
In slow months, “undertime” kicks in: bored staff make careless errors, payroll drains revenue, and clients wait while the front desk chats. Both scenarios strain your team and bottom line.
From an HR perspective, overtime breeds burnout, driving top talent to quit. Undertime saps morale, making it hard to retain skilled DVMs and techs. The Goldilocks Zone—where you have the right number of client transactions, DVMs, support staff, and fees (as we discussed in May’s fee-setting article)—is the antidote. It delivers happy clients, engaged staff, and a healthy profit margin, but it starts with hiring and managing the right team.
The Optimum Zone: A System Approach with HR at the Core
Every practice has an ideal level of business, driven by four factors: practice square footage, hours of operation, number of DVMs, and support staff. Align these with strategic hiring and HR practices, and you’re in the Goldilocks Zone. Here’s how.
Step 1: Square Footage and Transactions (The 10% Rule)
Your medical square footage (excluding boarding or grooming) and hours of operation set your capacity. The “10% Rule” states that weekly client transactions should equal 10% of your medical square footage in a 50–60-hour workweek. Multiply by 4.33 for monthly transactions.
Example: A 2,600-square-foot practice, open 56 hours a week (8am–6pm Monday–Friday, plus Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings), can handle 260 weekly transactions, or ~1125 monthly. A 6,000-square-foot practice? That’s 600 weekly, or ~2600 monthly. Exceed this, and you’re overworking your team; fall short, and you’re overstaffed. Use this to guide hiring decisions—don’t recruit a new DVM if your transactions don’t justify it.
Step 2: Hiring the Right Number of DVMs
DVM staffing is an HR linchpin. A small-animal DVM, 2–3 years out of school, can handle ~450 transactions per month in a fixed facility. This allows time for client interactions, records, research, and surgery.
Example: A 2,600-square-foot practice with 1,125 monthly transactions needs ~2.5 DVMs (1125 ÷ 450). Hiring a third DVM without enough transactions risks layoffs or financial strain. New grads may handle only 50% of this, so adjust expectations and provide mentorship. Seasoned DVMs with efficient staff and AI tools might manage 1,000–1,200 transactions. Work with recruiters to match candidates’ experience to your transaction volume, and avoid over- or under-hiring.
Step 3: Support Staff Ratio and Retention
Support staff are the backbone of your practice, but getting the ratio right is an HR art. The rule: one full-time equivalent (FTE) DVM needs four FTE support staff (two front desk, two techs) for a 40-hour workweek.
Example: Three DVMs—one at 40 hours, one at 25, one at 15—total 80 hours, or 2 FTE DVMs. You need 8 FTE support staff (4 front, 4 techs). This keeps payroll at ~22% of revenue for DVMs and 22% for non-DVMs, a sustainable benchmark.
To retain talent, offer flexible schedules, cross-training, and clear career paths. High turnover from poor HR practices can disrupt client care and cost thousands in rehiring.
The Seasonal Rollercoaster: An HR Challenge
Pull 32 months of transaction data from your Practice Information Management System (PIMS) and graph it monthly. If the difference between your highest and lowest months exceeds 30%, you’re facing overtime and undertime issues.
This volatility stresses staff, spikes turnover, and frustrates clients. The hybrid model, backed by proactive HR, flattens the curve.
The Hybrid Wellness–Urgent Care Model: HR in Action
The 2025 Veterinary Hybrid Model splits the year into Wellness and Urgent Care seasons, smoothing workflows and stabilizing staffing needs.
- Identify Your Seasons: Use PIMS data to define slow and busy periods. If urgent cases drop by late September, set October 1–April 30 as your Wellness Season and May 1–September 30 as your Urgent Care Season.
- Schedule Wellness in Slow Months: Push wellness exams, dentals, and blood work into your Wellness Season to fill slow periods. This keeps staff engaged and reduces undertime. Train techs to handle wellness tasks, boosting morale and retention.
- Prioritize Urgent Care in Busy Months: In your Urgent Care Season, focus on emergencies and complex cases, which often yield higher revenue. Hire seasonal or part-time staff to cover peak demand without overcommitting.
Real-World Example: A client brought her cat, “Mittens,” for a dental during a hectic July. Swamped with emergencies, we rushed the service, and she left unhappy. After adopting the hybrid model, we rescheduled her next dental for November’s Wellness Season. She got a thorough 30-minute consult, left thrilled, and booked the next visit. From an HR perspective, this model reduced summer burnout and kept winter schedules full, cutting turnover by 20% at one corporate practice I consulted.
Action Items
- Pull 32 months of PIMS data and graph monthly trends to identify seasonal highs and lows.
- If high and low months differ by over 30%, implement the hybrid model.
- Define your Wellness (e.g., October 1–April 30) and Urgent Care (e.g., May 1–September 30) seasons based on data.
- Schedule wellness exams, dentals, and blood work into your Wellness Season.
- Prioritize urgent cases during your Urgent Care Season.
- Use the 10% Rule to align hiring with transaction volume.
- Maintain a 1:4 DVM-to-support-staff ratio and invest in retention through training and flexibility.
- Monitor overtime and undertime monthly to adjust staffing and protect profits.
- Get a free Practice Potential Analysis to optimize your staffing and performance. [SCHEDULE PPA]
Wrap-Up
The 2025 Veterinary Hybrid Model, paired with strategic hiring and HR, is your ticket to the Goldilocks Zone. By balancing wellness and urgent care, aligning staff with transaction volume, and prioritizing retention, you’ll keep clients happy, teams engaged, and profits steady. Ready to transform your practice? Start with a free Practice Potential Analysis and take control of your staffing today.
P.S. Pair this model with smart fee-setting (see May’s article) and savvy marketing for a thriving practice. More on marketing next time!