Spring is here again, which means it’s time to celebrate the season of rebirth and renewal. It’s a great time to examine your relationships, clarify your goals, and redefine your purpose.
It’s also the perfect opportunity to bring new energy and fresh enthusiasm to your work life. In this post, we’ll share 4 quick tips for spring cleaning your veterinary practice so you can get ready for this exciting new season. Let’s dive in.
1) General Spring Cleaning
The physical environment of your veterinary practice is incredibly important for the health and wellbeing of staff, clients, patients, and pets, so start there. Regular cleaning is essential for everything from air quality to limiting the spread of infections and diseases. Deep cleaning takes things to another level and makes sure every corner and facet of your space is included.
Give your entire workspace a deep clean from top to bottom – including all kennels, equipment, exam rooms, and labs. Be sure to follow the manufacturers’ recommendations when cleaning labs and equipment. For kennels and cages, clean the inside and the outside thoroughly.
And don’t forget outside spaces and hard-to-reach spots. Out of sight and tricky to clean areas – such as door handles, light fixtures, and above kennels and cages – are easy to miss, but especially important to include. Bacteria and viruses can easily thrive in often neglected areas so remember to keep them clean and revisit them often for a wipe down.
Make sure the entrance to your practice and the area surrounding is clutter-free and clean at all times. First impressions matter to clients, and this will be the first part they see so make sure it looks smart, welcoming, professional, and friendly at all times. To enhance the positive perception of your practice, freshen up your outside and reception areas, and watch those glowing reviews – and new clients – come pouring in.
2) Taking Care of Your Tech
Once you’ve made sure your veterinary practice is fresh, clean, and welcoming, it’s time to do the same for your digital systems and spring clean your tech.
By organizing your online workflow and task management, you’ll be right up to date with client information and can remove any inactive patients from your register.
Check if your tech needs a complete systems update. Many practices use the same systems they have done for years. And while this is easy to understand because it helps to have a familiar operating network to work with, out with the old and in with the new might be the better way to go now that spring is around the corner.
By switching up your tech tactics, you could end up with a more efficient system and better client communication, enabling you to serve your people and their pets in greater numbers and with far better accuracy. This, in turn, means a stronger bottom line for your business.
Take a look at your social media channels too. Check if they could do with a refresh, and blow the cobwebs away with some new content from PetDesk. Why not create a social content calendar and add some fresh images? Spring is the perfect time to reconnect with your audience and re-establish your online presence, so make the most of it!
3) Organizing HR
It’s no secret that administrative tasks are hardly anybody’s favorite when it comes to clearing the decks. But for a veterinary practice to be running smoothly, the key to getting your house in order is getting your HR in order!
Check that all employees know which days are company holidays and that your rates of pay are keeping up – not just with inflation, but with your competitors too.
Use this time to take stock of employee pay and benefits – if any staff members are due for a raise, start their spring off with some good news and bring a little bounce to their bank balance!
As you do this, be sure to brush up on reviewing your company’s training and policy procedures. Go over your Company Policy Handbook and Company Employee Handbook, to get yourself reacquainted with best practice procedures and the smooth running of operations.
4) Review Your Recruitment Process
In tandem with HR, it’s a good idea to reevaluate your recruitment system as spring approaches.
Take a look at your screening process, job descriptions, background checking, and drug testing policies – how can these be strengthened? Think about the kind of candidates you want to attract to your practice, and take steps to make sure your overall hiring approach reflects this.
In addition, implement a broad overview of your general work culture, and think about ways you could improve staff relationships and morale. To gauge the level of satisfaction among current staff members, consider organizing a spring picnic or team-building weekend away. You could also circulate staff feedback surveys, and suggestion boxes to help solidify working relationships.
Clear Out the Clutter this Spring!
In this post, we’ve seen how spring is the perfect time to clear out the clutter and usher in a new start in every aspect of your veterinary practice. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with such a diverse number of tasks to go through. But by breaking down the big spring clean into various smaller steps – and getting staff involved at every level – you can make the whole project a true team effort.
In this way, spring cleaning itself can go from a dull list of chores to something that strengthens working relationships and improves staff and workplace morale.
With these tips on cleaning your environment, reorganizing your tech, and redefining your administrative systems and processes, the new season can truly bring a sense of clarity and excitement back to your work life.
For a deeper look into how you can maximize the potential of spring for your clients and their pets, be sure to download our new ebook, The Ultimate Guide To Spring Cleaning Your Veterinary Practice. It’s packed full of in-depth advice for spring cleaning your practice with handy tear-out checklists for you and your team!
