How much does an unfilled position cost your veterinary clinic? | Oxilia
4 January 2021A vacancy in your clinic can cost you much more than you can imagine!
Finding qualified personnel in the veterinary field is a really difficult task. Staff shortages and the limited number of candidates available are indeed significant issues that can delay the hiring process. Whether it’s hiring a new full-time veterinarian or replacing a worker during a holiday, the problem remains the same: finding the right qualified person who is also available, which is not easy.
Many managers decide to become impromptu recruiters and use generalist platforms to post a job offer. But finding animal health professionals can be a long and uncertain process if you rely on traditional recruitment methods.
Why is it so important to optimize the hiring process?
From the moment a vacancy arises in your clinic, costs start to accumulate. Even if the person responsible for recruiting is competent, several factors can slow down the process. The daily tasks and responsibilities do not disappear! It can be even more difficult for an inexperienced recruiter to explain the tasks and responsibilities of the person to be hired for a position they have not held.
The longer the hiring process takes, the higher the costs. In addition, if an emergency arises, hiring may no longer be prioritized: this delay may hinder your clinic’s activities and affect the morale of your team.
How do you calculate the damages caused by an unfilled position?
Is it possible to calculate what it really costs your clinic if you delay hiring a new employee or a replacement for a holiday period? Most managers recognize that this is a problem but are unable to put a figure on it or quantify it.
To get an accurate picture of the situation, there is a rather simple mathematical formula that can be used to quickly determine how much an unfilled position is costing you.
- (Annual profits / number of employees) / 220 working days (or the average number of days worked by your employees)
- Multiply this number by the number of days it will take to complete the hiring process.
- Then multiply it by the number of positions to be filled
To better illustrate this calculation, consider that your clinic has 10 employees and that your annual profits are $500,000.
- 500 000 / 10 = 50 000
- 50 000 / 220 = 227.27
- 27 x 30 days = $6818.10
The obtained result represents the financial impact of having a vacancy. But other costs can easily add to this amount!
Other costs involved in the hiring process
Unfortunately, declining profits are only the tip of the iceberg. To get a more complete picture of the financial losses associated with a lengthy hiring process, you should also consider:
- Your team’s working time to manage the hiring process
- Technological and advertising expenditure
- Work overload and delays
Less easy to quantify but just as important is the psychological toll it takes on your employees, which simply cannot be overlooked. An overload of work to avoid delays and continuing to meet customer demands inevitably lead to an increase in stress. Clinics that are constantly understaffed can into an anxiety-provoking work environment, resulting in a very high staff turnover, not to mention the heavy financial and human implications of professional exhaustion that await your veterinarians and technicians.
And what does a holiday cost in all this?
Holidays should never mean a loss in the quality of the services rendered to animals. But unfortunately, this is often the case for veterinary clinics that do not have an efficient replacement process.
Finding a qualified employee is challenging enough, imagine the challenges of finding a qualified candidate for a temporary fixed-term position! Even for experienced managers, it can be extremely stressful.
Making the wrong choice: a huge loss for clinics
Recruitment comes with its share of unknowns. Choosing the right person is not easy; finding the perfect candidate is even less so. Traditional platforms don’t really offer solutions for screening candidates; often, you have to analyze the CV, go through a telephonic interview and then a formal interview. The process is lengthy and can attract candidates who may not fit in with your clinic or veterinary team at all.
It’s an enormous pressure on the person responsible for recruitment. And if, unfortunately, the process has to be repeated, it could mean the loss of thousands of dollars for your veterinary clinic, not to mention the disastrous impact on your relationships with the clients waiting for your services and the overwhelming work environment.
When it comes to quickly identifying candidates capable of fulfilling the responsibilities entrusted to them and integrating perfectly into your veterinary team, Oxilia can fortunately lend you a hand.
Oxilia’s solution? Matchmaking between clinics and professionals
Oxilia’s platform does more than list veterinary clinics looking for animal health professionals and CVs. We use an algorithm that connects the right clinics with the right candidates. The matches we make are highly accurate and greatly reduce the risk of making the wrong choice.
Whether you’re looking for a full-time employee or filling a temporary vacancy, our virtual recruitment platform will help you access the profiles of animal health professionals who are exactly what you’re looking for.
More cost-effective and reliable than traditional recruitment methods, it helps you contact available and qualified candidates more quickly when you need them, you will save a lot of time spent on searching and screening and the savings don’t stop there.
Most virtual recruitment platforms cost an average of $300 to $1,000 per month or per posting, with no guarantee of success. Sometimes this is an amount to be paid on a weekly basis. Other times, you pay instead for the number of views your ads get. In each case, you have limited control over who sees and applies for your job posting, and you have to manage each step of the process yourself. If a headhunter asks for a flat fee or a percentage, the costs can quickly escalate if the process takes longer.
With Oxilia, the service fee is 20% for temporary positions. The calculation is based on the hourly rate of the staff hired; no other fees are charged for fixed-term contracts. Moreover, the payment is only made when the candidate is hired. You don’t pay to talk to a candidate, you pay when they’re put to work!
Hiring fees are $8,000 for a veterinarian and $4,000 for an animal health technician. Compared to recruitment agencies and headhunters, you save about 40% to 50%!
Save money by investing directly in results, not in a recruiter’s time or in a generalist virtual recruitment platform that does not guarantee you any success in your quest.
From replacement to recruitment, Oxilia helps you find the right candidate
Recruiting is a long, demanding and complex process. At Oxilia, we want to help you simplify it by turning it into an opportunity for your clinic.
A lengthy hiring process, candidates who do not meet expectations and an unoccupied position can have a significant impact on your clinic’s profitability. Your team’s confidence may even erode in the face of a shortage of personnel and a lengthy hiring process.
Our team gives you the opportunity to choose exactly with whom you want to work and allows you to be found by candidates who know precisely what you have to offer. We maximize the chances of a successful match between you and the professionals with whom you come into contact. We offer you a 21st-century recruitment experience at no astronomical cost to your clinic.
To know more about the advantages of Oxilia, visit our website or contact our team today!