SOMAVET

CONTINUOUS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT – THE WLB INCENTIVES

WHAT IS THE WORK / LIFE BALANCE COOPERATIVE?

Fortis Vets works in the spheres of Veterinary and Medical research and through our insights focus groups, we collect data (protected and secured through confidential privacy conducts) that pertain to the behaviors and movements within the sectors.

We have teamed up with SOMA HEALTH, a wellness program provider and insights research platform that use their results to steer market influence so, while we were using their game name SOMAVET to initiate various somatic wellness incentives and programs that relate to workforce and personal wellness, we have also collaborated to co-generate research results via engagement with our incredible veterinary audience….YOU

Thanks to our HR background and the #worklifebalance hashtag that has been thoroughly overused and distorted over the last 5 years, with our drive and desire to find out how everyone’s really doing in practice, we have made it our mission to use our focus groups as the shadow puppet of a far bigger concept that brings us all together and helps to steer and create change

That concept is

THE WORK / LIFE BALANCE COOPERATIVE

It is a cooperative because it functions by involving mutual assistance in working towards a common goal:

That goal being

A NEW PERSPECTIVE. A FRESH VISION. A SENSE OF PURPOSE

WHAT WE WANT out of our careers INSTEAD OF what our time spent in our careers want out of us

HOW WE CAN BALANCE our careers realistically, functionally and financially and make more time for our selves, our lifestyles, families, friends and social and recreational purposes

HOW WE CAN LOOK FOR SOLUTIONS to situations that are causing us stress, depression, uncertainty and trauma in both the work place and our personal lives so that we can APPLY THESE SOLUTIONS AND START TO MAKE ACTIVE CHANGES for the greater good

HOW WE CAN BECOME EMPOWERED as team mates, colleagues and professionals through looking in to alternative practice establishments such as EMPLOYEE OWNED PRACTICES and SHAREHOLDER ENTERPRISES that much like this cooperative HANDS BACK POWER TO THE PEOPLE in practice and lets them lead instead of being lead

HOW WE CAN BECOME BETTER LEADERS that really start to listen and deliver on what people want in the work place and outside of it – MORE TIME OFF, BETTER SALARIES AND PAY CONDITIONS, MORE AUTONOMY, MORE CONTROL OVER ONES OWN PROFESSIONAL FUTURE – What can all this look like if we put heads together and discuss the situations occurring right now.

WE VALUE EVERYONE AND UNDERSTAND THAT WE’RE ALL DIFFERENT

Gone are the days where everyone’s roles, inputs and offerings are the same. We understand that we are ALL DIFFERENT and that our expectations and requirements also come from a place that is unique.

You may be a person that is happy to work all hours under the sun but that’s not the case for everyone. Some people perform better working less but being able to put in great efforts in the smaller time frame offered because productivity doesn’t grow on an unrealistic rota

And we understand that everyone’s neuro-diversities, backgrounds, health, environment and interests also all vary

Some of us become burnt out much quicker than others because our ability to cope under pressure or adhere to the same protocols are in line with how we are physiologically and psychologically designed, not how we’re expected to perform based on a distorted, unrealistic expectation

NO SHAME must come to anyone for not being able to cope or manage with daily work life tasks and pressures for not being a professional superstar. It’s OK to put your hand up and say ‘This isn’t working FOR ME or I am not coping’. Rather let’s look for solutions on how the work place can shift so that each individual finds their place within it on a balanced level that suits them.

THE ONE BOX FITS ALL WORKPLACE isn’t what works – Yet we’re all allowed to co-exist within the workplace according to our needs and requirements. So how do we enable that?

THIS IS WHY WE’RE HERE! TO CREATE SOLUTIONS AND CHANGE THE WORKPLACE DYNAMIC so that everyone gets a say and can stay

YOU ONLY KNOW WHAT NEEDS CHANGING AND HOW when you take a deep look at the UGLY stuff and what’s going on that’s causing the problems. Hence why our research focus groups offer such a great way to collect feedback from within the workforce from those of you that have every right to voice your opinions and be heard for how you think, feel and move throughout your daily working lives

You might be someone that loves your job and the practice you work for can do no wrong. Life is peachy AND THAT IS GREAT, we LOVE to hear these stories that give us all hope and inspiration but, too often we hear from those that are suffering from extreme burnout, spending far too much of their precious time in highly toxic work environments where they are valued very little, paid even less and are disillusioned, resentful and unsure of why they are in their careers or what the future looks like based on such devastation

EVERYONE’S STORY IS DIFFERENT

Perhaps your a woman struggling with menopause in the work place and you feel unsupported, overwhelmed and over sensitized

Perhaps you’re someone going through a divorce and the impact of your personal and emotional life is causing tension and distraction in your work life

Perhaps you’re suffering from substance abuse (however that looks to you) or you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, panic attacks and you feel vulnerable and exposed in the work place

Or perhaps you’re not even sure what any of this means and you’re someone that sails through every day without a care in the world…

WHATEVER YOUR WORK / LIFE BALANCE LOOKS LIKE TO YOU, we want you to know we value it. We value you and want to make sure that whatever balance expectations you have we are here to help you to achieve it, WE’RE HERE FOR YOU!

ON THE FLIP SIDE OF THE COIN

Well, we’re not in the market of blaming or shaming anyone or any type of practice for how they operate or what little moral responsibility they instil in the workforce dynamic but, we are at that point now where the work place needs to start taking responsibility for the wellbeing of their staff because MOST OF THE CAUSES OF STRESS, BURNOUT, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY AND OTHER DISORDERS COME FROM THE WORK PLACE and they are directly the cause and effect of why so many are feeling like they either can no longer cope or no longer want to play the game

And let’s be honest, it is a game because if we didn’t all have to chase money for the sake of existing then would we honestly spend our time doing what we’re doing all hours under the sun day in and day out?

NO, PROBABLY NOT

So what can the work place do to accept accountability and start to help make changes?

This is another dialogue we are hoping to have by reaching out with those in leadership and alongside their narratives and the ones we gather from the staff within the workforce, we need to connect the dots and help co-create the solutions

There has been a lot of change over the last few years. New courses available such as ONE HEALTH PROGRAMS, televet and home visit consults and a lot of integration of AI and TECH that can help reduce our general practice time especially in specialized areas and diagnostics. This is great but again, there has been a worry that the implementation of AI will see an eventual decrease in the need of hands on vets to do their jobs.

So knowing what the future looks like and forecasting these changes will help us secure and steer all those in the boat in a direction that works for them

A FEW IDEAS…..

There has been a lot of talk about EMPLOYEE OWNED PRACTICES – An incredible incentive to share the profits through all shareholders of the business (YOU) and give power back to those that operate the business on the daily

With new Business models available such as COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANIES or COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE LTD’S where you can form as a group of like minded operatives to structure your company / practice how you want and list each employee as a shareholder. Your only issue is funding but, you have to start somewhere and as professional bodies that are MORE THAN CAPABLE of running a practice ( YOU ALL DO IT EVERY DAY) then finding an equal shareholder investor is nowhere near impossible and could be the make or break solution to what the future in your field looks like.

But to create solutions, we need to have a LONG HARD LOOK AT THE PROBLEMS, which is why we run our FOCUS GROUPS in the hope that as many of you will participate and provide feedback in HOW YOU’RE ALL FEELING in practice and WHAT ISSUES YOU ARE FACING in your work place

When the data speaks on behalf of you all and we can see where the problem areas lay, then we can put heads together and create solutions that couteract your problems

SO IF YOU’RE SOMEONE IN VETERINARY that would like to join us on our mission, all you have to do is put your name down as a keen participant in the movement, which we will activate on social for everyone to share their opinions and concerns AS WELL AS solutions and ideas.

WE ARE GOING SOCIAL

We plan on creating a facebook group so that everyone is interconnected and able to share their insight’s, concerns, voices, feelings etc. We are also about to launch our PODCAST – SOMAVET PODCAST that outs all of our concerns out in to the aether and we will run a monthly newsletter additional to our SOMA HEALTH PUBLICATION that has various programs, workshops, incentives and courses that focus on wellbeing, mind body soul connections and psychosomatic therapies that can help you in the LIFE side of the coin and bring you in to a more balanced and positive mind and emotional space that can in return help balance the other side of the CPD coin because CONTINUOUS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT is equally as important as CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

And if you’re someone that wishes to take it further and become an ambassador of the WLB COOPERATIVE and integrate this movement in to your practice through workshops, group sessions, incentives etc then PLEASE REACH OUT TO US and once we are full formed and up and running (probably early Autumn 2023) then we will give you all the tools and resources to help bring your practice and team in to a WORK LIFE BALANCE SUCCESS STORY thanks to all those that care, share and are here to make changes!

You can drop us a line at CPD@fortis-vets.com or kathryn@fortis-vets.com

REGISTER ON THE FORM BELOW AND LET US KNOW YOUR PRIMARY INTEREST AND HOW YOU HOPE TO GET INVOLVED

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