Memberresearch

2012

2012 Research Summary PresentationPresented by Graham Catt October 2013

Australian

Veterinary

Association

Membership

Challenges

Research

objectives

3 Phase

Methodologyexploratory responses

quantative online surveys

focus groups

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A major urban centre (100,000+)

A regional centre (10,000-100,000)

A rural community (less than 10,000)

53%

27%

20%

PRACTICE OWNER DETAILS

Location %

NSW & ACT 34

VIC & TAS 30

QLD 16

SA 8

WA 11

NT 1

Outside Australia 0

Male63%

Fe-male37%

Gender

Age %

31 – 40 15

41 – 50 46

51 – 60 25

61 – 70 14

71 or older 1

Area Practice Located in

Owner Partner Director

59%

24%

17%

Role in the Practice

88%

4% 2% 2% 1% 1% 2% 1%

New Grad details

Male

20%

Femal

e80%

2009 2010 2011

33%

50%

17%

GenderYear Graduated

Age %

22 or less 0

23-25 years 48

26-28 years 25

29-31 years 19

32 or more 9

Current Job Position

2009 2010 2011 2012 I am yet to start

10%

35%

41%

11%

3%

Year Started Practicing

Location %

NSW & ACT 38

VIC & TAS 27

QLD 19

SA 5

WA 4

NT 1

Outside Australia 5

What’s keeping you

awake at night?

New graduate transition; PROFESSIONAL CONCERNS

wages & working

conditions“The hours are really long and then you have to often work on-call hours on the weekends, and then if you want to do any continuing education, which you have to do, those are always at night or on the weekend outside of work hours – you are always giving up your free time.”

“The new grad wage levels are not anywhere near where you expect them to be and trying to live off that when you have a gigantic debt level is not the easiest or the most fun thing.”

New graduate transition; PRACTICE & PERSONAL CONCERNS

lack of confidence, “In my first week, I stomach-tubed an

animal and made it bleed through the nose and I was devastated, the responsibility

and pressure is immense.”

“Dealing with the animals is ok because you always know that you can get help or look something up in a book, but dealing with clients is really challenging”

pressure & lack of resources

“Learning how to keep a cool composure is important because if your freak out then everyone around you is freaked out and you are the one that is supposed to be in control. Without a sense of control then clients have no confidence in you.”

“When we leave uni we lose our access a lot of the journals, a big problem… at uni if

you had a difficult or interesting case you could go to the journals, find the right

study and read the whole article.”

poor public perceptions

“I see the negative opinion held by the public towards the vet

industry as a massively important issue within the practice since it

demotivates our staff, and particularly junior staff, especially

when customers are very unpleasant to them and make

snide comments”

“We all know of psychological issues that members of the vet community are facing, because of negative connotations form the public towards the industry. A lot of it is related to negative perceptions of vets and they (staff) feel relentlessly under attack.”

Employers & Owners: public perceptions

“There is a lot of perception out there that vet fees are astronomical, or that we over

service.”

low awareness of the cost

of pet healthcare

“The public does not fully understand what goes on behind the reception desk. Any surgical

procedure has surgeon, nurses, anaesthetist and machinery costs and the public does not know

what is involved with these procedures, they just see us as being expensive.”

“The public thinks we charge a lot of money and also earn a lot of money

but this is not true.”

Employers & Owners: public perceptions

Being a member

RECENT GRADUATES: MAIN REASON FOR BEING AN AVA MEMBER

40%

17%15%

12%

8%6%

1% 1%

being part of the profession is the most important reason for membership

“I don’t know if my AVA membership provides value for money, but I think you should

support your industry and that’s what I’m doing by having a

membership”

EMPLOYERS / OWNERS: MAIN REASON FOR BEING AN AVA MEMBER

59%

18%

8% 6%3% 2% 1% 2%

“I think the younger generation doesn’t see AVA membership as important, they have other ways of networking and getting edu-

cated”

being part of the profession is the most important reason for membership

40%New Grads

17%New Grads

15%New Grads

12%New Grads

Expectations of

The AVA

RECENT GRADUATES: EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE OF AVA

56%

45%40%

35% 32% 29%

18% 16% 14% 12%

advocacy and promotion to the public are the biggest areas of concern

30% 47%

OWNERS / EMPLOYERS: EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE OF AVA

Advocacy - be-ing a voice for veterinarians

Promoting the profession to the general

public

Represent the views of

members as the acting pro-fessional body

A reliable source of ac-curate, evid-

ence-based in-formation on animal health

issues for veterinarians

A reliable source of ac-curate, evid-

ence-based in-formation on animal health issues for the

public and other stake-

holders

Providing pro-fessional de-velopment

opportunities

Setting stand-ards of excel-

lence and best practice

Policy devel-opment for all

vets

Providing op-portunities to

network

Certification/ accreditation

of veterin-arians

58%

49% 48%

29% 29% 27% 27%

16%10%

6%

advocacy & promotion

to the public56%New Grads 35%

New Grads 32%New Grads

45%New Grads

18%New Grads 40%

New Grads

AUSAE STATE OF THE SECTOR: REASONS FOR JOINING

Advocacy, reputation

& promotion to the public

“While only 6% of respondents’ rate advocacy services as a reason for joining, 93% rate the provision of these services by their own association as important or critical.

Associations Matter: 2013 state of the sector report

OWNERS / EMPLOYERS: AVA PERFORMANCE IN CORE ROLES

Represent the views of mem-bers as the acting professional

body

Promoting the profession to the general public

Advocacy - being a voice for veterinarians

0.050.05

55%

38%

63%

40%

62%

32%

Below Expectations/ AVA Does not Perform this Role

Meeting Expectations

Above Expectations

promotion & advocacy,

more needed

New Grads: PERFORMANCE OF AVA IN DESIRED ROLES

Represent the views of mem-bers as the acting professional

body

Promoting the profession to the general public

Advocacy - being a voice for veterinarians

10%4%5%

61%

44%

64%

28%

47%

30%

Below Expectations/ AVA Does not Perform this Role

Meeting Expectations

Above Expectations

promotion & advocacy,

more needed

Membership value and

awareness

VALUE OF MEMBERSHIP

Excellent value Good value Neither good nor poor value

Poor value Very poor value

1%

36%

44%

16%

2%

62% of recent graduates are not

getting good value“At the moment, I am more than happy to pay my $350 because I think that’s about right, but certainly at $700 the pay does not go up enough to justify the increase in cost of membership three years out”

Even if my employer pays for my membership this doesn’t change the value I get.

It’s not just a monetary discussion, it’s also about the lack of benefits.

VALUE OF MEMBERSHIP

“I think we need to be reminded what kinds of

services are available because then we might use

them”

it is not part of the culture here

I don't b

elieve

the prac

tice sh

o...

I norm

ally h

ave no ve

ts...

There

is not e

nough va

lue rece

iv...

My e

mployees h

ave neve

r ...

I offere

d but they d

id not t...

My e

mployees d

o not valu

...

Too m

uch of a

financia

l...

Currently

not hap

py wi...

We pre

fer t

o pay fo

r the ve

ts t..

.

44%

17%15%

11%7%

2% 2% 1% 1%

81% OF EMPLOYERS DID NOT PAY AVA MEMBERSHIP FOR EMPLOYED VETS

“Reason I don’t pay for their membership is because my staff doesn’t see the value in it, and

they wouldn’t appreciate what I did for them”

the AVA

PERCEPTIONS OF AVA – AVA IS CONSIDERED TO BE…

5.9 imp 6.9 imp

scientific

respected

ethical

approachable

memberfocused

traditional

PERCEPTIONS OF AVA – AVA IS NOT CONSIDERED TO BE…

innovativeirrelevant

dynamic

elitist

disparate

caringstrong

inconsistent

modern

ASSISTANCE IN TRANSITION TO THE WORKFORCE

29% found AVA helpful

Very helpful Helpful enough Just ok Not helpful enough Not at all helpful Not applicable/Did not seek or require

their help

6%

23%

35%

10%

5%

21%

AVA is seen to be quiet & insular…

PERCEPTIONS OF AVA IN PROMOTING & ADVOCATING

…speak for,

and less to the

industry

Summary

Research conducted by Taverner Research July 2012* All image rights owned by Shutterstock