We’ve talked about many benefits of locumming so far in this series – increased pay, improved autonomy, being able to leave work and feel like you’ve helped out a team that would have struggled otherwise, but also leaving knowing you don’t have to work the next day because you only work when you want.
Locum work is the epitome of flexible working in my opinion. The dawn of flexible working has really taken hold of the world especially since the pandemic and although veterinary isn’t necessarily the fastest to pick it up – locumming is definitely your window of opportunity if you haven’t had one so far!
What is flexible working?
According to the Gov.uk website, flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee’s needs, for example having flexible start and finish times, or working from home. They note on their page an important point too – all employees have the legal right to request flexible working – not just parents and carers. Benefits noted from empowering employees to have a flexible working arrangement is that it reduces work-related stress and improves overall job satisfaction.
Who better to ask as well than champion of flexible working, Silvia Janska- of Flexee (vet flexible working consultancy), what she considers as ‘flexible working’ in the veterinary industry context: ‘Flexible working means something different to everyone, and essentially people need to be able to scale workload up and down to suit their lifestyle needs.’
And why is it so important? Silvia explains that ‘veterinary professionals state adjusting working hours as the most important factor to help improve their work-life balance.’
And we all know that finding a true work-life balance (wherever that sits for you!) is a major factor in preventing burnout. When we know that flexible working could have a huge impact on this, then it’s hard to ignore. Employers struggling with retaining veterinary employees – the great retention crisis is very real – are way behind the curve if they’re not adopting flexible working allowances for their staff members.
This is going to be key to ensure sustainable and profitable businesses in the future. Not only that but in December 2022, the UK government announces its intentions to introduce changes to the right to request flexible working, with the aim of ‘making flexible working the default’.
So how do we create flexible working for ourselves as a vet or RVN?
One of the best ways is to locum! With locumming, you set the rules. Don’t want to work weekends? Can do. Need to be out of work by the school run? Sorted. Can only manage 3 days at a time? You’ll be grand.
Although locum work comes with the small added stressors of making sure you’re doing your own tax forms correctly, sometimes travelling a bit further for work, or making sure you’ve got enough work lined up – the benefits of flexibility massively outweigh the cons in my opinion. We asked this community at Management for Locums how locuming has allowed them to create flexibility in their working lives and we had an amazing variety of answers! Here are some examples of how locum work lends itself to flexible working.
Travel
Locum work has notoriously allowed people the freedom to travel more as they are no longer restricted to a specific location or a limited number of holiday days. This community member has created an awesome nomadic life saying, ‘locum working allows me to live freely in my camper van, taking work and shifts around the country in places I’ve never visited.’
Talk about spontaneity being the spice of life: ‘My work life balance is a million times better and if people ask me if I want to do something- a holiday, a day trip, a wedding, I can always say YES! Because I just block it off in my own diary and book work around it.’
I am grateful that I did not need to ask permission for the trip I’m currently taking!
MFL Community Member
Health
Permanent positions can often be a struggle if you suffer from a chronic health condition as you obviously have a restricted number of paid days. It’s often impossible for people to know when they might have good periods or poorer periods and the unpredictable nature of our health can be a real cause of friction at work. Not only is it a struggle for you, but you also don’t want to have to let team members down last minute! This is what people had to say with experiences like this:
‘I have severe Crohn’s disease and having to choose between being off sick or working 40hrs on a low wage with no in between was leading me to be burnt out and making me sicker (stress really contributes to a flare up). Locuming allows me to work my butt off when I’m well, but take it easy when I’m not.’
Another member offered her experience – ‘I only work lates (past 10am start) because sometimes I’m in pain at night and my mornings aren’t good. And when practices ask me to do earlies I say no, sorry I don’t do earlies and they usually work their shifts around me because they need the cover more.’
For the female members of the veterinary profession, menstrual pain and discomfort can be a crippling burden to have to put up with while you work a very physical job. But if you track your cycle, as a locum, you can plan your days off work around yourself and give yourself an easier time. ‘As someone who has suffered quite badly with my cycle, I can now book work around it so I’m no longer pushing myself on days I actually need to give myself rest.’
And it’s not all just physical health reasons, we know there is such an increased rate of poor mental health and burnout in the veterinary profession.
I know from talking to my followers on @thisvetcan_blog that people really struggle to validate and ask for time off for mental health. But locumming can take some stress away, you can have a lesser workload in the first place but also make sure you aren’t working when you’re having a tougher time – ‘It’s improved my productivity so much as well as improve my mental health.’
Side projects, businesses or education
Are you building up a side hustle that’s gradually taking up a lot more of your time, but wouldn’t be able to sustain you financially yet if you gave up the day job? Locum work can be the answer for that middle ground before you take the plunge!
‘Locum work was the bridge for me between clinical practice and building my businesses. It allowed me to earn money whilst also having the flexibility to run my own diary, in turn allowing me to take the opportunities that brought my ventures to life.’
Not only business, but if you’re putting yourself through a course or going back to uni, some flexible locum shifts to fit around your education can really help financially and provides more free time than a permanent job to crack down with studying. This community member added this on the topic: ‘take December, I booked a lot of work and earned 2x my usual months salary- allowing me to take it easy this month and just work odd days an a couple of weekend shifts. I’ve got to have some down time and catch up on uni work.’
Parenting and carers
Locumming is a really popular choice for parents coming back from maternity leave. Not only that, but if you’re not planning to go back to full time for quite a few years time once the kids are at school, but you just want to ‘keep your hand in’ – locum work offers the perfect ad-hoc solution for this!
A MFL community parent says, ‘locum work is the only way I can work currently. I just do ad-hoc shifts. I have twin toddlers and so childcare is completely unaffordable. So I pick up shifts around my husbands work and when my parents can help out!’
Perhaps becoming a locum has allowed you more time with your family as you are not restricted to certain holiday time. You know you’ll always be available for half-term holidays or school occasions if you want to be.
Can Locums help permanent staff members become more flexible?
As well as giving yourself the ability to work flexibly when you chose to become a locum, you’re also helping permanent staff members in the clinics you work in to be allowed more flexible working hours! As Silvia mentions as well, ‘making flexible working work is a team effort’, and locums are part of that team.
If more locums are available for late shifts, nights, weekends or any shift cover for that matter, it means that when staff members request differing start and finish times, or fewer night/on-call shifts, employers are more likely to be able to accomodate them if they know they’ll be able to find cover and keep the practice running.
The more this happens, the more the idea of flexibility at work will be perpetuated as the norm in the veterinary profession – and for the greater good in my opinion!
The Bottom Line
For more info on how to start locumming if this has whet your appetite for flexible adventure then head over to the Management for Locums community of Facebook. There’s a whole heap of friendly people helping others start their journey into locumming.
Many in the community can attest to how much of a difference it’s made to their lives now that they have time to meet up with friends on a weekday or been able to start really successful businesses alongside veterinary!
If you’re interested in making your practice more flexible – Flexee has a free flexible working self-assessment tool fo vet practices on their website so make sure to check that out if you’re in a leadership position.
Not only that but their new flexible working resource hub is soon to go live so keep your eyes peeled!
ThisVetCan 