A great veterinary workplace is not an accident. It is built.
Retaining good people, protecting wellbeing and running a sustainable practice all come down to the same thing: culture.
Great Veterinary Workplaces (GVW) gives you a structured, evidence-based way to build that culture deliberately, rather than leaving it to chance or waiting until there’s a crisis.
Developed by AVA’s Veterinary Business Group, GVW is a practical framework built specifically for the realities of veterinary practice, not adapted from a generic model. It gives practice owners, managers, and leaders a clear pathway to a workplace that people want to stay in.
Why a great veterinary workplaces matters
Veterinary workplaces face pressures most industries do not: high emotional load, workforce shortages, and a profession where burnout and turnover carry a real clinical, human and financial cost. A structured approach to workplace culture is not a nice to have. It is retention strategy, risk management and business performance in one framework.
Who this is for
Practice owners and managers wanting a clear, practical starting point rather than guesswork
Leaders looking to increase retention and strengthen team wellbeing
Practices preparing for formal recognition, including Great Place to Work certification
All veterinary team members who want to know what makes a difference, or where to start
How it works
GVW follows a continuous improvement cycle, not a one-off checklist.
Workplace culture is not something you fix once. It is something you keep building.
Great Veterinary Workplaces
Review
Identify your priorities for improvement. Use AVA’s Great Veterinary Workplaces 10 Pillar Guidelines to understand what great looks like, and to identify your goals and gaps.
Plan & Do
Find CPD resources that support your goals. AVA’s Great Veterinary Workplaces webpage links outcomes under the 10 Pillars and development needs to relevant non-clinical education and resources.
Reflect & Implement
Embed your learning in everyday practices. Use the Great Veterinary Workplace Guidelines as a reference of how you can achieve each pillar through leading, managing, supporting and involving your team.
Measure
Use GPTW survey which provides feedback on your team’s experience against the 10 Pillars to understand the impact of your learning and actions, and benchmark against other workplaces.
The 10 Pillars at a glance
Every great veterinary workplace is built on the same foundations. These ten pillars capture what matters most, from purpose and wellbeing through to ethics and standards, giving you a clear starting point for where to focus first.
Meaning & Value
Purpose is what gets people through a hard day. This pillar is about making sure every person on your team understands how their work matters, to clients, to animals and to the practice.
Health & Wellbeing
Veterinary work carries psychological and physical demands. This pillar helps practices move from managing burnout after it happens to preventing it in the first place.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The best teams draw on a range of perspectives. This pillar builds workplaces where every person can contribute fully, regardless of background.
Job Design & Demands
Burnout is rarely about one bad day. It is usually about how a role is built. This pillar helps practices design jobs that are sustainable, not just survivable.
Growth & Development
People stay where they can see a future. This pillar covers the feedback, development and career pathways that keep good people invested in your practice.
Reward & Recognition
Fair pay matters, and so does feeling valued day to day. This pillar connects formal remuneration with the everyday recognition that keeps people engaged.
Proactive People Processes
Great culture should not depend on one manager’s memory or goodwill. This pillar builds the systems, recruitment, onboarding and performance management, that make good practice repeatable.
Collegiality & Connection
Strong peer relationships are one of the best protections against isolation and burnout. This pillar is about building connection within your team.
Social & Environmental Responsibility
Increasingly, people choose employers whose values extend beyond the clinic doors. This pillar covers community engagement and environmentally responsible practices.
Professional Standards & Ethics
Trust is the foundation of veterinary practice. This pillar covers the ethical decision making and standards of care that protect that trust, for clients, for the profession and for animal welfare.
Everything you need to build a great veterinary workplace
AVA’s Great Veterinary Workplaces is a practical framework to help you build healthy, sustainable, high-performing and professional teams with purpose and direction.
You can use any part as and when you need it, or use it sequentially as a clearly connected continuous cycle for improvement.
The Great Veterinary Workplaces policy explains the evidence behind great veterinary workplaces, why they are key to veterinary retention, mental health, professional care and financial performance, and who is responsible.
Guidelines define what great workplace culture looks like in any veterinary setting. Providing a constant yet adaptable reference for the whole profession, the Guidelines break this down into 10 key outcome-focused Pillars. Each Pillar includes distinct focus areas, goals, and actions, all of which cover leadership, workplace systems, communication, and more.
Measurement helps you assess your current workplace culture and capabilities against the 10 Pillars (Guidelines). Using Great Place to Work’s validated and globally benchmarked survey, you gain an insight to your team’s experience and how you compare to other organisations within – and beyond – the veterinary sector.
Education provides targeted learning options from within and beyond the AVA to build leadership, management, communication and team skills. Choose from carefully aligned non-clinical education options, including from AVA THRIVE, Veterinary Business Group and specific Chartered Veterinary Practictioner sections, alongside partnered training and resources. Great Veterinary Workplaces turns professional development into a structured and purposeful learning journey instead of a long list of disconnected courses.
Certification recognises practices that meet the standard for a Great Place to Work, based on your team’s perspective.
Recognition through awards aligned to the outcomes within the 10 Pillars.
What you need to get started
Access to GVW’s suggested learning is only available to AVA members. What you can access within the framework depends on your membership tier.
ALL ACCESS
Full access to all pillar education and resources, and every AVA webinar included in your membership. Chartered Vet Practitioner microlearning modules are available at the All Access rate of $75 per module. You will also be eligible for discounted rates on external education offered by our preferred partners. This is the tier we recommend if you want the fullest and most cost effective access to the framework.
FLEXI
Includes AVA webinars as part of your membership. Chartered Vet Practitioner microlearning modules are available at the Flexi member rate of $75 per module. Does not include discounted rates on partner delivered external education.
CONNECTED
Webinars available at a 50% off member discount ($25 each). Chartered Vet Practitioner microlearning modules are available at $100 per module. Does not include discounted rates on partner delivered external education.
NON-MEMBERS
No access to GVW’s suggested learning or course discounts, which are benefits available only to AVA members. AVA webinars are available at $50 each. Chartered Vet Practitioner microlearning modules can be purchased individually at $125 per module, at the non member rate.
Questions?
Read our FAQ’s
Great Veterinary Workplaces (GVW) is a practical framework developed by the AVA’s Veterinary Business Group to help veterinary practices build and sustain positive, high performing workplace cultures. It is structured around ten pillars and a continuous improvement cycle of assess, focus, implement and reassess.
GVW is designed for practice owners, managers and leaders who want a structured, evidence based approach to workplace culture rather than an ad hoc one. It is equally relevant whether you are addressing a specific issue such as turnover or burnout or working toward formal recognition through Great Place to Work certification.
No. The framework is designed so you can assess your workplace across all ten pillars then focus your effort on the areas that matter most to your practice right now. You can move through the pillars in any order and return to the cycle as priorities change.
Assessing your workplace is the first step in the GVW cycle. You can do this informally using your own insight against the ten pillars, or through the Great Place to Work assessment, which includes questions mapped directly to the pillars. Once you have identified your priority areas, GVW’s pillar pages give you the targeted education and resources to act on them. For full detail on the Great Place to Work program, including certification requirements and how to register, visit the Great Place to Work program page.
The GVW framework is only available to AVA members. Once inside, each type of resource has its own access rules depending on your membership tier.
- AVA webinars. Included at no extra cost for All Access and Flexi members. Available at a 50% discount for Connected members.
- Partner delivered external education. Discounted for All Access members.
- Chartered Vet Practitioner microlearning modules. Paid per module for every tier, at a rate that depends on your membership level.
- Non members. Cannot access the GVW framework. Individual webinars and Chartered Vet Practitioner modules can still be purchased separately at the non member rate.
A group package gives your entire team All Access membership at a reduced per person rate, so everyone gets full webinar access and the partner education discount, without you managing individual tiers across your staff. Check out our group packages.
