re: The labor shortage - Great Resignation - do you know people who have quit?

I can’t think of anyone in my company that has quit. I can however, think of a couple of folks that have accelerated their retirements….this Covid bullshite has been hard on those of us who are forced to sit in a bedroom all day staring at a computer.

I don’t know anyone period.

I've seen tons of turnover at clients. These are largely people that simply changed jobs.

I think the shutdowns and work interruptions suddenly made the grass greener on the other side of the fence.

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The fiction that people are quitting en masse to sit home and collect a government check is...well, fiction.

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And you know that, how?

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had read even before the Covid crisis, that vets had one of the highest, maybe *the* highest, suicide rate of all professions.. perhaps becuase of the sadness and death they must see every day

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It is a big problem. I don't have a comprehensive answer for the why but here are big possibilities:

1. Romance versus reality: The romantic ideals the profession seems to promise can be outweighed by the day to day stressors. Money is often a problem and you will see people every day who can't afford the cost of optimal care for their pet. People who go into the field without realizing the nature of that obstacle can be dismayed because it puts them into a position where they have to be the bad guy and worry about the money stuff they typically didn't prioritize or they would have gone to medical school or dental school for the same debt but higher salaries.

2. The death thing. Animals have shorter life spans unless you specialize in tortoises and parrots. Your patients will die sometimes and if you practice for a while many of your favorite patients will die. And sometimes you will be asked to euthanize them. Don't get me wrong. This is a noble and humane service. For more than half of us dying slowly is an ugly and degrading process. Euthanasia is the right thing for alleviating that suffering. But it takes a toll. I haven't told my friends who are veterinarians about the terrible dreams etc because I wouldn't want my horrible dreams to be incorporated into theirs. I have learned some rituals with exercise, breathing exercises, meditation etc and that improved things somewhat.

3. Financial Pressures. The typical veterinarian graduating now accumulates a retarded amount of debt relative to their salaries. Most schools are charging upwards of 50k tuition per year. In a financial sense it makes no sense unless salaries significantly rise or the tuitions fall dramatically. Accumulating hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans is questionable enough if you are going to earn 300k as a dentist or general practitioner (MD) but frankly idiotic if you will earn 110k as a general practice (VMD/DVM). Only the romance associated with the profession keeps more entering the veterinary schools.

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o (I could be wrong about this, but everyone I know with college aged kids doesn't make them work).


I notice this is the people I know also. I’m not a parent so I really don’t have an opinion, but it definitely feels like that has changed. All of my family/friends had jobs when we were in college.

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100% agree with this. Many less teens and college age working. Parents don't want it to be too hard for them. That's how we end up with the young and demanding employees. They have never had it hard and just refuse to do anything "hard".

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and test mandate

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Oh, the horror. Poor babies.

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This is what I’m seeing as well in my hospital system. Nurses aides are rare as Hens teeth because you can make more at Chick Filet or Dunkin’ Donuts, and the hospital wonders why they can’t find anyone…Always reactive instead of proactive. We lost the majority of our ICU RN staff, who now travel for legit MD $, and who can blame them? Hospital would not step to the plate and are ironically now trying to fill the holes with…travelers.

The hospital is so short staffed it would be comical if it weren’t so sad. For now I’m just picking up an extra shift a week for insane incentive pay, I love my coworkers and don’t care to travel.

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I work for a rehab hospital (Not a SNF) and we've had a huge turnover in nursing, even with paying lots of shift bonuses. We've used contract nurses like never before as well, with their rates being $90-100/hr. Our turnover in Houston has been a merry go round. All the hospitals are offering sign on bonuses, so many nurses leave for that sign on and then we pay a sign on to our new ones. All for $10000 or so. Once they make this move, they'll be stuck for 2 years or have to pay back part of the money.

Yes, CNA's are hard to get. We made market adjustments for all ours because of the exact thing you mentioned. It's also pretty much the hardest job in the hospital and the one that gets noticed the most by the patients. Good ones go to school for a year to be an LVN and make more money.

We have nurses that work 5-6 shifts per week, get overtime, and bonuses and make more than my CEO and I.

But they aren't leaving the workforce. They're making massive money. I'd say go for it, if you're a young nurse. Get the big bucks because it won't last forever. Bonuses and travel assignments will eventually go away.

I’m a nurse (a guy. You don’t want pics) so yes. I have seen many quit or just chase money with travel gigs.

Two years is a long time to deal with this shite. I am making more money than I ever have but don’t care and would move on if I had the balls.