Culture


Whilst Stuart has the ultimate say in the running of the practice, he is not an autocratic leader. WPVC is definitely more democratic, allowing the team to have autonomy within their working day.
WPVC values are communicated consistently across all of our team, ensuring that everyone knows & understands their importance.
Stuart leads by example - he actively engages with all members of the team and their input is always sought - this leads to us having a diverse perspective and the team's ideas are incorporated into the decision making.
Having a diverse team means that different and new experiences are brought to the practice and this ensure a wide range of viewpoints are considered.
Our Purpose
We aim to provide a happy, fulfilling, and fun environment in which to work. We believe in having enough cases to keep the team motivated and occupied, but also enough time to do the job properly. We have protected lunch breaks and admin time for all the team, to allow time for researching cases, conferring with colleagues, and communicating with clients. We give everyone the autonomy to make their own decisions, decide on treatment plans and actively support them along the way.

As a practice, we follow the principles of Fear Free, which means all pets are treated with kindness, dignity, and respect, with time taken to make them feel welcome and to try to alleviate stress of future visits. We aim to be friendly and approachable for clients and believe in being there for pets and their owners for the whole journey, not just when their pet is ill or injured.

Psychological safety
At WPVC, we believe in a culture where everyone can speak freely, without concern of conflict, ridicule or punishment.
We empower the whole team, so they feel safe when mistakes or significant events happen - mistakes can, and should, be learned from and no one should shy away from speaking up, especially if prevents harm.
We routinely audit our methodology, our post-op complications, our client's thoughts & concerns, to help us learn and thrive from day to day occurences.
We closely work with VetLed & the VDS, to help us with our inter-personal relationships within the team and with our clients. They have created DISC profiles for the whole team, and carried out full day training sessions, to allow us to communicate better, across the board.

Diversity, equality and inclusion
At WPVC, we firmly believe in equality for everyone in the team and we are committed to having a clear & explicit DEI statement and policy.
As an employer, we have taken this further and been accredited to the Disability Confident scheme, which ensures we publicly support and actively participate in the DEI initiatives . This helps us promote diversity and inclusion to exchange best practices and foster a broader impact
We promise to have policies which do not discriminate against any group, and we will make necessary adjustments to be more inclusive. We also have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination, both with our staff and our clients - we want to have a culture that fosters openness and inclusivity, where all employees feel valued, respected and able to contribute their unique perspectives.

Team engagement
At WPVC, we actively listen to the needs of our team, ensuring that their feedback is valued, welcomed and acted upon. Communication is the most important tool in our toolbox and we have an open door policy that allows anyone to approach the leadership team with any concerns, ideas or feedback they may have.
We have monthly team meetings, individual one-to-ones weekly and regular department meeting (usually weekly or fortnightly depending on the workload) This gives us the chance to listen, provide support and guidance.
Changes within the practice are discussed, and we send out weekly newsletters to ensure everyone is on the ball.

Team building
Building camaraderie and collaborative relationships is an ongoing effort that requires consistent support from our leadership team and active participation from all employees. We hope by encouraging a culture of inclusivity, respect, and open communication it helps to strengthen the sense of camaraderie within the workplace.
We also have an amazing social life within the practice - we have social groups such as "musical nerds" that go to the theatre on regular basis, we have a book group and the WPVC Dinner Club, where we try to meet up once a month for dinner from a different country - either in someone's house or out to a nice restaurant.
We also organise fun and engaging events such as parties, summer BBQs, Christmas Party for the team and have organised client events such as Open Days, ceilidhs and quiz nights for charity.
Within work, we recognise and appreciate individual and team achievements regularly. We have hosted workshops, training days and team building events to help us facilitate collaborative projects, which helps promote a sense of purpose and belonging.