Episode 5 – Creating a Better Partner with Jamie Leach
Jamie Leach, Partner’s People Operations Coordinator, is working to help create a better environment for team members and better care for our patients. Obsessed with animals, Jamie always knew she wanted to work with them in some capacity, and she’s doing just. How? By helping make Partner’s team members work lives easier so that they can focus on helping the pets who come through our doors.
What You’ll Learn…
- Why Jamie chose to work with Partner.
- What is the best part of her job.
- The Top 3 things clients should know about Partner’s team members
- What Jamie hopes to see change for the better in veterinary medicine and how Partner is helping create that change.
- Why veterinary professionals should consider working at Partner.
But before we dive into our chat, here’s a quick Q&A about Jamie…
What was your first job? Mucking stalls at a barn!
What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better? Puppies, always!
What makes you laugh the most? I enjoy baking, gardening, traveling, and visiting area wineries.
What’s your spirit animal and why? A unicorn! They’re sparkly and pretty.
[Music]
Narrator:
Welcome back to “Did You Know,” a podcast by Partner Veterinary. In this series, we explore all things veterinary medicine and all things Partner. In each episode, we will answer some of the most common questions that we are asked—from HR to emergencies and everything in between. If it happens at Partner, we’ll cover it. Speaking of HR, this episode features Jamie Leech, Partner’s People Operations Coordinator. Listen in to find out what Partner is doing differently to create a better environment for our team members and better care for our patients.
Jen Mellace:
“Well, thanks for joining me, Jamie. Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about how you got started in the veterinary profession?”
Jamie Leach:
“Thanks for having me. I’m Jamie Leech, and I am the People Operations Coordinator with Partner Veterinary. I started cleaning kennels as a teenager in a local veterinary hospital. Over the years, I worked my way up, spending some time working in large animal medicine before transitioning to small animal general practice and then eventually moving into specialty. I spent the last 10 years at a specialty surgical practice in Northern Virginia. I’m obsessed with animals—I always knew that I wanted to work with them in some capacity. I like to think that by supporting the technical staff, I’m doing my part to help all animals.”
Jen Mellace:
“What is your role with Partner?”
Jamie Leach:
“As the People Operations Coordinator, I work as part of the People Operations Department, supporting our teams on anything Human Resources-related. This includes benefits, policies, payroll—I help with all kinds of stuff there. In the past, I’ve filled a variety of different roles, from practice manager to account auditing and account management within AR practices. I think I have such a good understanding of all the different roles that the team members face, and bringing that kind of experience helps me really understand what challenges each team member is facing and then helps me be able to help them when they have an HR need.”
Jen Mellace:
“What is the best part of your role with Partner?”
Jamie Leach:
“Being able to help those that are working on the floor get what they need to do their jobs better. If there’s anything I can do that helps make their lives easier, and that way they, in turn, can spend more of their time helping animals, I feel really good about what I’ve done every day.”
Jen Mellace:
“What are the top three things our clients should know about our team members?”
Jamie Leach:
“Well, number one: our team members treat your pets like their own. They give them the same love, affection, and dedication that they would give their own pets. Number two: our team members work really long and hard hours. They are just amazing—they’re so dedicated to providing good veterinary medicine. And number three: we’re here to help. You know, sometimes people feel badly if their pet is difficult or sick or vomiting all over the place, but we’re here to help. That’s what our team’s here to do, and they take it in stride. It’s amazing.”
Jen Mellace:
“What do you hope to see change for veterinary medicine, and how is Partner playing a role in this?”
Jamie Leach:
“I think historically there are a couple of things that we could really change for the better. The industry has really struggled with compassion fatigue. The strain of caring for sick animals on top of a demanding work environment—physically and emotionally—really has a lot of individuals leaving the field, especially in the last 10 years. There’s also a bit of a history of toxicity in the workplace that really strains teams.
I think that Partner, in a lot of ways, is trying to really combat some of these problems. They have a huge awareness of the mental health aspect and stressors of veterinary medicine. For example, we just had three big training sessions in our Richmond location for the entire team, and they closed the entire hospital for days for each of these training sessions. That way, the team didn’t have to worry about any of the patients they had in the hospital or any clients that might be waiting—they could really just focus on the training that was at hand without having those stressors hanging over their heads.
Taking these concerns off the table really helped them focus on what they were doing. I think also the dedication to building a great team is just a breath of fresh air. Each team member at Partner brings their own value and contribution to the positive culture, and we really recruit new team members thoughtfully with this in mind as we’re creating that new positive culture that supports their wellbeing.”
Jen Mellace:
“What is Partner offering and doing differently for our team members than other organizations within the veterinary profession?”
Jamie Leach:
“One of the things that we recognize across veterinary medicine is that it’s a lot—it’s a lot of compassion fatigue, it’s a lot of physical stress, emotionally it takes a toll on people. So one of the things that we offer to new hires is a wellness week. After a new team member has been with the company for 90 days, we give them a week—just a paid week off—that they can take to relax and kind of rejuvenate a little bit after they’ve been in their new role. It just gives them some extra time to decompress and feel like they’ve gotten situated in their new role, and now they have a week off that they can just relax and rejuvenate.”
Jen Mellace:
“Why should people in the veterinary profession come to work with Partner?”
Jamie Leach:
“I think that coming to Partner, you’re going to feel like your ideas are welcomed. There’s not a lot of the ‘we’ve always done it this way, so this is how we’re going to do it.’ We really embrace new thoughts and ideas, and we’re really focused on building each other up instead of taking each other down. Having any kind of belittling, backstabbing, or just some of the toxic things that you can have in a workplace—we’re really about making it a place that people want to come to and feel like their ideas and input are welcome.”
Jen Mellace:
“And how does this translate to our patients and our clients?”
Jamie Leach:
“I think when you have a team that is engaged and feeling good about coming to work and what they’re bringing to the table, they’re in turn able to give more of themselves to their patients.”
Narrator:
Thank you for listening to “Did You Know.” Is there something about Partner that you want to know? Email us at [email protected]. Who knows? We might turn your question into an entire episode! You can now find us wherever you listen to all of your other favorite podcasts. Subscribe now!
[Music]