Fletcher Kendra, Paton Valerie Osland, Jones Stephanie J, Levine Jonathan M, Kerwin Sharon C, Eckman Stacy
Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States.
Department of Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Counseling, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, United States.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Apr 28;12:1483926. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1483926. eCollection 2025.
This qualitative case study explored how a career ladder advancement program, with programmatic changes based on employee input and programmatic evaluation, related to employee engagement among veterinary technicians in a veterinary medical teaching hospital. While research regarding the implementation and outcomes of career ladders exists in multiple healthcare, private industry, and higher education contexts, there is no research pertaining directly to Veterinary Technicians within a revenue-generating organization affiliated with an institution of higher education, limiting the ability to address veterinary technician retention.
Framed using Kahn's theory of employee engagement, the study involved semi-structured interviews of 17 veterinary technicians to ascertain contributors and barriers to employee engagement through a structured career ladder program for promotion.
The study found that value and communication, patient care and teaching, and professional growth and development all contributed to engagement. In addition, organizational structure and perspective (goals, strategies and approach), as well as lack of support, were the key barriers to employee engagement.
Key recommendations from the study are building robust advancement programs, adopting a meaningful approach to communication, consider staffing and workload needs, and directly address issues of climate and culture within the organization.
本定性案例研究探讨了一个职业晋升计划，该计划根据员工反馈和项目评估进行了调整，这与一家兽医教学医院的兽医技术人员的员工敬业度之间的关系。虽然在多个医疗保健、私营企业和高等教育背景下都存在关于职业晋升实施情况和成果的研究，但在与高等教育机构相关的创收组织中，却没有直接针对兽医技术人员的研究，这限制了解决兽医技术人员留用问题的能力。
该研究以卡恩的员工敬业度理论为框架，对17名兽医技术人员进行了半结构化访谈，以通过结构化的职业晋升计划确定影响员工敬业度的因素和障碍。
研究发现，价值观与沟通、患者护理与教学以及职业成长与发展都有助于提高敬业度。此外，组织结构和观念（目标、战略和方法）以及缺乏支持是影响员工敬业度的关键障碍。
该研究的主要建议包括建立完善的晋升计划、采用有意义的沟通方式、考虑人员配备和工作量需求，以及直接解决组织内部的氛围和文化问题。
