Banfield Pet Hospital slashes turnover with student debt relief

When Brian Garish was a young man, he dropped out of college and got a job as a shelf assembler at Walgreens. It was a good job, he says, but over time he realized that without a college degree he didn’t have many opportunities. “I was dependent on the company,” he says.

Garish was fortunate enough to be able to afford to go back to college and complete his education, but he knew that many of his frontline colleagues didn’t have that luxury. “That life lesson influenced who I became as a leader,” he says.

The cost of becoming a veterinarian

Today Garish is President of Banfield Pet Hospital, the largest general veterinary practice in the United States with more than 3,600 veterinarians in 1,000 hospitals. Shortly after joining the company in 2015, Garish and his team revised corporate strategy and created a new roadmap of programs to promote the health and wellbeing of employees. He knew from the start that these efforts had to include financial well-being. “Financial health is an issue for everyone,” he says.

Brian Garish, President of Banfield Pet Hospital

Rather than making assumptions about what employees wanted financial assistance, his team conducted a series of interviews, focus groups, and surveys to find out what financial problems employees were facing and what would help them alleviate those burdens.

The staff kept saying that student debt was one of the biggest financial obstacles in their lives. “It’s not just the case with Banfield,” says Garish. “Student debt is at the center of the Venn diagram for veterinarians, industry and society.”

Dr. Kirk Breuninger, Banfield’s Division Vice President, Veterinary Quality, agrees. By the time he graduated from veterinary school in 2010, he had to pay off $ 250,000 in student debt, which forced him to put his life on hold when he figured out how to repay it.

“My story is similar to that of many veterinarians,” says Breuninger. “You can’t buy a home or a car until you have your financial plan in place.”

And the problem only got worse. Her research found that student debt to veterinarians became more and more onerous as government funding for education dried up. In 2015, the average debt to income ratio for new graduates was more than two to one. “We saw this as an opportunity to support our employees,” says Breuninger.

Three-pronged approach

The team responsible for defining the new program, including Breuninger, developed 19 different possible program ideas, then brought them to the associates and asked for feedback. Initially, the vets were mainly interested in receiving a monthly financial stipend to offset their debts. But the team knew they could do more. “We wanted to use our size and size to do a good job on behalf of our employees,” says Garish.

The research showed that high interest rates are a large part of the debt settlement burden. Banfield partnered with a financial institution that agreed to offer an additional 0.25 percent interest rate cut to all Banfield employees they used to refinance their student loans.

Kirk Breuninger, Vice President of Veterinary Quality for Banfield Pet Hospital

Banfield then combined the refinancing option with a monthly contribution of $ 150 to repay the student loan, which covered all taxes associated with that additional income. The company also provides $ 2,500 to pay off debts to any student participating in a Banfield internship, vacation job, or campus volunteer activity. They see it as a way to attract students to Banfield and motivate them to repay their loans.

The three-pronged program has received rave reviews from Banfield veterinarians and executives.

$ 15 million invested

Dr. Alea Harrison started participating in the program when it started in 2017 and it had an immediate impact on her quality of life. She was pregnant with her second child and even though she graduated from veterinary school 11 years ago, she still had a mountain of debts to settle.

“When I heard about this program, it gave me so much peace of mind,” she says.

The program placed her with a debt counselor to guide her through the refinancing process. She was able to cut nearly $ 600 from her monthly payment on top of the $ 150 monthly scholarship she receives from Banfield. “That was a huge saving,” she says.

And when COVID-19 lowered rates, her advisor found even better terms, which further lowered her payments.

Harrison is not alone. Almost half of the veterinarians at Banfield Pet Hospital are now on the student debt repayment program and are seeing similar savings. To date, Banfield has accumulated nearly $ 15 million in helping its vets pay off their student debt and has raised more than $ 16 million in employee education debt refinancing.

Harrison sees the program as a demonstration of Banfield’s commitment to its employees. “It shows me that they listen to the needs of their employees and are ready to make changes and investments to meet our needs.”

Build knowledge through retention

Garish and Breuninger see the debt relief program as an extension of Banfield’s commitment to employee training. The company also pays for continuing education events and invests in partnerships with universities to support veterinary training and other industry career programs.

Alea Harrison, Vice President of Veterinary Quality at Banfield Pet Hospital

“Ultimately, we’re trying to create an environment in which someone, even after high school, can build the skills for a career at Banfield,” says Breuninger.

These investments pay off. In the past five years, Banfield’s turnover rate has halved. Not only does this lower the cost of recruiting and onboarding, but it has also created more knowledgeable and skilled employees, Garish says.

He notes that senior veterinarians have historically spent a lot of time teaching new employees the basics of Banfield’s procedures, operating standards and workflows. “Now our leaders are spending more time teaching advanced skills and having more impactful conversations about the state of pet care,” says Garish. “It improves workplace dynamics and leads to stronger, more efficient teams.”

It also helps them attract great candidates. In a recent survey of new hires, two-thirds of candidates said the student debt relief program played a role in their decision to join the company.

“Student debt is a psychological burden,” says Garish. “Addressing this burden will reduce stress, which will affect an employee’s overall mental health.”

Join the 8 percent

Student debt is a huge burden in any industry, and as the cost of education rises, students are forced to make difficult decisions about whether to pursue their academic dreams. Harrison notes that the cost of veterinary training can be an insurmountable barrier for many aspiring veterinarians, resulting in a lack of diversity in the profession. “That’s why there is still a (racial) discrepancy in the veterinary industry.”

Debt relief programs can break down these barriers and help companies attract candidates long before they graduate. “It helps us stay competitive,” says Harrison.

Currently, only about eight percent of companies offer student debt relief programs, which give organizations like Banfield an edge over their competitors. However, Breuninger encourages other companies to consider similar programs as part of their broader service package and commitment to education.

He also advises speaking to staff about how student debt is affecting their lives before starting a program to address it. “Everyone is in a different financial situation,” he says. “Those conversations helped us figure out what we can do to have the greatest impact.”

source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/banfield-pet-hospital-slashes-turnover-with-student-debt-relief/