BEVA has published Flexible Working Guidelines to help equine vets adapt their careers to fit a better work/life balance. The new guidelines will be showcased at BEVA Congress (10– 13 September 2025, ICC Birmingham) on 13th September during the ‘Making your veterinary career work’ session.
Retention is one of the biggest challenges in equine practice. Flexible working gives vets the opportunity to take time out as needed, to help them thrive in clinical practice.
The new guidelines have been spearheaded by BEVA Council member Angela Jones, who is an equine vet, a mum, and co-founder of Petscribers. Angela works flexibly and has found this so positively career changing that she wanted to make flexible working opportunities made more readily available to other veterinary professionals. She said:
“Sustainable veterinary care relies on healthier, more balanced teams, and flexibility is key. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Flexible working allows individuals to find balance and prioritise what matters most to them, supporting wellbeing, job satisfaction, and ultimately the quality of care we can provide to our patients and clients.”
“It’s not just beneficial for individuals. Practices that embrace flexibility are more likely to attract and retain great people, strengthen their teams, and build sustainable workplaces.”
The Flexible Working Guidelines aim to give employees the language, tools, and confidence to make a request and help employers deal with requests fairly and see the value of flexibility in improving retention and reducing recruitment costs.
The resource provides:
• Clear explanations of what flexible working can look like in equine practice.
• An update on the new Flexible Working Act (April 2024), including the right to request flexibility from day one, and how employers are expected to handle requests.
• Practical templates to help both employees and employers start the conversation.
Angela was motivated to produce the flexible working guidelines when she realised her traditional equine role wasn’t giving her the flexibility or professional fulfilment she needed after the birth of her second child.”
“I’d often said that on-call was the aspect of the job I found toughest, especially after having children, so I was hesitant about taking on an out-of-hours only role.” she explained. “But by turning the problem on its head, decoupling daytime work from on call with Equicall, I truly found balance.
“Flexible working looks different for everyone, and it evolves as life changes. What matters is making work, work for you. In equine practice, flexibility isn’t just possible, it’s essential.”
This guide is for:
• Any equine vet who feels that their current work pattern isn’t sustainable.
• Employers who want to explore flexible working options, understand their responsibilities and create healthy, happy, resilient teams.
• Anyone curious about what flexible working could look like in practice.
Access the guidelines
The new Flexible Working Guidelines will be discussed at BEVA Congress during Saturday’s session entitled “Making your veterinary career work” chaired by Mark Tabachnik with Rosie Allister, Carolyne Crowe and Kirstie Pickles on the panel.
Taking a workshop format, the session will consider identity at work, what it means to be a veterinary professional, what matters most to us, and how understanding this might help support wellbeing. It will also reflect on challenges to wellbeing in equine veterinary work before exploring what helps develop sustainable and balanced work.
Delegates at BEVA Congress will have access to more than 90 hours of live and on-demand CPD. It will cover almost every aspect of equine medicine, surgery and practice, via presentations, interactive discussions, debates and workshops. This year’s theme ‘Use it wisely or lose it forever’ applies equally well to employment as it does to antimicrobial stewardship.
On the day registration is available.