Relief veterinarians are changing the way veterinary medicine is practiced, giving vets more control over their work-life balance and opportunities to increase their income. Hop in to get answers to all your burning questions about veterinary relief work and find out what all the hype is about.
A relief veterinarian (sometimes called a locum tenens veterinarian) is a freelance professional who temporarily fills in for another veterinarian when they're sick, vacationing, or out on leave — like a substitute teacher for the animal healthcare industry. Unlike a traditional associate vet, relief veterinarians work at multiple veterinary hospitals and create their own schedules.
Relief veterinarians and technicians ensure animal hospitals can continue to provide care for pets while allowing their full-time staff to take time off, aiding their work-life balance as well. Sometimes, during busy periods, veterinary hospitals may even employ relief vets and/or techs to help lighten the load on their full-time staff, preventing burnout many associates deal with.
But there’s much more to the story...
Veterinarians and technicians are people with lives.
This is by no means a novel concept but one that absolutely needs acknowledging (especially in vet med): Veterinarians, technicians, and practice managers are people too! People with families. People who have children and need parental leave to raise them. People who have important life events like weddings and funerals. People who get sick. People who deserve a vacation. People who need time off.
At the same time, doctors of veterinary medicine have years of medical training and expertise, decades-worth if we take into account experience and CE, which we absolutely should! This means it’s no simple task to replace a veterinarian. Lives are literally in their hands. The only acceptable replacement for a veterinarian is another veterinarian with comparable experience and expertise. And that can be hard to find, especially on short notice!
So what are we to do? A veterinary professional taking time off could mean fewer animals getting treated that day, which could mean longer wait times, discouraging pet owners from getting the care they need. For animal hospitals, these absences could mean lower revenue, which could lead to higher prices for pet owners or a beloved veterinary hospital closing down. Single-vet practices may have to close completely if their only veterinarian takes the day off. Yikes!
The solution is to help each other: Talented relief veterinarians and technicians can step in for a day, a week, or whatever works for their schedule to support a hospital’s healthcare needs while staff members take time off. In fact, another name for relief work is locum tenens, which is latin for “holding one’s place,” and that's exactly what's happening. An outside medical professional is holding the place of a full-time professional so they can get a break.
This type of work is often performed as W2 contract work, which is where the logistics of relief vet work can become a bit more challenging and complicated. That's where Roo comes in!
Relief work gives veterinarians more control over two very important things: their time and their money.
Time Managers: Vets who work as a relief veterinarian full-time with Roo have total control over their schedule. This means they can work when they want, where they want, as much or as little as they want, putting their work-life balance in their hands. No more long hours or weekend shifts! It’s a revolutionary way to practice veterinary medicine, which results in higher job satisfaction and reduced burnout. In fact, many veterinary doctors switch to relief work when facing burnout to continue practicing without these stressors and reignite their joy for this incredible profession.
Freelance Freedom: Full-time relief vets who work at different practices also have the benefit of not being beholden to a single clinic and their policies. For these doctors, there are no on-call hours, no weekend work (unless you want it), and when you take time off, there's nothing that can pull you away from your vacation and no guilt of leaving a veterinary practice unattended.
Financial Achievers: A lot of vets who are employed by a clinic full-time occasionally work relief on their days off to earn additional income. Due to the shortage of small animal veterinarians and the growing need for pet healthcare, relief vets are in high demand. This means a relief veterinarian typically earns more per hour than an average associate vet — Roo Relief Vets earn nearly twice as much on average! This makes relief work a very efficient way for a vet to boost their earning potential without compromising their work-life balance.
Lifelong Learners: All relief vets benefit from the increased perspective and skills they gain from working at multiple hospitals. Every hospital has things they do great and maybe things they could improve. Relief vets who practice at multiple clinics see it all and can take successful ideas from one hospital and implement them elsewhere — improving the practice of veterinary medicine wherever they go. Effectively, relief vets can be agents of change.
Roo helps vets who work full-time earn more doing what they do best in a way that’s not overly stressful and won’t contribute to burnout.
A lot of Roo Relief Vets still work full-time because they enjoy the benefits and security they get from their full-time jobs. But, if you want to increase your income to save up for something important like a downpayment on a new home or even just to pay down student loans, your options are limited.
First and foremost, how you use Roo is entirely up to you. There are no minimum shift requirements or membership fees, which means it’s easy to pick up just a few shifts here and there without penalty, and there’s never pressure to work more than you’re comfortable with.
Roo also gives vets a number of tools to find shifts that are ideal for them. We’ve found our vets who work full-time enjoy low stress shifts with short commutes. Roo makes finding work at nearby animal hospitals a snap: you can literally see where every Roo shift is located on Google Maps in app. Roo shift cards also provide a ton of info up front such as how many appointments you should expect or whether or not you’ll be performing surgery. So if you want to work a shift 15 minutes away with only wellness and vaccine appointments, that’s easy to find (saving you valuable time)! And pays well!
Short answer: Just click here join Roo! We make it pretty easy to jump right in and get started. Just fill out a short profile, give us your license number so we can check your qualifications, and you’ll be able to start searching shifts in no time!
If that felt like a bit of a cop out, here’s the whole story:
In the old days, which was actually not so long ago, relief veterinary work was negotiated independently on a vet-by-vet basis. Vets and techs would approach hospitals in their network to be considered for relief work and earn extra income where they could, and hospitals would keep a contact list of vets and techs they could call to try to find coverage. It was all manual, time-consuming, and payments were unreliable, often involving back-and-forth negotiations and chasing down money you were owed.
Thankfully, today there’s a better way! Veterinary relief services platforms like Roo help you find veterinary relief jobs near you, and we take care of all the payments and logistics. Once you join Roo, all that’s left to do is request the shifts you want. Once you work your shift, we take care of the rest.
Veterinary relief work platforms like Roo connect vets with hospitals looking for a temporary doctor to fill-in for their staff DVM while they take time off. Every platform works a little differently, but ultimately, the goal is to make relief work easy for veterinary professionals and hospitals so vets can spend their time and energy on what’s important: providing healthcare for pets.
As an added benefit, veterinary relief services platforms like Roo allow practice managers to be more comfortable giving their staff time off, leading them to provide even more sick days and PTO.
Roo also manages payments and helps with taxes!
All Roo relief veterinarians are issued a W2 when they first sign up, which they only have to fill out once. Then, Roo Relief Vets are paid automatically via direct deposit within two days after they complete each shift (no chasing down of hospital accounting staff necessary). In January, Roo Relief Vets receive a 1099 with all their income each year to make tax filing easier (relief vets who practice at multiple clinics independently often have to collect and manage multiple 1099 forms). Finally, Roo automatically tracks your milage to and from each shift, which you can apply as a tax write-off to save you money at the end of the year.
Roo makes it incredibly easy to find relief shifts that meet your exact preferences quickly!
Roo also handles payment, making sure you get paid on time with no hassles!
Roo also provides a number of services for the veterinary community!
Roo Relief Veterinarians and Technicians also get a number of discounts on great veterinary products like dvm360 Fetch Conferences, Fear Free certification courses, and more!
Becoming a relief vet has pretty much the same requirements as becoming a full-time veterinarian. You'll need to graduate from a veterinary college with a DVM degree and be a licensed veterinarian in the state or states where you want to pick up relief shifts.
At Roo, we usually recommend veterinarians have a year or two of experience before they start working relief. Kangaroo-hopping around from hospital to hospital can be challenging when you need to learn different software tools, workflows, and work with a wide variety of team members. It helps to have some experience working at a single veterinary hospital first to fall back on.
Many Roo relief veterinarians hold multiple licenses and work relief shifts in multiple states, often as a travel vet, blending vacation with exploration.
Roo allows you to take advantage of additional certifications and licenses you may have. DEA Registration is optional, but some hospitals require it for shifts at the hospitals. You also have the option to display Fear Free Certification on your profile, and you can search for Fear Free Certified Veterinary Practices if that's your preference.
Roo is available in these cities and states, and we’re constantly expanding! Sign up for Roo to get updates on where we’ll be next or to be the first to know when we come to your city, giving you your first pick of shifts.
You decide!
I take it you were looking for a bit more of an answer than that, but that’s really all there is to it. Every Roo Relief Veterinarian creates their own schedule. You’ll book each veterinary relief job one shift at a time, and you’re free to pick up as many shifts as you want or as few shifts as you want. You also have complete control over what hospitals you work at so you can return to a favorite hospital you have a good relationship with or explore new places to find a good fit.
The hours for every Roo shift are posted up front for complete transparency so you can balance your energy with the amount of money you want to make. We like to keep it pretty simple. You do you.
Roo has the ultimate unlimited vacation policy because you don’t even have to ask us to take time off (no guilt!). As a full-time relief vet with Roo, you’re free to plan your vacation whenever you want for as long as you want and just go. And there’s zero risk of being called in and having to cancel your plans because you’re not beholden to any specific hospital!
It’s up to you! That’s pretty much the flip side of “work as much or as little as you want.” We have power users who have earned over $300,000 in a single year!
This article provides a transparent look into our hourly rates across various markets so you can get a bit of an idea of what’s out there. Though honestly, you can just scroll around the Roo map and take a look around. All our shift payments are posted transparently right there on the map for you to see. We even offer Boosted Shifts from time to time, which can pay out over double the usual rate when hospitals need help urgently!
And that’s not all. As a Roo Relief Veterinarian, you'll be eligible for various promotions, where you can earn additional payouts by requesting and completing a set number of shifts in a limited time period. This is optional though — you’ll always have the ability to work as much or as little as you want. Your work-life balance is our top priority.
Paying taxes as a relief veterinarian is probably one of the trickier parts of relief work. Because Roo Relief Vets are W2 employees (independent contractors), you’ll get paid every cent you earn (direct to your bank account). Unfortunately, this means you’ll be responsible for paying taxes on that income later, so we always recommend setting some of your earnings aside to prepare.
Here are our general guidelines on how to manage your tax payments as a relief veterinarian, and we have a lot more tax resources available in our dedicated Tax Center. As you’ll see, there are a ton of ways to save on your taxes as an independent contractor, and you can write off things like licensing fees, CE expenses, travel, milage (which Roo automatically tracks for you), scrubs and other medical equipment, and a whole lot more.
If you make more than $600 in a calendar year, you’ll receive one 1099 form in January that includes all your Roo income from the previous year for convenient tax filing. Our goal is to make this process as easy as possible for you.
Relief work is an answer to a particularly tricky problem in a selfless, caregiving industry where personal needs can sometimes get lost in the shuffle. It’s a way for skilled, medically-trained veterinary professionals to help each other by filling in for their peers so they can take much-needed time off and more of it. It provides extra income to vets, techs, and hospitals while simultaneously also giving vets and techs more time off and more control of their schedules. This could explain why a growing number of veterinary professionals are shifting to full or part-time relief work. It tends to be pretty great for everyone involved, and even those who are not involved may see some benefits!
Perhaps the ultimate answer to this question has been staring us in the face all along. What is relief work? It provides relief: to veterinary professionals, their wallets, their mental well-being, and to the hospitals that employ them.
What a relief.
