An online veterinary platform on a mission to make the profession a better place to work has been launched today, 17 January, by veterinarian Olly King.
The Meraki Initiative is a professional community movement intended to accelerate cultural change. By inspiring leadership Meraki supports the profession to create a culture that people love to work in, improving the wellbeing and sustainability of the workforce.
Four-years in the making, Meraki is the brainchild of Olly King. After years working in the profession, he saw an opportunity to improve professional morale, reduce staff attrition and enhance workplace cultures by enabling employers to build their reputations to better engage and recruit teams based on workplace values.
Vet and nurse students, veterinary care assistants, vet and nurse professionals and practice managers can register as individuals to create their free career profiles. After registration approval, professionals and practice managers can go on to create a workplace profile as a paid subscription service.
These unique, searchable workplace profiles enable veterinary employers to share honest, transparent insights into their team, culture, and life at their workplace. This helps the best workplaces stand out, build their reputation, and engage top talent. Integrating job vacancies and student placements enables these employers to recruit and retain talent who share their values, leading to thriving, high performing teams and, in turn, better retention.
Founder, Olly King, has first-hand insight of the profession as a practising small animal and equine vet and training leadership coach. His motivation to create The Meraki Initiative began four years ago as he became demoralised by unmet career expectations, disengagement and waning mental health.
“I noticed an absence of action to address the profession’s retention crisis. There was a void in leadership and workplace cultures felt disingenuous and unsupportive, I saw many talented people leave the industry.”
“The goal of The Meraki Initiative is to raise cultural awareness, inspire leadership and create more human-centred workplaces where veterinary teams can fulfil their ambitions. Meraki exists to help improve retention by helping build great veterinary teams where people can belong, loving what they do, where they do it and who they do it with.”
The Meraki Initiative will be used by students, professionals and employers and has already received strong support from employers and professionals alike:
“The Meraki Initiative is a great platform to showcase your practice and the unique selling points you have in terms of recruitment…. helping potential recruits see the clinic before they approach us and really get to understand what our business is all about.” – Laura Shears, MD Pets Kitchen, Swindon.
“The Meraki Initiative gives a good opportunity for wellbeing and the importance of a good workplace culture to be shared across the profession.” – Nicola Warren-Smith, Head of Operations, Langford Vets, Bristol.
” (…in showcasing our business and people) the Meraki Initiative will allow us to get the right people in the right position for us and the right job for them, so it is a win-win for everyone.” – Diane Storer, Owner Cockburn Vets, Coalville.
“The Meraki Initiative allows us to give real insight into what it is like to work at Greenbay. I believe it will help connect people and practices in a really positive way, and ultimately improve retention within the profession.” – Laura Mather, Owner Greenbay Vets, Torquay.
For more information and to register on The Meraki Initiative please visit:
About The Meraki Initiative
The Meraki Initiative is on a mission is to make the veterinary profession a better place to work. The veterinary community platform offers a transparent, modern marketing approach to recruitment to inspire leadership and accelerate cultural change so that everyone can fulfil their ambitions.
An ‘always on’ HR tool, Meraki markets great veterinary workplaces to help build employer reputations so that students and professionals can easily find and connect with their dream workplace, while helping businesses recruit top talent. Veterinary employers can take charge of their recruitment and let the talent come direct.
Their unique, searchable workplace profiles show what makes you a great veterinary place to work to excite and engage talent searching for their ideal role, attracting the right talent to build your great team. By empowering people to find the right culture where they can bring their best self to work and do their best work, Meraki enables the right people to end up in the right role, helping tackle the profession’s retention crisis.
‘Meraki’ is a Greek word that describes ‘doing something with love, soul or creativity’ or to ‘put a piece of yourself into what you do’. The work that The Meraki Initiative has set out to do was born from personal experiences, therefore resonated with the meaning behind the word ‘Meraki’. The name also aligns in that the founder had commissioned a piece of artwork to portray his veterinary adventure, which is now the brand’s iconic visual.
