Focus on
Our People

Each day, our hospital teams treat hundreds of pets, but those patients cannot tell the team what’s wrong. Our Associates face the pressures experienced by all caregivers—compassion fatigue, burnout, anxiety and depression. To support our Associates, VCA is taking action to destigmatize mental illness and provide resources that promote well-being.

The first chapter in our Making Time for Mental Health series, led by Dr. Larry Cohen, who shares his powerful story regarding his own mental health journey, has helped destigmatize certain notions of mental health by encouraging open conversation.

While having an emergency safety net is essential, it’s even more critical to take concrete preventive steps to avoid ever reaching a crisis point. To ensure all Associates are protected and supported, leadership teams complete mental health awareness and suicide prevention training.

Free access to the Headspace meditation app and to Lyra Health, including up to 12 free therapy or coaching sessions per year, are some of the many tools available to all Associates. Many of our hospitals have also created meditation rooms as calm spaces to take a healing pause.

We have a growing network of social workers in our hospitals, each embedded with hospital teams to offer training, resources and support in challenging situations. Making mental health a commonplace topic is critical to helping people who might be in need. VCA is committed to creating a culture where everyone can confidently ask for and receive help.

A Better World for Pets™ means creating a better world for the humans who care for them—in and outside our hospitals. Putting our Associates first begins with actionable, lasting changes to our benefits and compensation—i.e., Total Rewards.

Total Rewards have been bolstered and accelerated by Mars Veterinary Health’s transformational $500 million multi-year

investment in creating career advancement opportunities, increasing workforce diversity and ensuring differentiated pay and benefits.

Total Rewards are comprised of three core areas, each of which offers unique features to safeguard and support our Associates:

Since 2020, VCA and Mars Veterinary Health have been supporting the Better Together Fund, a public charity that helps Associates financially affected by natural or man-made disasters and domestic violence.

This initiative is funded by Associates for Associates. Donations provide grant recipients with funds for essential living expenses.

VCA matches every Associate contribution, covering all administration costs to ensure 100% of the funds raised go to those who need it most. Through the matching program, VCA Associates helped raise over $75,000 between 2021 and 2022.