How to manage conflict in a veterinary team

Research on UK veterinary teams links workplace incivility with poorer wellbeing and job satisfaction. Incivility from senior colleagues has also been associated with veterinarians’ intention to leave.

The difficulty for a practice owner is that these problems do not always arrive as formal complaints. Staff tend to look for support elsewhere first, and some take no action at all.

This guide is about handling everyday team conflict early. It also covers how to spot problems that need a different route, and when to bring in a formal process or outside help.

What the research shows

A University of Aberdeen team led by Amy Irwin surveyed 252 UK veterinary staff. The effect of rude behavior depended on who it came from. Rudeness from senior colleagues predicted whether vets planned to leave, and how satisfied nurses were with their jobs. Rudeness from clients predicted burnout. The most common way staff coped was to seek support from others. The authors called for a whole-practice approach that pairs support with changes to procedures.

For managers, the practical point is that a lack of direct complaints does not mean there is no problem.

A 2026 study of 367 vets and other staff in the UK and Australia looked at psychological safety. That means whether staff feel able to speak up without fear of a bad reaction. Higher psychological safety was associated with lower intention to leave, and supervisor feedback partially mediated that association. Because the study was cross-sectional, it cannot establish cause and effect. It does suggest that the way supervisors give feedback is worth attention. Our article on the hidden cost of vet staff turnover covers what a resignation costs a practice once cover and lost capacity are counted. Our guide to reducing vet burnout looks at the workload conditions behind it.

Conflict at work is common across sectors. An Acas survey found that 44% of working-age adults in Great Britain had experienced it in the previous 12 months, and around a fifth of those took no action in response. Across the whole economy, Acas estimates that informal resolution costs employers about a tenth as much as formal disciplinary and grievance cases.

First, work out what kind of problem it is

Using the wrong route can make a conflict harder to resolve. Before you speak to anyone, it helps to decide which of these you are looking at.

A working-relationship problem is friction over how two colleagues talk to each other or work together. Nobody is alleging misconduct. This is where an informal conversation usually fits best.

A process problem is a dispute that keeps returning to the same task or decision, such as who owns a callback or how weekend cover is shared. The fix is often in the workflow rather than the people.

A performance or conduct issue concerns whether someone is meeting the standards the practice expects. It may start informally but has its own procedure if it continues.

A clinical or professional concern is about patient care or a colleague’s fitness to practice. It needs a defined escalation route and, in some cases, the RCVS.

A serious grievance or allegation might involve harassment, discrimination or possible gross misconduct. Do not push these into an informal chat just to avoid a formal process. A whistleblowing concern also needs the appropriate protected-disclosure route, rather than being treated as an interpersonal disagreement.

The same situation can move between categories as you learn more. Revisit the decision if new facts come out.

When an informal conversation is appropriate

For a low-level working-relationship issue, the current Acas Code of Practice puts the starting point simply: “A quiet word is often all that is required to resolve an issue.”

One approach is to speak to each person privately first. Describe what you have observed rather than what you assume it means, and ask for their account before forming a view. That helps you establish what has happened and whether a joint discussion would help or make things worse.

If you do bring people together, keep the discussion practical. Agree specific actions and a review date that suits the issue.

Keep a short note of what was discussed and any actions agreed. If the matter later becomes formal, that record can help show what has already been tried. The draft revised Acas Code says it can be useful to confirm an informal talk in writing. It is also clear that an informal conversation should never by itself lead to formal disciplinary action.

Check whether the workflow is part of it

If the same dispute keeps recurring around the same task or decision, look at the process before treating it purely as a personal problem. Typical areas are how work is shared out, how rota decisions are made and understood, who owns each handover and who is meant to do routine tasks.

Where a gap in the process is part of the cause, fixing it can also remove the trigger for the next dispute. Our guide to veterinary team management covers setting clear responsibilities.

A process change will not resolve a pattern of dismissive or rude behavior by one person. If that is the issue, address the behavior directly and set out the standard you expect.

Client behavior can feed into team conflict too. A 2026 interview study of UK veterinary staff explored how incivility affects staff. Participants described effects on team dynamics, patient safety and intentions to leave. The authors advised practices to review how they handle it and make their processes clearer. Staff should know how to get support after dealing with a difficult client. Our guide to veterinary front desk management covers how reception teams can be prepared for this.

When seniority changes the route

Conflict involving an owner, practice manager or senior clinician creates an extra problem, because staff may have fewer safe routes to raise it. In the Aberdeen study, rudeness from senior colleagues predicted vets’ intention to leave.

Make sure staff have at least one way to raise a concern about the owner or a senior clinician that does not depend on approaching that same person. In a larger practice this might be a practice manager or HR lead. In a small independent it may mean an external HR adviser.

Where the owner or manager is directly involved, think about asking another manager, an external HR adviser or a mediator to run the process. That way it is not being run by one of the people in the dispute.

Individual staff who are BVA members can use its confidential 24/7 legal helpline and employment resources for workplace issues.

Clinical and professional concerns

Disagreement about patient care is a normal part of clinical work, and the practice benefits when nurses and junior vets feel able to voice it. Each practice should set out how a clinical concern is raised in the moment. That should include a second route for when the vet in charge of the case is the subject of the concern.

Concerns about a colleague’s professional conduct, health or performance sit on a separate track. RCVS guidance encourages vets and nurses to discuss such concerns first with an appropriate senior person, such as the practice’s senior vet. If that does not resolve the matter, or it is particularly serious or involves senior members of the organization, the concern can go to the RCVS.

The same guidance notes that some whistleblowing is protected under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, and that staff may want independent legal advice. Your whistleblowing and grievance policies should set out how concerns can be raised and how the practice will prevent or respond to detrimental treatment linked to raising a concern that may qualify for whistleblowing protection.

When to use a formal process

Some allegations need the proper procedure from the start. These include conduct that may amount to harassment, discrimination or gross misconduct, and any serious grievance. Take HR or employment law advice early.

Under the current Acas Code, an employee who cannot resolve a grievance informally should raise it in writing with a manager who is not the subject of it. The employer should hold a meeting, the employee has a right to be accompanied, and they can appeal. Employment tribunals take the Code into account and can adjust compensation by up to 25% for unreasonable failure to follow it.

The Code is under review. Acas consulted on a revised draft between 30 July and 23 September 2026 and is reviewing responses. The draft would give informal resolution a more explicit place in the statutory Code. It would also set clearer expectations for both employers and workers to explain what informal steps were tried, or why none were. For employers, this would go in the invitation to a formal disciplinary meeting. For workers, it would go in a written grievance. The draft also says that serious misconduct by a manager or another worker should usually be raised through a formal grievance from the start. Until a revised Code is approved, the current Code applies.

When mediation can help

Mediation, or a facilitated conversation, brings in an impartial third party to help the people involved find a way forward. Under the Acas draft Code it is voluntary and confidential, and anyone can suggest it at any stage. It can involve an accredited external mediator or a trained internal facilitator who is impartial and independent of the dispute.

It can be particularly useful for working-relationship problems where both people can take part voluntarily and safely. The draft Code says it does not suit every dispute. One example is a large power imbalance that cannot be managed safely, such as intimidation, coercion or abuse.

Throughout any conflict, the people involved and the colleagues around them may need support. Vetlife Helpline offers confidential support to anyone in the veterinary community, day and night.

Questions to ask before you step in

• Is this a low-level working-relationship issue, or a potentially serious allegation?
• Is a process problem contributing to it?
• Does either person need a different route because of seniority or a power imbalance?
• Is informal resolution appropriate here, and is everyone able to take part safely?
• What will be recorded, and when will it be reviewed?
• Could this involve harassment, discrimination, whistleblowing, serious misconduct or another issue where informal resolution may be inappropriate?
• At what point should HR or legal advice be brought in?

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