South Austin Cat Hospital is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Our team members are the most valuable assets we have. The collective sum of individual differences, life experiences, knowledge, inventiveness, innovation, self-expression, unique capabilities, and talent that our team members invest in their work represents a significant part of our culture, reputation, and company’s achievements.

At South Austin Cat Hospital, a diverse, inclusive, and equitable establishment is where all people feel valued and respected, regardless of

• Age,
• Color,
• Disability,
• Ethnicity,
• Sex,
• Gender identity or expression,
• Gender reassignment,
• Sexual orientation,
• Language,
• National origin,
• Physical and mental ability,
• Race,
• Religion or belief,
• Marriage or civil partnership,
• Family status,
• Pregnancy and maternity,
• Socio-economic status or caring responsibilities,
• Veteran status, under applicable federal, state, and local laws,
• or other characteristics that make them unique

South Austin Cat Hospital’s diversity initiatives are applicable but not limited to our practices and policies on recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, professional development and training, promotions, social and recreational activities, layoffs, terminations, and the ongoing development of a work built on the premise of diversity and equity that encourages and enforces:

Policy

• Respectful communication and cooperation between all team members
• Teamwork and team member participation, permitting the representation of all groups and team member perspectives
• Work/life balance through consistency in work schedule to accommodate team members’ varying needs

Commitments

South Austin Cat Hospital promotes workplace equality, diversity, and inclusion. Our culture creates an environment free of bullying, harassment, victimization, and discrimination, promotes dignity and respect for all, and where individual differences and the contributions of all team members are recognized and valued.

This commitment includes training managers and all other team members about their rights and responsibilities under this policy.

We are committed to a nondiscriminatory approach and provide equal employment and advancement opportunities in our departments and programs. We respect and value diverse life experiences and heritages and ensure that all voices are valued and heard. 

We’re committed to modeling diversity and inclusion for the entire veterinary industry and maintaining an inclusive environment with equitable treatment for all.

To provide informed, authentic leadership for cultural equity, South Austin Cat Hospital strives to: 

• See diversity, inclusion, and equity as connected to our mission and critical to ensuring the well-being of our team members and the communities we serve
• Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and continually update our organization’s progress. 
• Explore potential underlying, unquestioned assumptions that interfere with inclusiveness. 
• Advocate for and support board-level thinking about how systemic inequities impact our organization’s work and how best to address that in a way that is consistent with our mission.
• Help to challenge assumptions about what it takes to be a strong leader at our organization and who is well-positioned to provide leadership.
• Practice and encourage transparent communication in all interactions
• Commit time and resources to expand more diverse leadership within our team
• Lead with respect and tolerance. We expect all team members to embrace and express this notion in workplace interactions and everyday practices.

South Austin Cat Hospital abides by the following action items to help promote diversity and inclusion in our workplace: 

• Pursue cultural competency throughout our organization by creating substantive learning opportunities and formal, transparent policies
• Improve our cultural leadership pipeline by creating and supporting programs and policies that foster leadership that reflects the diversity of American society.
• Pool resources and expand offerings for underrepresented constituents by connecting with other veterinary organizations committed to diversity and inclusion efforts
• Develop and present diversity, inclusion, and equity sessions to provide internal information and resources to members. 
• Develop a system for being more intentional and conscious of bias during the hiring, promoting, or evaluation processes. Train our hiring team on equitable practices.
• Include a salary range with all public job descriptions and abide by the qualifications and ranges published.
• Advocate for a public and private-sector policy that promotes diversity, inclusion, and equity.
• Challenge systems and policies that create inequity, oppression, and disparity

Team Responsibilities Regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Team members must conduct themselves to help the hospital provide equal opportunities in employment and prevent bullying, harassment, victimization, and discrimination. This includes but is not limited to the following:

• Respect for each other’s pronouns during written or spoken daily interactions and speaking of each other with third parties
• Include one self’s pronouns in email and communication signatures
• Educating one another in diversity, equality, and inclusion subjects
• Bring to the attention of Hospital Leadership any issues that may violate this policy by team members, clients, suppliers, or the public.
• All team members should understand that they, as well as the hospital, can be held liable during their employment for acts of bullying, harassment, victimization, and discrimination, against fellow team members, clients, suppliers, and the public.

Client and Patient Care

Team members must provide a client experience free of bullying, harassment, victimization, discrimination, and profiling based on age, color, disabilities, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, family status, pregnancy and maternity, socio-economic status or caring responsibilities, veteran status, or other characteristics that make them unique.

Maintaining equal and inclusive client and patient care includes but is not limited to

• Treat all patients as if they were our own, regardless of their owner’s characteristics or status.
• Providing the clients with full cost estimates containing the medical recommendations that best address the patient’s needs 
• No team member must assume that the client won’t be able to afford the recommended care for their cat and have this stop them from presenting the best treatment plan. 
• Educate and inform our clients regardless of their characteristics or status.
• Once a treatment plan is presented to the client, they will decide what treatments or services to approve according to their needs.
• All team members should introduce themselves to clients and vendors with their pronouns to build the trust of the clients, vendors, or public to share theirs with us.
• All team members’ email signatures must include their pronouns.
• All team members must respect each client’s pronouns as requested by them.

Client Responsibilities Regarding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Clients must behave respectfully toward one another and our team. This allows us to provide outstanding medical care and equal opportunities in employment and prevent bullying, harassment, victimization, and discrimination. This includes but is not limited to

• Respect for each other’s pronouns during written or spoken daily interactions and speaking of each other with third parties
• Bring to the attention of Hospital Leadership any issues that may violate this policy by team members, other clients, suppliers, or the public. This will allow the hospital to maintain accountability for any policy violators.

Client and Patient Care

Team members should be treated with respect by all clients, have an experience free of bullying, harassment, victimization, discrimination, and profiling based on age, color, disabilities, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, race, religion or belief, marriage or civil partnership, family status, pregnancy and maternity, socio-economic status or caring responsibilities, veteran status, or other characteristics that make the individual unique, feel valued and respected.

We will maintain an equal and inclusive client and patient care, and we expect all clients to treat our team with the same considerations. This includes but is not limited to

• Clients are responsible for understanding that we will provide them with full cost estimates containing the medical recommendations that best address their cat’s needs Once a treatment plan is presented to the client, they will decide what treatments or services to approve according to their cat’s needs and other factors that may influence their decisions. We expect that clients understand that it is in their best interest for us to make all the recommendations in the treatment plan.
• Clients with financial limitations should expect to be treated equally and be willing to discuss the full treatment plan with our team members. The client will have the opportunity to work with the doctor on prioritizing recommendations within their budget.
• Clients are expected to receive education and information from our team members regardless of their individual characteristics or status.
• We hope that all clients introduce themselves to our team members with their pronouns so we can address them appropriately.
• We hope that clients include their pronouns in communications with our team members, so we record them in their profiles,s and address them correctly in future interactions.
• All clients must respect our team members’ pronouns as listed in their email communications and communicated in person or listed on their name tag.

In an instance where this policy is violated, Hospital Leadership will investigate the matter with all parties involved. A manager may issue the client with a verbal warning regarding their behavior. However, if the offense is grave or the behavior continues, South Austin Cat Hospital will exercise the right to deny services.