Many veterinary practices struggle to find the right number of team members for a given day. Employees are either bored to tears while waiting for the next client or frantically trying to keep up with their duties on a busy day. Some days, it's a combination of both.

But before you tinker with your employee schedule, take a look at your appointment book, says Phil Seibert, CVT, consultant with SafetyVet in Calhoun, Tenn. Many practices allow either too much or too little time for appointments, leaving the practice either understaffed or overstaffed. Measure the average length of time a typical appointment takes from start to finish—and remember that the number will be different for each veterinarian. Once you have a handle on how long each appointment will take, you can more effectively schedule the correct number of team members.