The veterinary technician shortage is not new. But the conversation around what actually drives technicians out of the profession is getting sharper, and the solutions the industry is building are starting to match the problem.

According to Megan Chadwick, CVT and academic director at Penn Foster, two factors sit at the root of technician burnout and turnover: pay inequity and underutilization. Those two things are connected. When a credentialed veterinary technician spends most of their shift on tasks that do not require their training, the dissatisfaction is not just about money. It is about professional identity.

What Underutilization Actually Looks Like

In many practices, veterinary technicians handle tasks that could be done by unlicensed support staff, freeing up capacity that never gets used. At the same time, complex clinical work that falls within a technician's credentials goes undelegated because workflows were not designed with those credentials in mind.

This is not a staffing problem in the narrow sense. It is a structure problem. Practices that do not have a clear map of what their credentialed techs are trained and licensed to do cannot fully deploy them, even when the intention is there.

Chadwick points to education partnerships and mental health resources as key retention levers, but emphasizes that using technicians to the full scope of their credentials and licensing is foundational. The practices that retain techs longest are the ones that treat the credential as a ceiling to reach, not a formality to acknowledge.

The ASCEND Framework: A Shared Reference Point

A new resource published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in January 2026 is designed to help with exactly this. The ASCEND competency framework, developed by Dr. Julie Noyes of Ethos Veterinary Health with input from a national survey of 302 veterinary professionals, identifies 94 core competencies for credentialed veterinary technicians (CrVTs).

The framework draws a distinction that matters in practice: competencies are broad, transferable skills, while tasks are context-specific actions. A technician competent in anesthesia monitoring brings that skill to any clinical environment. The tasks they perform will vary. Confusing the two is part of what creates role ambiguity in the first place.

As Dr. Noyes describes it, without a shared reference point, educators, employers, and clinical teams interpret technician capabilities differently, and that inconsistency contributes directly to underutilization. ASCEND gives practices a common language to close that gap.

Tami Lind, VTS (ECC) and member of the AVMA's veterinary technician committee, puts it clearly: "Veterinary technicians are an essential member of the veterinary care team and when integrated fully into the clinical setting, our patients, clients, and the practices benefit greatly."

What This Means for Your Practice

For practice managers and owners, ASCEND is a practical tool, not just a policy document. It can inform onboarding, guide role development conversations, and help structure workflows so that credentialed technicians are doing the work they trained for.

This matters for retention in a concrete way. Technicians who feel professionally engaged and appropriately utilized are less likely to leave. And practices that invest in that engagement, through clear role structures, continuing education support, and meaningful clinical work, are building the kind of culture that keeps good people.

The research on compensation still holds. Pay matters, and competitive wages remain a baseline. But Chadwick is clear that pay alone will not solve a turnover problem rooted in how techs are deployed day to day. Practices that address both together are the ones seeing the strongest retention results.

Building a Culture That Keeps Credentialed Techs

Retention is not a single initiative. It is the cumulative effect of how a practice is structured, how decisions get made, and whether team members feel their expertise is recognized and used.

A few things practices can do now:

Audit how technician roles are defined against the 94 ASCEND competencies. Where are the gaps between what your credentialed techs are trained to do and what they actually spend their time on? That gap is where turnover risk lives.

Build continuing education into the employment relationship. Chadwick points specifically to education partnerships as a retention lever. Supporting credential maintenance and advancement signals that the practice is invested in the technician's career, not just their current shift.

Create pathways for clinical growth. Technicians who see a future at a practice, including opportunities to take on more complex work, mentor newer staff, or develop specializations, are more likely to stay.

The veterinary profession is asking a lot of its technicians right now. Demand for veterinary care remains high, staffing is tight, and workloads are not getting lighter. ASCEND gives practices a real framework for meeting technicians halfway. Paired with competitive compensation and genuine investment in professional development, it is the kind of approach that changes the retention math.

Your team is your practice. The tools to support them better are here.

Ready to build the kind of culture that retains great people? Rally helps veterinary practices strengthen team engagement and reduce turnover from the inside out.