all articlesJune 8, 2009
Dentists with a High Staff Turnover
High staff turnover is an indicator of poor management. If the above statement struck a nerve, you may be in denial or on defensive while reading this article. So lets be practical and consider the immediate cost of employee turnover. SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, estimated that it costs $3,500.00 to replace one $8.00/hour employee when all costs — recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, reduced productivity, etc., were considered. Cost of replacement grows at an uneven proportion to employee’s pay scale … not in your favor.
On a conservative end, if one entry-level employee ($8/hour) is replaced at a rate of once per month, you’re looking for at a cost of $42,000 per year.
It’s true that some employee turnover is unavoidable, even desirable. Some turnover is necessary, to replace marginal employees with more productive people who bring new ideas and expertise. This is where your ability to hire and retain valued performers comes into play.
Implement a retention program in your dental practice. Don’t wait until turnover costs become unacceptably high. Here are a few tips that will help you maintain a long and productive business relationship with your staff.
1. Don’t assume common sense.
Most dentists will assume an understanding of excellence and get disappointed when their staff doesn’t perform. What is simple and obvious to you is often new information to others. Nobody can read your mind and so it is your responsibility to take the time to define “excellence” in performance, actions and results.
2. Personally survey your best employees
In order to find out what keeps them in your practice, what they need to be happier and more productive, and what would cause them to leave. Not only will you gain highly beneficial information about improvements your practice needs, but strengthen your employer/employee report.
3. Structure your interviews to analyze applicant’s personality and his/her sense of excellence.
By the end of an interview, you should be able to see and feel how the applicant defines, performs, explores and expands his/her sense of excellence. You’re looking for someone with who has a similar understanding of the idea.
4. Invest in training.
Support the excellence you’ve defined by training your staff to perform your expectations. Make an effort to regularly take your staff to a continuing education seminars at institutes like LVI. Effective training pays for itself.
5. Be a coach, not a cop.
Inexperienced and ineffective business leaders assume that their job is to police their employees while effective and respected leaders guide their employees’ direction. Be aware of body language and tone of voice as well as language choice. Catch your team doing the right thing and celebrate what is good and the importance of each job. B.F. Skinner advocated that reinforcement is a vastly superior psychological tool (and simpler to utilize) than punishment. When you weigh the side effects of punishment, versus the possible success of reinforcement, the choice is clear.