One final thought ... I’d like to say congratulations to a friend of mine, Ellen Gambardella, CDA, MEd, who was recently honored as the “Most Effective Dental Assistant Educator” in the United States by DrBicuspid.com. Ellen is a champion for educating dental assistants, and has contributed to my publications many times in the past. It’s always a pleasure to see her and her cohort Rita Johnson in my travels.Congratulations, Ellen. You deserve the honor.Read on, this is your e-newsletter ...
From January 1971 Dental Economics —Why can’t I keep experienced help?
By Lawrence E. DeweyQ. I just don’t seem to be able to keep my office assistants. What could be the reason? Do my salaries need reviewing?A. They might, but do you realize that wages and benefits alone are not the primary reason for personnel turnover?Most people, dental assistants included, leave their jobs either because they feel they can’t handle them, or because they don’t get enough personal job satisfaction out of the work. Low wages and minimum benefits may make it hard to attract high caliber applicants, but those who do accept the job at least know what they are getting into in terms of starting salary.If your assistants are leaving you only after a few days or weeks, it is probably because the job is not turning out to be what they expected. Perhaps you are inadvertently leading them to believe that the position is easier than in fact it is. They go to work expecting to master their roles in a short time, and then they quit when things don’t go as smoothly as they had anticipated.It is quite likely that these women could have succeeded at their work if they had stayed long enough; but without careful training and guidance, they give up before having a real go at it.If your assistants are staying with you long enough to become experienced and capable, and then they are quitting, they may well lack job satisfaction. A generation ago people were happy to work for work’s sake; today people want their jobs to really mean something. The task of making your assistants’ work interesting and rewarding rests in large part with you. Always be quick to give them all the responsibility they earn, and allow them to assist you within the limits of the law. You are the most important person in the dental office, but your assistants want to feel important too. Regardless of their particular duties, they should all be made to feel a part of an important team, performing essential duties.They should understand what everyone in the office does to contribute to the harmony necessary to a well-run office. Staff meetings are found to be helpful in promoting this feeling of teamwork, as we discussed in the Practice Administration Clinic of October 1970. And don’t forget those vital words of praise for any job well done. You “get more than you give” when you lavish sincere praise on your employees. They will go that extra mile for you.If your assistants seem to be getting satisfaction from their jobs but are still leaving your employ after a time, perhaps your salaries are too low. Ask the assistants who are leaving. If you find out that your aides are being repeatedly lured away to more lucrative jobs elsewhere, it would certainly pay you to raise your wage schedule and fringe benefits. Any personnel turnover becomes extremely expensive, often more costly than a raise in salary.The rule is usually stated: pay a good employee what you need to keep her. A quick check with the personnel departments of local business offices, as well as with your colleagues, should tell you how much you should be paying to keep a good assistant or “gal Friday.”
by Kevin Henry, DAD EditorAlong with being the editor of Dental Assisting Digest™, I also serve as the managing editor for Dental Economics. The dual role gives me a good perspective of the dentist-assistant relationship, and also at times provides me with some insight into the dentist’s thinking when it comes to the assistant.The article below is from the January 1971 edition of Dental Economics. I was going through some old issues of DE to prepare an article for its centennial coming up next year and ran across this gem reprinted below. In some respects, the wording in this article reflects the early 1970s, so take it with a grain of salt. However, the overriding theme of the article is one that is relevant to this day ... dentists need to respect their assistants, and should show their respect in many ways. I thought it was a good article written for the dentist, and I hope you’ll enjoy its wording and see that the advice is still good almost 40 years later.
