The Dental Office Manager Digest column “Dear Boss” is designed for office managers to be able to speak their minds by anonymously writing a “letter” to their boss. Send your letters to [email protected]. Depending on how many are received, your letter may take a while to appear in DOMD.
Dear Boss,
There has been a complete lack of communication, constant misunderstanding, and overall morale shift in the office. I have been a loyal employee for six years, and yet you act as though I am incompetent and new to the field. The front desk is at its best a welcoming desk, and at its worse a complete and utter train wreck. I have trained the staff accordingly, and yet there are always files left unsorted, phone calls unanswered, and missing patient information in our system. The constant lack of care and efficiency, as well as high turnover, has made it almost impossible to keep loyal patients.
The new staff, for lack of kinder words, are inefficient and lazy, which makes the veterans of the office have to work even harder. I have voiced my opinion on how I believe we should hire some staff with more experience, but you prefer to make our jobs harder by refusing to spend the extra money on a seasoned front desk team.
Now we are short-staffed and I am picking up the slack. I’ve spoken with you about getting help—either by hiring me an assistant or giving me a pay increase as I am the one handling most of the work up front and on the back end, and you refused due to the lack of funds we brought in this year because of the pandemic. Of course I understand this, but there is a huge lack of understanding on your part as I am struggling to do my job to the best of my ability while also filling another position up front, working long hours, and not being able to take a break or take time off due to us being short-staffed. What used to be a job l love has become a job I utterly cannot stand. At this point, I do feel like my kindness and loyalty to this practice is being taken advantage of and I am at my wits’ end.
Sincerely,
Anonymous Office Manager
Overworked, Underpaid, and Underappreciated
