By Cathy Price, RDH, BS
The staff at Dentalworkers.com talks with people every day about how to advertise for good employees. Once good employees are found, there are retention strategies that the employer must consider. Here are five suggestions that support keeping good employees onboard without increasing the office's overhead:
1. Say "thanks" and promote team spirit: When an employee does a good job, recognize it and offer compliments. Another way of recognizing your employees is to take a photo of your entire team and display it in your reception area for patients to view.
2. Training/learning: Training enhances learning, and learning should never stop. You can never overtrain a team member. Offer lunch-and-learns at your office once a month or each quarter.
3. Are you hiring? You may want to send a powerful message to other team members by promoting someone who is already a part of your team. This will let other employees know that there is opportunity within your office environment.
4. Success is founded by a positive attitude! Help nurture that positive attitude by offering your team and yourself a technically up-to-date working environment. Is your office state-of-the-art? Does it have recent computer equipment with up-to-date software products? Are you providing the best tools for your team to get the job done? Providing the best tools makes your team members more efficient at their jobs. This saves time, and it will save you money too!
5. Ask for opinions and ideas for improvement! Ask your assistant or another worker to interview other team members who work outside the operatory. Have that person inquire about ways to improve the internal workflow process. Define the focus around patients, from when they walk in to when they walk out. Each team member working in his/her respective area can offer a unique view of how to improve workflow. Finally, have the investigator present both concerns and solutions to all.
Do you have good employee-retention ideas that you have implemented in your office? We would like to hear about them! Please e-mail them to [email protected].
Looking for a job or hiring dental personnel? Post resumes and search job ads on www.dentalworkers.com and www.dentalworkersclassifieds.com.
