How to Reduce Turnover
Every practice, regardless of size, can create a culture where team members feel welcomed and appreciated. It’s also important to make sure pay and benefits are in line with local industry standards.
“Look at a reputable site for market pricing such as PayScale that will identify the average comp rates and you can see what that looks like for your area,” advised Tanisha Wicker of Smile Brands.
It remains a challenge to replace hygienists and dental assistants, often taking up to 60 days to identify candidates. Many people left the industry completely to care for their kids because childcare centers and schools were closed. Others dealt with health-related concerns.
Usually there would be a pool of new graduates that could fill the vacancies. Unfortunately, many hygiene and dental assisting schools paused operations, limited capacity, or went online, which meant students could not receive hands-on training. That severely reduced the number of graduates, and eliminated the opportunity for team members to receive certifications in expanded functions.
What does this mean for practices? It costs more to hire, and practices are feeling the squeeze.
One way to help is to streamline tasks such as scheduling appointments by adding online scheduling and 24/7 live chat options to practice websites. Another way is to automate payment processing to free up team members’ time. Technology has made it much easier to perform what used to be time-consuming tasks – and that’s more important than ever when teams are short-staffed.
How to Lead Through Difficult Times
Jodi Evans, the CEO of Revolutionary Tribes, spent a decade at Community Dental Partners where she became the COO as the group grew to 50 locations.
Years ago, she inherited a team where several employees clashed – to the point where one person slashed the tires of a colleague’s car. She fired the destructive employees, evaluated the remaining team, defined what a positive, productive workplace looked like, and turned around the department in six months.