Good help is hard to find, but this saying seems particularly true nowadays. You can struggle to staff your dental practice, and then as soon as you feel you’ve regained footing, someone else leaves. If you want to hold onto your employees for the long haul, you’ll need to make working at your practice a more pleasant experience for your team. Keep reading to learn just four ways you can make dental staffing easier and last longer.
Invest in Your Team Members’ Professional Development
As a dentist, you’re required by law to take a certain number of continuing education hours, but you’ve probably found many of the courses rewarding and fulfilling professionally. Extend that same feeling to your employees. Tons of courses exist for administrative and support staff, and as dentistry changes and advances, everyone on your team needs to stay up-to-date with innovations and keep their professional skills honed. Encourage your team to enroll in some courses so that your practice can run as smoothly as possible and to show them that you care about their progression.
Make the Patient Experience the Primary Goal
Studies have found that workers can find greater satisfaction in their jobs if they feel like they serve a purpose. From the beginning, it should be clear amongst your entire team that the patient experience takes top priority. Even in talking about billing or insurance matters, your team should have a positive attitude and a professional, sensitive approach to make patients’ time in the office more pleasant. When everyone has a clear, common goal of caring for people, it becomes much easier to work together to accomplish and succeed as a team.
Meet with Your Team Often
Having regular meetings may initially seem unnecessary, but they have multiple benefits. First, it keeps the entire team on the same page and allows you to inform them of upcoming events and appointments. In other words, it helps the practice stay more organized. Second, it helps build connection in the office. A sense of belonging and camaraderie can help your team members enjoy coming to work every day and feel like they have a work family.
Delegate When Appropriate
Sometimes, your administrative team may need additional support. They go out to lunch, take vacation days, or are out for continuing education. Perhaps they are overwhelmed with insurance claims that they are unable to focus on checking in patients. In these situations, you need to delegate certain tasks like insurance verification or answering phone calls to Dental Support Specialties. We can shoulder the workload so that your administrative team doesn’t have to feel stressed or exhausted, hopefully resulting in their wanting to stay for the long term.
When you incorporate these tips into your practice, you create an environment where your employees want to work. They will want to perform to the best of their ability and remain loyal. As a result, your practice can run like a well-oiled machine!
About Dental Support Specialties
Dental Support Specialties has a team of highly experienced administrative professionals that provide remote services for dental practices. We offer necessary services that help offices operate smoothly through answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, filing and following up on insurance claims, and doing other special projects. Are you in need of our services, or interested in learning more about us? Contact Dental Support Specialties through our website or call 330-236-0570.