Why Dental Practices are losing Team Members and What to do About It

Staff exodus in today’s world has little to do with compensation and more to do with empowerment and choice.

The easiest and most psychologically safe justification for dental practices losing team members is to assume that staff leaves for higher pay.

We can rationalize a staff exodus by claiming that employees today have no loyalty and are financially driven. They will simply offer their services to the highest bidder.

Our experience, however, would indicate that this is a false narrative.

Obviously, compensation is a concern for your team members in this period of hyperinflation, and doctors that fail to maintain a level of compensation commensurate to their competition will likely lose staff.

Nevertheless, we are finding that even well paid staff are choosing to seek employment elsewhere.

Why Are Dental Practices Losing Team Members?

Our viewpoint at Line of Sight Coaching regarding staff exodus has little to do with compensation and more to do with empowerment and choice.

Little has been written regarding the negative emotional impact that staff shortages have created for doctors and their teams, and although this topic has received little attention, it has serious implications.

Many clinicians and their teams are currently having to compensate for staff shortages by working longer hours and enduring more stress as they struggle to maintain production with fewer staff.

Consequently, we are hearing increased reports of staff and doctor burnout as the hours and workload increase with no end in sight.

What we are observing is that staff who feel listened to and are encouraged by their doctor to offer unfiltered feedback regarding their working environment with no fear of repercussion are less likely to leave their current job for one that offers a few dollars more in compensation.

Knowing that the doctor is listening and willing to allow staff input when making decisions critically impacts one’s decision to stay in their current job or to seek employment elsewhere.

Simply put, if a person feels powerless and unable to offer input regarding negative aspects of their work environment, they will be more likely to leave regardless of their level of compensation.

Working in our dental practices is our staff’s choice. How we communicate with our team during times of increased workload and stress is our choice and will likely determine whether our staff chooses to stay or seek employment elsewhere.

During periods of staff shortage, we must be sensitive to the increased demand and stress our staff is experiencing.

In order to avoid any further crippling loss of staff, we at Line of Sight Coaching are suggesting that doctors and practice owners do the following:

1. Spend more time checking in with their team by listening more and providing much needed support during these stressful times. This is a highly impactful practice that takes almost no time.
2. Schedule more frequent staff meetings during periods of stress to allow the staff to collaborate about ways to reduce stress and lighten the workload in the office.

We are often surprised at how resourceful and creative our teams can be when given the opportunity to solve problems.

What issues are you experiencing with your team and staff in your practice?

Feel free to contact us with some of your concerns and we can try to address them in future articles.

If you feel like you need more support and want to partner with a coach to help you implements changes like this and more so you can build that balance in business and life, please reach out to us to schedule a complimentary 30 minute phone call.

 

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