- Your employees/staff are your #1 asset. Either they help or hinder your practice. Take time to hire well. However, if it is “not working,” terminate quickly.
- When “searching” for new staff, remember this: Blanket advertising is inefficient with a low probability of success. And, employment agencies are often unethical(they “recycle” their clients from one job to another). The best source for staffing is a direct referral from someone you know. Incent and reward that source: Offer a $250 finder’s fee; the best money you will ever spend.
- Hire someone who has “done the job”. Hire someone who brings the skills that you need. You’re not running a training program.
- Always check references. Use a checklist form and stay focused. The key questions: What were the employee’s duties? Did employee fulfill the job objectives? Why is the employee no longer there? Employee strengths? Employee weaknesses? The most important question: “Would you re-hire?” Today, employer fear of lawsuits may limit how much info you get. But, try.
- Have a written Employee Agreement. Not a contract per se, a letter of mutual understanding, documenting: start date; salary; benefits, e.g. health insurance; vacation policy, etc. Nothing verbal counts. Both employer and employee sign so that there is no disagreement as to job particulars.
- Have a written Job Description. Be specific and have prospective employee review and agree to a “draft version” before the final is created. Attach this to the Employee Agreement. Be sure to do a “job review” at 90 days; review “the good” and “the bad”.
- Employee Manual. A must. Lists your policy regarding all issues of employment including standard vacation policy, sick leave, pregnancy leave. The Employment Agreement should accompany. Must be signed by employee. Practice management consultants have template manuals or copy from a friend whose business has one.
- You need to like your staff, and they need to like you. It’s like dating and marriage. Mismatches always fail.
- Staff members must also like each other. “Good chemistry” is the secret ingredient in every great office. The ability to work like a great basketball team ( UCLA basketball legend John Wooden: ” A great team does not even need a superstar”). One “bad egg” can act like a virus by infecting and degrading the good staff members. Get rid of troublemakers who do not blend in; don’t hope that they’ll “get better.” You’re not running a charity agency.
- Have regular staff meetings with written agendas and a time limit. Do it on company time, not after hours. Bring in lunch. Have each staff member submit agenda items and have them gathered by your office leader. Often, your people will know about problems and issues that you don’t. Encourage openness and don’t criticize an idea you’re not in love with. Heed the old slogan: “Praise in public, criticize in private.”
- Empower your people. Let them make decisions. Even dictators delegate to subordinates. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check and monitor what is happening. If their decision was a good one, it’s a “high five.” If the decision was bad, ask the employee, “Why didn’t this work?” Learn from mistakes; they are rarely fatal. Work with your key people, individually and regularly, and be sure to listen more and talk less.
- Have fun. An office isn’t a prison. Holiday dinners at a great restaurant; birthday lunches in-office. Celebrate great office accomplishments. Bring in “little treats” unexpectedly: high quality candies, ice cream, etc. Keep morale high.
- Take nothing about your practice for granted. Keep your antennae up regarding your employees’ happiness and performance. Remember the savvy words of Southwest Airlines founder, Herb Kelleher: “My business is to take care of my employees. If I take good care of them, then they’ll take good care of our customers.” Southwest Airlines is successful and has set the new standard for American commercial aviation. United, American, and the stumbling pack are also-rans; their executives never studied Herb Kelleher. Dumb.
- Money? Haven’t mentioned it so far because it’s not number one. Remember this: Study after study have confirmed that dollars, per se, are not the most important issue in employee satisfaction and retention. It is more about liking the job, including the employer and fellow workers. It is about being respected and honored. Think Maslow’s hierarchal list of human needs. It is more about job satisfaction and a sense of accomplishing something. When interviewing, ask the question: “Why did you leave your previous job?” If the answer is dollars, that’s a bad prognostic sign. If they left someone else for a few dollars more with you, then they will soon leave you for few dollars more with someone else.
- “Wrongful termination” lawsuits are currently in vogue. California law is particularly onerous for employers. Lawyers salivate at the chance to sue. Best protection: buy insurance. It’s called Employment Practice Liability Insurance and it is designed to protect you from a runaway judgment against you. Covers attorney fees, which are a killer if you are uninsured plus payment for a court verdict against you or if you wish to settle, payment to “get the monkey off your back”. Remember, regardless of for whom you work, if you have supervisorial/administrative responsibilities, you can be named in the lawsuit. There are no constraints against anyone being sued for anything. Beware.
REFERENCES:
A Great Place to Work Robert Levering
On Becoming a LeaderWarren Bennis
The Physician’s Survival Guide to the Business of Medicine,Robert W. Katz, CPA, Aspen Publications