Did you know, on average, it costs $4,129 (1) to hire a new employee? Ask yourself how many employees you've lost and gained in the past year. Did you know, most employees feel satisfied with just a 3% raise annually? (2) Now ask yourself how much do you pay your existing employees, and how much would a 3% raise really cost you? If you have an employee who makes $10 an hour, a 3% raise would only cost you $624 more dollars annually.
As you can see, the cost of raises is drastically lower than replacing employees. Even over a 5-year projection, employees obtaining a 3% raise will still save you hundreds of dollars. It might seem cheaper and easier to replace staff, but at that costly of an undertaking after new uniforms, training, and benefits kick in, hiring someone less experienced for $10 an hour versus providing your $10-$15 an hour employee with a 3% raise will only hurt your practice in the long run.
Sometimes staff members leave for reasons other than pay rates. This is inevitable. They will have to relocate, they will become ill, or they will just find a different career path. The key is to foster the professional relationship and the growth of each individual staff member to avoid making a lot of unnecessary, expensive, and time consuming restaffing/hiring. Sometimes offices experience high turnover rate for reasons unrelated to pay. I was curious about why some practices I’ve worked with have experienced more turnover than others. I thought back to two specific practices, one which lost 6 employees in 2 months time, and one which lost 2 employees in 6 months time. What fundamental differences did each practice have?
High turnover practice:
Stern atmosphere
Low number of daily appointments
High amount of down time
Hostile management
Disorganized
Poor customer service
Low employee morale
Frequent time consuming and disorganized staff meetings
Low rates of pay
No way to track time cards/weekly logged hours
Unpredictable payment schedule
Low turnover practice:
Fun atmosphere
High number of appointments
Low down time
Approachable management
Accountability through documentation and EMR use
Customer service is the focal point of the practice mission
Frequent bonus periods, performance evaluations and raises, easy to use electronic time cards
Quarterly informative and organized staff meetings
Dependable pay with incentives to obtain certifications and step into leadership roles
OK, but how do you go about implementing these bullet points into your practice immediately?? Your employees are used to keeping track of their patient communications in their own preferred manner, and now they’re supposed to just be OK with documenting every patient call?!! They are going to be furious with you if you shake up your whole protocol now!
Slow down, and face the facts.
If your turn over rate is higher than your raise rate, you’re losing money. If this is your reality, what you’re doing clearly isn't working. You have to take a risk. Likely, the employees who resist the new ideas the most are the most toxic part of the workplace. If only a few employees are long standing (3+ years of employment) and you feel like you’re constantly losing new staff after only a year or less, you might try to get a closer look at your staff interactions, comparing pay rates to competitor practices, and paying extra attention to work flow. If you keep staff who cannot see any good in any part of their job or duties, they will inevitably poison the work environment.
Lots of superfluous staff meetings are linked to poor company morale. Do not plan meetings and then search for topics to fill the agenda. Take notes of important topics as they arise, and plan meetings accordingly. Address individuals with problems, and send out memos and emails in place of long, frequent staff meetings. Welcome any feedback during meetings, and try to shut down any rude comments or criticism from your employees.
Additionally, lack of accountability can chase off staff members who are valuable to your practice! It’s hard for a good worker to stay complacent when they watch patient communications fall apart, and when the office is in shambles. This makes it impossible for them to be recognized for good work, and for the poor work practices to be dealt with appropriately. Documentation and organization make it much easier for you as well. You can begin to hold your employees accountable for their work, and acknowledge the employees who hold themselves accountable. You can begin to change the way your employees view their work performance, and help them take pride in what they do everyday.
The most common reason employees leave a job is they feel underpaid. How can you expect to keep valuable employees without paying them a competitive rate? As important as it is to find staff members who care about the practice and their quality of work, you must remember that your employees first and foremost see their relationship with you and their job as a means to survive. 46% of employees feel underpaid. (3) Most of them will eventually walk away from their employer, but the remainder who do not leave become hostile. Chances are, if you experience a large turnover, your staff feels underpaid and the only ones who last are the ones who end up becoming office bullies, and take out their feelings of inadequacy on new hires.
Try to relax. Begin by setting up annual performance reviews. Offer your current staff modest raises. Then evaluate where your energy and attention is going. Are you cleaning up a lot of mistakes? Are you planning lengthy meetings that never seem to amount to anything? Take back the control. Implementing changes can be daunting, but with some guidance from Sol Operation Solutions, YOU CAN HANDLE THIS!
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