Your Medical Practice’s HR Strategy
Practice Administrators – today, we’re discussing your practice’s human resources strategy, and how evaluating the performance of your employees benefits them and you.
You read a lot about employee retention practices — how to get your team motivated and on-board with your new initiatives, how to build team-work and cooperation, etc. But you seldom read about the value of employee turnover.
As marketers and business people, we meet with dozens of medical practices every month, and I’m always amazed at the number of employees we meet who’ve been there for 20 to 30 years. You simply don’t see that in Corporate America these days.
Before you blame this phenomenon on the evil culture of business, stop and think about it for a moment. Years ago, mid-sized employers seldom had a human resource department. Some had a personnel department whose sole responsibility was to “process” employees’ paperwork, but very few took a proactive approach to managing employees over the long term. They simply brought them in, and “processed” them out.
Today, an HR strategy can help your practice identify and qualify new employees who will do well at your practice, and regularly evaluate current employees to determine their effectiveness in their current role.
We’re not not suggesting that you develop a human resources department within your practice. We are suggesting that you take a proactive approach in reviewing your employees’ performance on a bi-annual basis. Performance evaluations are as valuable to the employees as they are to you.
So often when we meet with a practice, we encounter employees who’ve been doing the same or similar tasks for many years and they’re often secretly unhappy and, more importantly, unmotivated. Some have the “post office mentality” where they feel that they should be earning as much as the clinical staff simply because they’ve been there for so many years. They feel unappreciated and unmotivated because they’re stuck at a certain level due to their own lack of initiative or education. Others seem to “sit and suffer” in their position because they’re afraid to make a change or the job is simply too convenient to leave. Long-term employees can often be mistaken for loyal employees and it can be very difficult to take an objective, hard line with someone who’s been on your staff for many years.
Unhappy/unmotivated employees can have a devastating effect on your practice! We recently met with a practice who released their entire billing staff after discovering they had failed to bill more than a million dollars over the years because they were simply too lazy to do so. And these were 20-year employees. Many long term employees hate to see change within their daily routine and they can secretly undermine your efforts to improve your practice. Many will give you lip service and agree with your new policies only to return to their old ways when your back is turned.
I recently called a local practice to schedule a routine screening procedure for myself. I had never been to this practice before and my first impression was made by the person who answered the phone. This was a front-line scheduler who had the opportunity and responsibility to welcome a new patient to this practice. Instead of a sincere welcome, I received an irritated response from someone who was clearly unhappy in their job, life, whatever. It wasn’t what she said — she was careful in her choice of words — but her attitude came ringing through the phone. This person was unhappy and unmotivated and yet she was the “face of the practice.” All of the hard work by the doctors, clinical staff, and administration to make this a great practice went right out the door as I hung up and called another practice.
My (long-winded) point is that sometimes employee turn-over can be good for a business/practice. You no longer see 30-year employees in Corporate America because the HR process has developed to make sure that a business has the right employees. Just because an employee was ideal for you 5, 10, 20 years ago doesn’t mean this person is still efficient and motivated today.
Consider twice yearly performance reviews for all your staff. This can be a structured process that allows you to objectively review the skills, capabilities, and attitude of your staff so that you have the right people on board to help you grow the practice you’ve worked so hard to build.
