Starting Again – Dealing with Employee Turnover
The narrative in my clinic aligns with a topic that has dominated news feeds recently: employee turnover. During the pandemic, we lost 30% of our beloved staff due to retirement or family/life changes. As we've looked for new personnel to replace, hire or train, we’ve learned a few lessons along the way.
1. Hire the right person. I cannot overstate the importance of finding staff with whom you enjoy working. A positive attitude and desire to learn is far more important than hiring someone with a specific skill or length of experience. I truly believe that almost everyone can be trained to function efficiently, provided they have an enthusiasm for learning, a team-player mentality, and a strong work ethic. Hire for qualities, not skills.
2. Invest time and effort in training. The oft-spoken adage in medicine, “see one, do one, teach one,” just doesn’t cut it anymore. Learning dermatology takes more than seeing it once. We follow the “see many, learn from the outcome, do many with supervision and learn from the outcome, and finally teach many with supervision and learn from the outcome.” Take an active role in training and provide every new employee with a “cheat sheet” of medical terminology, anatomy, common dermatology diagnoses and medications. In addition, hold monthly educational sessions to discuss best practices and lessons learned that month. Once fully trained, continue to foster professional development and life learning by holding a quarterly “skills day” dedicated to refreshing skills or providing new updates.
3. Support professional development. In more circumstances than we realize, medical assistants may feel overlooked and under recognized as a profession. Making an effort to foster professional development and lifelong learning can be done in a number of creative ways. Consider offering to hold a raffle to cover the cost of professional membership dues or conference registration for staff members. Showing the staff that you recognize their professional contributions, and are committed to helping to further their knowledge, improves employee engagement and empowerment.
4. Schedule frequent conversations and check-ins. Scheduled feedback sessions are a great way to provide a forum for discussion and remind them how integral their roles are--no matter what piece of the puzzle they are responsible for. Let your staff know that you want their feedback as well. Recognize them as individuals and address potential issues face-to-face behind closed doors.
Keri Holyoak resides in Millcreek, Utah with her husband and three young children. Together they explore the roads less traveled throughout the West. Since 2005 she has worked with Dr. Joseph Jensen at the Dermatology Center of Salt Lake.
5. Acknowledge “wins”. Research shows that employees who receive feedback from managers in a constructive, positive, and uplifting way are four times more likely to be engaged in their work. Be a team player and share patient successes with employees so they too feel appreciated.
6. Staffing is an investment. The best way to create a happy, successful and busy dermatology office is by creating a mutually respectful atmosphere in your clinic: a friendly greeting when a patient enters the office, a thank you when payment is taken, and prompt and correct answers make it all worth it. Patients will feel the professionalism as they walk through the doors--referring your office to others and ultimately staying committed to you for years to come.
Keri Holyoak resides in Millcreek, Utah with her husband and three young children. Together they explore the roads less traveled throughout the West. Since 2005 she has worked with Dr. Joseph Jensen at the Dermatology Center of Salt Lake.