You want to be sure to receive a proper ROI from any employee you hire. For example, if you hire someone at $15 per hour (times 8 hours), you increase your overhead by $120 per day. You then need to determine how much increased production (or reduced hours off if that's what you value) you need to justify the added expense.   Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental Consultants, Senior Consultant, got bitten hard by the business and marketing bug during long summer days working at his dad's Madison Avenue ad agency. After joining Cambridge as a speaker in the mid-1990s, Kevin went on...

For a team to operate at a high level of efficiency there must be a high level of trust between the practice owner and staff.  Part of accomplishing trust is for everyone to know the "rules of the game" including policies on: Vacations Paid Holidays Paid Time Off Seminars Maternity Leave Bereavement Pay Unacceptable Conduct Acceptable Conduct Cell Phone, Office Phones And Computer Use   Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental Consultants, Senior Consultant, got bitten hard by the business and marketing bug during long summer days working at his dad's Madison Avenue ad agency. After joining Cambridge as a speaker in the mid-1990s,...

There are four front office/front desk positions/functions. Call them what you want but they basically break down as follows:   a) Receptionist  b) Scheduling Secretary  c) Accounts Manager  d) Treatment Coordinator In a small practice one employee does them all.  As a practice grows two staff handle theses jobs/functions. The natural breakdown would be to combine the four jobs/functions as follows:  a) Receptionist/Scheduling Secretary  b) Accounts Manager/Treatment Coordinator.  In a bigger practice you might have one person for each position or some other combination such as two Receptionists, a Scheduling Coordinator and a Treatment Coordinator/Accounts Manager.   Kevin Tighe, Cambridge Dental Consultants, Senior...

Many people find change hard, and dental employees are no exception. Staff can complain about proposed changes. However, if you can get employees to be specific about their disagreement and discuss it, you will be surprised at how often the objections fo away. Most staff are hard working and want to do a good job however a barrier is an unwillingness by many practice owners to let go of a low producing employee even when it is obvious the employee is destructive and will not change. Typically a practice instantly increases efficiency when such an employee is dismissed even if the employee...