Half of Your Dental Employees Are Looking to Work Elsewhere!

According to Gallup Workplace’s May 2024 survey, 51% of US employees are actively seeking a new job. This statistic is especially worrisome in the dental industry due to an existing shortage of dental personnel, particularly dental assistants and hygienists. Applying these statistics means half of your dental team is applying to and interviewing for work elsewhere.

Being shorthanded for months while seeking and training a replacement is a hardship for your team, patients, and wallet. What are they seeking that you are not providing? Below are the primary reasons dental employees depart based on their roles in the practice - and ways you can prevent it from happening. 

Four common reasons dental assistants are job hunting:

1) They feel unappreciated. 

According to the Dental Assisting National Board, 62% of assistants said they left because they felt unappreciated by their doctor. 

Easy ways to demonstrate to your employees that you appreciate them include regular team meetings, development days, holiday celebrations, team activity days, one-on-one performance reviews, an effective Employee Reward System (bonus system), leadership training, and regular words or texts of thanks. 

2) They need to make more money.

Many dental assistants say they love their work, but they cannot survive on their pay scale. 

Achieve a win-win for your practice and the dental assistant by integrating a Performance Reward System based on team goals and benchmarks. Increase their pay for working harder, taking on more responsibilities, achieving a higher level of expertise, obtaining more certifications, and cross-training to help in other areas of the practice. 

3) They need to escape difficult work dynamics.

Unresolved or unaddressed friction in the work environment creates a negative work culture and is a common reason for turnover. A healthy work culture results in higher production, lower employee turnover, higher customer service, and more frequent positive reviews. Your work culture is your most valuable resource and your primary competitive advantage. It requires regular investment and activities to keep it motivating and rewarding. 

Stay engaged with all your employees, and don’t miss those monthly team meetings and development days, holiday celebrations, team activity days, or one-on-one performance reviews. Ask meaningful leadership questions. 

4) They want to take on more responsibility and continue developing their skills.

Many team members I engage with say that continuing to learn and grow their career skills is one of their top priorities. Working in a practice that does not focus on continuing education, team development, advanced training, and expanding duties looks like a brick wall for eager and talented dental assistants. You will lose your highest quality team members without these activities regularly incorporated into your schedule. 

Four common reasons dental hygienists are job hunting:

1) They want to avoid a quality-over-quantity work environment.

Few hygienists I know want to work in a practice focusing only on the bottom line and not the patient’s health or relationship. Those monthly team meetings are critical to understanding these types of concerns. Review the schedule at every team meeting. Ask good questions.

• Are we running behind schedule?

• If so, where and why?

• What needs to happen to resolve this?

• How many hygiene patients did we average per day per hygienist this month? Is it roughly equal?

• Are you feeling burned out?

Questions such as these will help tease out discontent and aid in resolving the issues.

2) They desire better incentives, bonuses, and benefits.

A well-developed and best-practices-based Employee Performance Reward System is meaningful to every team member. Who wants to work harder or take on more responsibilities without receiving rewards for it? Well-designed and executed incentive plans improve employee motivation, accountability, attendance, and customer service. 

3) They want better hours and schedule flexibility.

Many hygienists went into the field because of its scheduling flexibility. Offering reasonably flexible work hours with more or fewer hours based on employee and practice needs often resolves this issue. Well-designed Scheduling Systems are responsible for your income level, your employees’ overall stress levels, and your patients’ satisfaction with the service received. If you don’t control your schedule, it will control your practice, resulting in chaos and team burnout.

4) Similar to dental assistants, hygienists also seek a job elsewhere due to difficult work dynamics in the practice. 

Interestingly, the Gallup Workplace survey revealed that 42% of respondents said their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving. A whopping 36% said they didn’t even talk to their boss about their dissatisfaction before resigning. In other words, you can’t assume that your employees are happy if no one says or does anything to indicate otherwise.

Summary

In this tight hiring market, dental practice owners and managers must be proactive in retaining their employees and talent, particularly their superstar employees. Start the process now by contacting Baird Concepts to develop a practice where employees can become superstars who are engaged and stay. We partner with dental practices to implement systems and customized solutions to transition your practice from simply surviving to vigorously thriving.