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Dr. Ron’s BLOG Challenge: Smart Move vs. Cost of Turnover

One of my clients, Dr. Jake had a very special and talented front desk administrative employee who he had an incredible amount of faith and trust in for the past 2-3 years she had been with him. Due to family illness and challenges she had to leave her position for over 6 weeks. Fortunately Dr. Jake had strong support from his other team members during her absence. While this administrative staff person was gone she was not paid her normal wages, however, Dr. Jake kept the position open and paid for her full health insurance premium so that her coverage would not lapse. When I asked him: “why did you keep this position open for so long with no assurances that she would be back?” here was his response…”Coach Ron, you taught me that it is hard to find talent and when you do… make every effort to keep them! I knew what I had in Kelly thanks to the feedback I learned from using your Dental Team System hiring assessment. I implemented a hiring and retention system and I knew she was special when my patients kept asking for her. I felt she was incredible…and the cost of turnover and replacement would have been excessive…over 1.5 times her wages and benefits. When I calculated the slighly over $800 I paid in health insurance premiums I saved between 60 to 70 thousand dollars of turnover cost. Do you think I’m stupid? More importantly, I have an incredibly loyal employee on my team.” I’m happy to report that Kelly is back and has put her “personal touch” back into the front desk operations. Here is my challenge: What kind of “team celebration” would you suggest for this doctor and his team for holding this group together while Kelly was able to “take care of her personal life”?

Dr. Ron, THE DENTAL COACH

Dr. Ron is the only Master Certified Dental Coach (MCC) on the planet. He has blended 20 years of clinical dental practice with executive roles in financial planning and investment management along his graduate business training to provide his clients with the tools, support, and accountability to accomplish more. About Dr. Ron, "I count you as one of life’s best finds", says Dr. Gary Imm of Reisterstown, Maryland. He has authored many articles; manuals; ThinBooks ^tm; TeleClasses and if you visit http://www.drarndt.com you can receive one of his FREE reports, "9 Painful Mistakes Dentists Make in the Hiring Process"

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One Response to “Dr. Ron’s BLOG Challenge: Smart Move vs. Cost of Turnover”

1. Joe Bulger Says:
   January 30th, 2007 at 6:34 pm

   The team probably had to work harder while they waited for her return, and deserve special recognition for that.

   How about lunch for the whole team at a local restaurant? We do a lot of “Birthday lunches” so we try to find other ways of celebrating.

   Goody bags, or a gift certificate for a massage or spa experience have been very popular. We give team members goody bags at various seasonal occasions - Valentines is next. It doesn’t have to be anything pricey. Women love these things. Fortunately, with my typical male adversion to shopping, my OM handles it all for me.

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