Interviewing job applicants for a staff opening.
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Dental Staff↗
Biomedical subjects
Laura Sachs Hills
Publications and source records attributed to Laura Sachs Hills.
Setting trouble-free policies for parental and sick leave.
Parental and sick leave are medical staff benefits that can lead to all kinds of problems. This article offers specific guidance for heading off the most common and difficult problems, focusing particularly on ways to provide fair benefits to employees who need them without inviting unnecessary absences and policy abuse. It reviews typical medical practice sick leave policies as well as four creative strategies for encouraging and rewarding excellent attendance and deterring abuse. In addition, this article suggests ways to structure a parental leave policy that will not only be fair to employees but also help the practice fulfill its legal obligations.
Efficiency↗
Interviewing job applicants for a staff opening.
It can be very challenging to identify a potentially strong employee for your practice based upon a resume or written application alone. That is why a well-structured and carefully prepared interview is such an important part of the recruitment process. However, many interviewers have vague interview goals or do not know how to make their limited time with the applicant count. This article describes the key ingredients for a successful interview and offers practical tips for interview preparation. Sample interview questions, legal considerations, and interview follow-up tips are offered, as well as practical advice about involving members of your staff in the interview process.
Guidelines as Topic↗
Administering an employee exit survey to pinpoint practice management problems.
Valued employees may leave your practice but still serve as valuable sources of practice management support. In this article, the author suggests administering an exit survey to departing employees, both on their last day of work and months later. Through such a survey, the former employee has a structured method for offering constructive feedback about your practice management systems and techniques. This article also offers sample exit survey questions and discusses the benefits and how-to's for implementing a former employees' alumni relations program for your practice.
Employee Grievances↗
Creating job descriptions and a job applicant wish list.
How can you recognize the best job applicant for an open position in your practice when he or she shows up at your door? The up-to-date, comprehensive job description will be your best guide. In this article, the author suggests what information should be included in job descriptions, who should write job descriptions for your practice, and when and how to determine appropriate salary and benefits for each job description. In addition, this article offers an important disclaimer for job descriptions that will protect you legally and that every employee in your practice should sign.
Employee Performance Appraisal↗
How to keep employees from taking you to court.
A lawsuit from a current or former employee, even an unfounded one, can have a devastating effect on a medical practice. In this article, the author suggests specific strategies for preventing employee lawsuits, specifically those that often result from mistakes in a practice's recruitment materials, employee handbook, job references, and dress code. In addition, this article offers guidance for preventing sexual harassment charges, overtime disputes, and hassles with problem employees. Finally, this article suggests four must-have business forms that provide important legal protection for any medical practice.
Documentation↗
Establishing guidelines for employee dress and hygiene.
Can you tell your medical practice staff how you want them to look? Where in your office they can eat? Can they chew gum at work? Can they wear red nail polish or a charm bracelet? In the pages that follow, the author suggests not only that you can establish rules for employee dress and hygiene, but why you should. This article suggests several good ways to structure staff rules for wearing uniforms and street clothing. It also covers possible rules for wearing practice nametags, cosmetics, jewelry, hair styles, neatness, stowing of personal possessions, personal hygiene, drinking, eating, smoking, and gum chewing. Finally, this article offers practical suggestions for establishing your practice's dress and hygiene "first aid" kit as well as guidance for making your practice's dress and hygiene codes non-discriminatory.
Clothing↗
Organizing a practice retreat.
Medical practices are often so busy that physicians and their staff have difficulty seeing the big picture. A well-organized practice retreat can provide needed time and space for tackling large practice management problems and establishing new goals. In addition, a practice retreat can enable staff members to get to know each other better and learn new ways to function as a cohesive team. In this article, the author describes the similarities and differences between single-task and team-building retreats. In addition, the author shares practical do's and don'ts for organizing worthwhile medical practice retreats and makes suggestions about possible locations for retreats, recommended follow-up, and team-building exercises.
Group Processes↗
Preliminary screening of job applicants in five steps.
If you receive a gargantuan response to your next help-wanted ad, take heart. Having too many job applicants need not be a problem if you take a little time to do some preliminary screening. In this article, the author suggests a five-step screening technique that will help you identify the best applicants from a large pool. Specifically, the article explains how to eliminate unsuitable candidates and offers practical guidelines for ranking qualified applicants. It also offers advice about verifying job eligibility and using skill tests in the application process. Finally, the author offers seven specific characteristics to look for when conducting brief telephone screening interviews with job candidates, as well as additional tips for making your screening process most effective.
Humans↗
Special considerations for hiring an office manager.
Medical practice office managers come in many varieties. They can be hired from the outside or promoted from within. They can have a great deal of experience working in medical practices or practically none. Which type of office manager is the best choice for your practice? This article will help you decide. It describes three types of office managers and considers the pros and cons of each. It explores the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of lay administrators hired from the outside, office managers promoted from the ranks, and "super-aides" who are asked to manage while doing their old jobs. This article also offers a list of 10 characteristics to look for in office manager candidates, as well as six areas of overall responsibility for your office manager. Finally, it includes a quick checklist of 20 required duties of typical medical practice office managers that can help you shape your office manager's job description.
Administrative Personnel↗
Working with your spouse, children, or other close relatives.
Employing someone you're close to in your medical practice can have many advantages. Yet, as many doctors find, employing relatives can also have its pitfalls. This article describes the financial benefits of employing a loved one in your medical practice. It suggests the specific steps you will need to take to legitimize your spouse's, significant other's, or relative's employment. The author also explores the personal benefits and drawbacks of employing your spouse or significant other. She includes advice from other doctors and spouses who work together and establishes 15 ground rules for working with your spouse. Finally, the article includes a 10-question self-quiz for you and your spouse or significant other to help you decide if working together in your medical practice will strengthen or strain your relationship.
Employment↗
What do employees really want?
Each person who works in your medical practice is unique and has different goals, values, dreams, and perceptions. This uniqueness means that you can't make assumptions about what your employees want. By learning what makes the people working in your practice tick, you will be able to develop meaningful rewards and incentives and eliminate some nagging practice management problems once and for all. This article suggests a simple exercise that enables staff members to rank 10 job features in order of importance. It shares the results of original research indicating common complaints medical office employees have about their doctor-bosses. It cautions readers not to solicit employee opinions unless they can live with the truth and keep from becoming bitter, defensive, or retaliatory. The article also offers two hands-on tools for helping practice managers find out what their employees really want: a ready-to-use staff morale survey and an employee suggestion program.
Attitude of Health Personnel↗
Finding suitable applicants for a staff opening.
Many medical practices run classified ads to seek applicants for job openings and do little else. Several effective recruitment strategies, however, can be used in addition to or instead of classified advertising. In this article, the author suggests working both inside and outside the practice to draw in top-notch job applicants. She describes how local schools, employment agencies, and temporary agencies can help fill positions in medical practices and how such arrangements typically work. The author also suggests ways to bring excellent former employees back to the fold. Finally, she offers practical tips for protecing yourself financially when hiring a new employee through an agency and paying a placement fee.
Advertising↗
Special considerations for hiring an associate.
If you 're thinking about hiring an associate for your medical practice, you will have many things to consider and many decisions to make. This article weighs the pros and cons of associateships and provides a 12-question quiz to help you determine whether an associate will be a good fit for your goal, philosophy, needs, and personality. It suggests helpful tips for recruiting and interviewing top-notch applicants to your associateship, including effective interview questions. It also offers advice about evaluating associateship applicants and suggests typical compensation arrangements. This article also includes questions to answer in your associateship contract and practical advice about restrictive covenants and externships. Finally, the article offers 12 suggestions for getting your new associate up to speed right away in your practice.
Advertising↗
Preventing employee theft: 15 techniques for preventing bookkeeping embezzlement.
Medical practices are unfortunately the target of embezzlement more often than you might think. This article offers practical suggestions for keeping your employees honest and thwarting a would-be embezzler. It describes the common symptoms of an embezzler at work and offers 15 practical techniques for preventing bookkeeping embezzlement. This article also suggests a simple method for conducting mini-audits from time to time and precautions to take to ensure the reliability of computer passwords. The article advocates keeping tighter control of office supplies and a method for spotting telephone abuse. Finally, it offers suggestions for dealing with employees who steal time on the job.
Accounting↗
Developing a competitive benefits program.
Offering your employees the right fringe benefits can help staff morale soar, foster loyalty, and increase the chances that a top-notch job applicant will say yes to your job offer. This article suggests practical ways to offer a competitive benefits program without breaking the bank. It includes guidance about specific benefits and suggests a dozen more extra benefits employees value and a sample cafeteria-style fringe benefits plan. Finally, the article includes guidelines about creating and using your own benefits statement with your staff; along with a model statement form you can use or adapt to your needs.
Child Day Care Centers↗
When and how to use monetary incentives.
Will money motivate your staff to perform better? While some practice managers prefer not to use bonus incentive programs, others use them fequently and report excellent results. This article explores the benefits and pitfalls of using monetary incentives with your staff. It explores the effectiveness of bonuses compared with raises. It also considers the four qualities of effective incentive bonus programs and gives examples of both percentage bonus programs and flat-dollar bonus programs. In particular, this article includes how-to advice for structuring a new patient incentive bonus program along with the potential problems of such programs as reported by two doctors who tried them. Finally, the article explores the benefits of using merchandise rewards rather than cash and includes innovative ideas for maximizing bonuses by implementing a "cookie jar" system and dividing annual bonuses into two installments.
Humans↗
Using an employee handbook to head off problems.
Most medical practices agree that an employee handbook is a great idea. Many, however, don't know how to write a good handbook. This article provides a helpful overview of the kinds of materials that should and should not be included in your practice's employee handbook. It explores the many benefits of employee handbooks and identifies four policy topics that you should avoid. It suggests the benefits and potential uses of a glossary in your employee handbook and provides an example of the terms that might be included in a medical practice glossary. This article also suggests the appropriate language and tone for employee handbooks and offers advice about distributing them so your staff will read and understand your personnel policies. Finally, the article offers a blueprint for creating your own employee handbook.
Employee Discipline↗