6 Ways to Recruit and Retain Practice Employees

The dentistry industry is facing a severe dental workforce shortage. According to data from ADA Health Policy Institute (HPI), staff recruitment is a serious ongoing challenge, whether seeking dentists, dental hygienists, or administrative staff. More than 60% of dentists indicated that staffing recruitment remains their top challenge for 2024, with more than half (52%) of U.S. dentists indicating that they are likely to add staff to their practice in 2024.

In Canada, even before the pandemic, the shortage of dental assistants was an obstacle to meeting the oral health needs of Canadians. According to a 2022 report by the Canadian Dental Association (CDA), 36% of dental offices had vacant dental assistant positions in 2019; as of April 2023, CDA estimates that there is a current shortage of almost 5,000 dental assistants nationwide.

If you are presently dealing with staff turnover in your practice, it’s important to understand why people leave their jobs. According to an article on Indeed.com, 16 reasons employees leave their jobs, money was the number two reason. Other reasons included lack of a challenge, poor management, lack of communication and training, not feeling valued, lack of recognition, lack of follow-through, no feedback, and no vision for the future.

When facing staff turnover, it’s important to take a look at yourself or your hiring/personnel manager, the state of your practice and its existing team members, your leadership/management, and your communication skills. This self-examination will help you see your role regarding staff turnover. Are your expectations of your team unclear? Are you doing annual performance reviews? Are your team members feeling unappreciated and overworked? Do they have clarity on what they’re tasks are on a day to day basis?

One of the best ways to learn why someone left your practice is to hold exit interviews. These meetings, as difficult as they may be, are an opportunity to gain information to help you improve your practice and retain your employees.

Fortunately, when in search of and acquiring new talent, it’s kind of like dating. One must be attracted to another party because of certain qualities. Getting someone interested in you or your practice is the initial step in attracting and retaining talent. To have someone be attracted to you and your practice, you must ensure that your qualities are attractive, clearly stated, and communicated.

Here are some strategies on how to attract new talent to your dental office:

It’s important to have an effective talent acquisition strategy to plan out what methods and approaches you will use to identify, source, and secure the best talent in the market. Identify where your competitors are finding talent. Ask your colleagues where they have more success in getting applicants. You can also leverage your fully integrated healthcare management solution’s ability to:

• Integrate with online job boards to post and share job opportunities at your practice
• Notify internal temporary candidates of new opportunities that are available to extend their working time in your practice
• Create and streamline your onboarding process to create consistent training protocols and deliver on a positive employee experience right from the start
• Track all of your interviewees and notes from your conversations for future reference
• Implement, track and manage performance reviews, whatever the frequency — monthly check-in’s, quarterly and/or annual

Some additional proven talent acquisition strategies used by practices all over North America include hiring a recruiting company to help you find talent or a dental temp agency to full open positions until you find your ideal candidate; training and developing existing staff or asking for referrals from your existing employees; or contract with long-term temporary talent for higher wages and offer retention bonuses.

Look at all the other job postings that your competitors have placed on job boards. Ask yourself, if you were a candidate, what would make you read a job advertisement? What qualities does your practice have that helps yours stand out?

Many employees today prefer to work in a practice that is modernized with an integrated healthcare management solution. Top talent want their daily workflows to be streamlined and frictionless and don’t want to be burdened with disparate systems and applications, time consuming admin tasks and frustrating manual processes that make their jobs more difficult.

It also helps to indicate the compensation range and any benefits you are offering. A recent survey conducted by Achievers Workers Institute reported that 36% of employees leave their jobs for better compensation and benefits. Being clear and transparent up front will set the right expectations from the start.

While practice modernization and benefits and compensation rank as top qualities employees look for in a new job, candidates also look for better recognition, appreciation, and values along with strong relationships and positive culture in the workplace. By establishing an employment brand, you can communicate all of these qualities and the type of office culture you have.

Memorable employment brands are highly achievable both large and small practices. You can communicate your brand through the company website or social media accounts, which are great places where:

• Previous and current employees can post testimonials on what life is like every day at work
• Current employees are featured and include what they like to do for fun outside of the office, which also leads to the recognition and appreciation staff is looking for
• You can tell a story of what it’s like to work in your office, which will attract not only prospective employees but also new patients
• You can display your mission statement and company values which are consistent with your company and employment brand

Once you have communicated how great your company is, the next step is to determine who you want to direct your message to. What kind of talent are you looking to work in your amazing office? Your talent brand should describe the kinds of talent your company seeks and the kinds of talent who succeed in your company.

For example, if your brand focuses on customer service, your talent should naturally have the personality to meet your patients’ needs. Think back again on what makes your office different from your competitors. If you are an office that truly cares for the well-being of your patients and employees, that can be your employment and company brand.

A great example would be to show pictures of a lunch-hour group walk that your employees participate in with other staff members. From that, you can develop your talent brand by thinking of what kinds of people are needed to make your business strategy successful. From the example given, you may be able to attract candidates who like to be physically active if they see that you value their wellness.

Nowadays, job seekers have so many options in which they could look for jobs. Make sure you have a comprehensive talent acquisition strategy that uses all the tools and channels available. However, be thoughtful about where you spend your dollars in finding talent.

Ask your employees to refer friends and family in return for cash rewards. A more sophisticated approach is providing your employees with referral cards or pamphlets that they can give to any person they come across who gives excellent customer service or demonstrates interest in your practice. Another way is to have your current employees list names of talented people they may have previously worked with in the past. Then, the hiring manager in the office can follow up on these contacts.

Another great source for acquiring talent is to tap into your healthcare management solution’s direct integration with online job boards and post and share job opportunities at your practice. Remember however that your ad should stand out from your competitors. If your ad looks just like your competitors, it is more likely it will be overlooked. Instead, write a catchy job description that clearly and succinctly states your brand and what makes you different from others.

Lastly, create alliances with colleges and universities via online and offline connections. Through Linkedin and Facebook, you can find groups and forums for specific fields, industries, and universities. You can search for talent through these networks and invite them to check out your practice. If you have a social media presence, prospective talent can follow your social media account and check out your company website. It’s important you establish your business strategy, your employment, and your talent brand in order for you to attract the candidates you expect to succeed in your company.

Measuring the effectiveness of your attraction and recruitment efforts is important in determining which method works and how much you are spending on your investment. You won’t know which channel and strategy are more effective if you don’t measure.

Here are just some of the ways to measure your success:

• Know how many applicants apply per job you posted
• How long it took to fill the vacancy
• The number of online visits to your career website
• Cost per hire
• Offer-to-acceptance ratio

Consistency in your message is the secret to having an effective talent acquisition strategy. Alignment in your company values, culture, branding, business strategy, and talent acquisition strategy is key. As with dating and relationships, you must be able to deliver what is promised. We all know that trust is an important driver in building relationships. If you establish a great reputation with your employees and clients, they are more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family.

Choosing the best talent acquisition strategy depends on what you are willing and able to do. Always consider the pros and cons of each strategy. Most importantly, always think about how you can be effective with each strategy.

For more tips on managing your practice effectively, download our Ultimate Guide to Creating Order from Chaos in Your Dental Practice.