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How to Hire and Retain the Best Employees
That sucking sound you may be hearing is not the sound of your maintenance people vacuuming your carpets. No, it is more likely the sound of other businesses removing your employees -- good and bad -- from your practice.
Consider this: The 1970’s oil shortages were caused by only five percent shrinkage. The current and projected labor shortage is 15 to 25 percent. Just another temporary shortage? The oil shortage was little more than a deliberate act to withhold resources for political and economic reasons. The labor shortage, on the other hand, is an absolute shortage -- too many jobs and too few people. The labor crunch is on and from all indications will continue well into at least the next 20 years, with unemployment hitting a 30-year low.
Shortages have come and gone before, the cynics will say. The economy will cool off, companies will downsize and a glut of employees will be looking for jobs. Our research, however, clearly indicates the cynics will be wrong this time.
Consider this:
- According to the Hudson Institute, the ratio of entry-level wage earners to retirees has fallen from 9 to 1 in 1955, to 4 to 1 in 1995, and is estimated to be 2 to 1 by 2020.
- The labor force has grown nearly 40 percent during the past 20 years, while the number of positions available has increased 50 percent.
- In 1998, despite manufacturing downsizings of over 337,000 people, nearly three million new positions were created. Half of all the new jobs created are and will be in the service industry.
- In 1973, blue collar workers represented over 60 percent of the workforce. By 2000, only 10 percent of the workforce was blue collar.
- In 1950, over 60 percent of all manufacturing jobs required unskilled laborers. By 2005, less than 15 percent of all manufacturing positions were unskilled.
- There were 78 million baby boomers. There are 45 million Generation-Xers, the 19 to 30-year olds. Do the math.
With the number of skilled and semi-skilled service positions available now and being created daily, the number of people willing and qualified to fill them has stretched our human capacity to its limits. Simply put, there are more positions than people available and every industry will compete for the very person you hope to employ.
What Will This Mean for Dental Practices?
Preparing your practice to recruit and retain employees will require very different strategies, an acute understanding of a new labor market, and positioning the management and training of employees as priority one.
Not only are fewer people available to apply for a position, but the distinctive advantage of working in a clean, service-oriented office verses working in a factory has all but disappeared. The new generation of skilled positions offer better pay, more benefits, greater growth opportunities and more mobility than any time in history. It’s no longer a choice between factory work, waitressing, retailing opportunities or working in a dental practice for the young female high school graduate, the traditional gender for clinical and administrative support in health care practices. The choices are limitless and the competition fierce. And the people you want to hire know it.
What are dentists to compete for in the labor market? The single best predictor of excellence, according to the Fortune Magazine survey of best companies conducted by The Hay Group, is a company’s ability to attract, motivate and retain talented people. Talented people. Not just any people, but talented people. How can you attract and retain these best employees?
Create an Irresistible Practice
Why would an employee want to work for you? Doctors are loud and clear in describing the skills and behaviors they expect of an employee. This is well and good when 10 people are applying for an open position. Today’s market, however, is radically different. The response rate to the call for applications is many times silent. Just ask your colleagues if you haven’t been looking for an employee lately. Doctors must begin to ask, “Why would an employee want to work with me?” And if you don’t have a great answer, you might find yourself with no one listening.
Reward Performance
Motivated people perform best when surrounded by motivated people. Just ask yourself: How motivated are you with people who drag their feet or are always negative? Retaining talented, good people is crucial, especially when faced with the difficulty of replacing one. Retaining under-performers, however, is deadly. Not only do underperformers demotivate other employees and patients, but likely will drive the good employees away.
Make Timely Decisions
Indecision and procrastination of addressing under or non-performance may drive your good employees out of your practice, leaving you searching for a new best employee. While retaining the employees you hoped would leave, you are faced with the daunting task of attracting a motivated, skilled individual to join a team of under-performers. With a shrinking pool of prospects, it is an employee’s market.
Compensation and Benefits
With the national unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, dentists are competing with manufacturing, construction, retail trade, food and hospitality, and other health care specialties for the same six million-plus unemployed. Dentists who pay market or below-market wages with little or no benefits may bring new meaning to the category of “solo practice.” Our young workforce has car payments, credit card debt, mobile phone bills and housing expenses. They can’t -- and won’t -- try to make it on yesterday’s salary.
Attract the Best Talent
Attracting the best talent, not an option when patient satisfaction and optimum patient care is considered, requires an environment that meets and exceeds the expectations of an incredibly dynamic but challenging workforce. While doctors are still debating the virtues of computers and chugging along with their DOS-based-386-single-user system, Gen-Xer’s are entering the workforce as the most computer literate, technically proficient and expressive group ever. Sucking spit and filling out insurance forms just won’t cut it anymore. Gen-Xer’s want to learn new duties. They want flexibility, learning opportunities and feedback. High-tech dentistry is not just for the patient’s benefit; it’s becoming the competitive edge in attracting and retaining employees.
Summary
The heat is on. The scramble to find new employees and the competition to retain current employees is just intensifying. The priorities of Fortune Magazine’s best companies are teamwork, customer focus, fair treatment of employees, initiative and innovation. These companies will be competing for your employees during the next 20 years. Are you prepared?
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