I speak to many dentists each week and there are two question I get asked, over and over again.

“Why do team members only stay at the practice for a short time? How do I hang on to my team?’

Dentists and business owners are scratching their heads, wondering what is going wrong or what they are doing wrong.

Is there a solution?

Why do some Dental Practices have longevity with their teams?

These are all questions worth thinking about.

 

Employee Mindset

As employers you have an employer mindset, and you can easily forget to get in the shoes of the people you employ.

It’s like a lot of things in life. If you can manage to see things from the perspective of others, you are going to be more successful at satisfying the needs of your employees which in turn means your employees will satisfy your needs as an employers.

I know it sounds simple and straight forward, but is it really?

So how do you see things from the eyes of the people you employ?

 

Go Back In Time

A good start is to think back to a time when you were not an employer but an employee. Someone else was making the big decisions for you.

What was it that gave you real “job satisfaction”?

I looked up the meaning of “Job Satisfaction” and found this:

“Job satisfaction is defined as the extent to which an employee feels self-motivated, content & satisfied with his/her job. Job satisfaction happens when an employee feels he or she is having job stability, career growth and a comfortable work life balance.”

Did you have a job that you stayed in for a number of years? Why?

 

Job Satisfaction

I know personally there were a number of important things that kept me satisfied in my place of employment. Here they are:  (These may also be yours.)

• I enjoyed working alongside the other people in my team.
• My boss was reasonable, fair, and friendly.
• I was heard and noticed.
• I was praised and rewarded for my results.
• There was laughter and joy.
• Everyone helped each other.
• There was an opportunity to learn and be better.
• My skills matched the tasks given.
• We celebrated our wins as a team.

 

I did some further investigating on the topic of “Job Satisfaction” and found a great article:

https://positivepsychology.com/job-satisfaction/

The article looks at the 10 Proven Ingredients for Job Satisfaction.

1. Communication
2. Culture
3. Security
4. Leadership
5. Opportunities
6. Career Development
7. Working Conditions
8. Employee Personality
9. Pay and Benefits
10. Reward and Recognition

 

Communication

I love how communication is top of the list here. Without effective communication between employees and employers, there can never be real employee job satisfaction.

Look at how you are communicating internally with your team right now? Can you make improvements?

You cannot expect your team to communicate effectively with your patients and give you the results you are after if you are not communicating effectively with your team.

 

The Answer

The conclusion is that it has been proven that employees are more likely to stay if they have a high level of job satisfaction. Employees are less likely to want to change jobs as there is no guarantee that they would have the same high job satisfaction elsewhere.

The result of Employee Job Satisfaction is Employer Job Satisfaction! It’s time to find out what “Job Satisfaction” means to your team and make a few changes.

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