5 Ways To Retain and Keep Dental Staff Engaged

Keeping your dental staff motivated and engaged, especially during COVID-19 times is a big part of the success of your practice.

So how do you up employee engagement?

Here are 5 ways to retain and keep dental staff engaged:

1. Communicate and Listen: Communicating with your dental staff often is one way to bring everyone together. If your dental practice doesn’t have any ongoing staff meetings, consider picking a day/time to run these. Employees want to be informed of what’s happening at the practice (i.e., new equipment available, best practices, procedure updates/changes, issues/solutions, etc.) If staff meetings are not an option, consider sending out email updates, or using messenger to connect with staff. Getting together with your staff helps create inclusion and it allows employees to participate, speak up and share their own perspectives and experiences. When they do, as an employer be ready to listen. Show them you’re engaged by asking questions, providing insights etc.
2. Growth Opportunities: Focus on employee training, continuing education, advance opportunities, performance improvement and overall job growth. As a dental employer, encourage your staff to learn, grow and advance their careers. You can do this by conducting annual reviews with each employee to discuss performance, working with each employee to set goals to grow/improve, providing training in different dental areas so employees can learn new skills etc.
3. Tools / Work Environment: Is your dental staff motivated or demotivated? If they’re motivated, great – brainstorm new ways in which you can continue to keep your staff happy. However, if they are demotivated, analyze their work environment. Start by asking yourself these questions: Do employees have access to the right technology/software to do their jobs successfully? Do they have all the equipment and supplies needed? Is the dental practice environment warm, inspiring and welcoming? Are your employees stressed/burned out? The answers to these questions might require you to make changes. Some quick ways to address these issues include updating technology/software, upgrading equipment, ordering and maintaining supplies, re-designing your practice (painting walls, ordering new furniture, decorating etc.), creating an employee break room with snacks (i.e., water, coffee, snacks), and if budget permits treat employees to breakfast or lunch every so often etc. All of these things demonstrate that you truly care about your employees by providing them with all the right tools and environment for them to do their job.
4. Team Building: Brainstorm with your dental staff. Take an hour off on a Friday and get out of the office – team building exercises outside of work can be super effective and beneficial. Find ways to connect with your staff, encourage them to connect with each other, play games, brainstorm, relax, have fun – all of these things will allow you to build a strong dental team.
5. Employee Recognition: Employee recognition is something that employers often forget to acknowledge. It might seem small, but in reality, it can make a huge difference. If employees feel appreciated, they will be loyal and most likely stay for the long-term. Employee recognition can be as simple as verbally praising your staff, reminding staff how important they are to the practice, choosing an “employee of the month” and highlighting their achievements, etc.

These are some unique and simple ways to motivate and engage staff in your dental practice. If you really want to dig deep and find out what makes your staff happy, ask them directly. Either send out a company survey or have one-on-ones with your staff to gather feedback. Once you gather insights, determine what is doable and what isn’t and execute your plan.

Investing in your dental staff can help improve productivity, employee retention and the overall success of your practice.

Interested in dental staffing? Check out our dental staffing guide for insights you won’t want to miss out.

To learn more about MASC Medical, its services and how we can help your practice, get in touch.