October 2000 • Post-Assembly Edition • Dallas
Success of your practice can depend on finding the right staff
BY TERRY SELBY
Hiring skilled, dependable office staff allows you to focus on your practice and serve your patients better. Key to this outcome, however, is attracting and retaining good employees, said Keith Borglum, M.A., in "How to Find, Hire and Keep Great Staff" Sept.20.
"Hiring a more efficient staff allows a physician to serve a larger community of patients. Retention of good employees helps in communication with patients and increases bonding between patients and the practice," said Borglum, a practice management consultant for Professional Management and Marketing in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Hiring the wrong person is an incredible burden on your practice. It affects your performance and the performance of your other employees, he noted.
"And it's an economic burden," Borglum said. "Turnover typically costs one to one and a half times the employee's annual salary."
Networking is the best way to find great staff, he said.
"People who are looking for work may not be the kind of people you want to attract," Borglum said. He suggested talking with colleagues, consultants, pharmaceutical representatives and others for leads on applicants.
"Like seeks like," he added. "If you have great staff people, they probably hang out with other great people. Offer your current employees a 'bounty' for referrals."
If networking doesn't help you fill your position, the next step is to advertise, he said.
If all else fails, he said, there are always placement agencies, temporary employment services and employee leasing services that might help.
One participant in the course said FPs often have trouble attracting qualified staff because they can't compete with the salaries offered by other specialty group practices.
"Then you have to compete in other areas," Borglum noted. "Advertise your 'family' work environment and the opportunities to make a difference on a small team. For many people, salary is not the deciding factor."
In some cases, benefits outweigh salary, he said.
Borglum offered tips on hiring and training of new employees. Once you've found the right person, he said, the focus should be on retention because median staff retention is only 23 months.
"You have to beat those odds by offering informal verbal support, formal written reviews, and bonuses such as profit sharing and scheduling flexibility," he said.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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