You pour so much time and effort into recruiting, training and supporting the perfect team for your practice, but what’s the point of all this work if your clinicians don’t stick around?
Keeping a strong employee / clinician retention rate is a key factor to practice success and saves you a lot of time and resources in the long run. Think about the last team member you onboarded in your practice and consider some of the costs:
The time and monetary cost of recruiting.
The time required to train the new employee.
The practice culture change and loss of intellectual property (IP) when the previous team member left.
The stress and time pressure on existing team members tasked with training the new recruit.
These are just a few of the costs and they all add up, making turnover an expensive process, so some immediate benefits of increasing team member retention in your practice are clear.
But what’s the secret to retaining team members?
Well, frankly, there isn’t one that fits all situations and individual’s. The decision to stay at a particular practice can be based on many factors, and these will vary both between individuals and for the one individual at different points in their career. A few include professional goals, change of living location, financial requirements, family commitments, and of course discontent in the role/workplace. Even some of the best practices struggle to retain their team members, that’s just the nature of the work. However there are strategies that you can implement to increase retention of clinicians and other team members in your practice, so let’s dive in.
1. Hire the right people.
Invest in hiring the right people right from the start. Putting a little more time into finding a good fit for a role is so worth it in the long-term, even if you have to turn down seemingly adequate applicants. Finding the right fit will ensure that they stay around for longer and will become a better asset to the team. In considering who is right for you, take the big picture approach and look at all the factors at play – from experience to personality and attributes, and how they’ll fit into the culture of your practice. Remember that recruiting is a two-way street – in the same way that you need them to fit what your practice requires, you also need to be the right fit for their needs and goals!
2. Create paths for career progression.
According to a study by SEEK, the #2 most common reason for employees leaving a role is due to a lack of opportunity for career progression People don’t like to stay stagnant/lacking in challenge, so creating opportunities for growth can greatly increase your clinician retention rate.
3. Invest in strong management.
According to the same study by SEEK, poor management took out the #1 spot, as the most common reason employees leave their roles. So if you’re looking to increase clinician retention, invest the time and resources into building a strong and supportive management skillset in your practice. We have a range of articles available on our website to steer you in the right direction, and you’re welcome to reach out to our team for our business coaching support!
4. Encourage professional development.
The majority of professionals really want to grow and improve, so encouraging and supporting them to take on development opportunities is a great way to build more engaged and more adept team members. It can be beneficial to offer financial support and even incentivises for your clinicians to develop their skills and professional competencies (beyond their required CPD), including in areas both directly beneficial to practice, and things they simply find interesting.
5. Invest in culture.
Workplace culture is far more than a nice atmosphere. It provides the very foundations from which you build a healthy and thriving practice and has a huge impact on employee satisfaction, and thus retention. Workplace culture encompasses an array of factors, from your company values through to communication and workplace events. Here’s an article we wrote on creating a strong workplace culture, have a read and use some of the strategies to develop yours!
6. Recognition.
This is a pretty simple one – people love recognition. If your team members do a good job, tell them! It makes them feel good and motivates them to keep performing well. But ensure you’re sincere in your compliments and personalise them to who you’re engaging with. Recognition makes people feel seen and appreciated, and ultimately happier and more engaged team members.
7. Offer flexibility.
Flexibility is a massive one, and only becoming more important to professionals as the working world moves away from the traditional ‘nine to five’ mindset. While the ability to make a role flexible is highly dependent on the specific requirements and duties of each role, there’s often a range of options that you can review with your team members. These include working from home options, flexible hours, job sharing and flexible options for leave. Consult each team members to see what would suit them best – particularly those with family commitments.
8. Competitive salaries.
While money isn’t everything, it’s definitely another factor to consider. So, ensure you offer competitive salaries and financial incentives to your team members, and pay them what they deserve. There are plenty of well-paid opportunities out there for good clinicians, and to keep the best people you need to ensure their remuneration reflects everything they bring to the role and your practice.
9. Address underperformance by going to the root cause.
If a team member appears to be slacking off or losing motivation, don’t be too quick to judge, but rather investigate the potential reasons behind their underperformance. Let them know what you’re observing and ask them what’s going on from their perspective. Then together you can develop strategies to help them get back on track. Maybe they’re feeling stagnant in their role, or are struggling to maintain work-life balance. Or maybe they don’t have a clear picture of what’s expect of them, or need more training/mentoring. By really analysing the symptoms then root cause, you’ll be well on your way to solving the situation and getting your team member back on track ASAP. They’ll also appreciate your support and getting to be heard, and you’ll have decreased the risk of them quitting.
Investing the time into hiring the right people and then retaining them is the key to creating a successful and thriving practice. By retaining your clinicians, you save time and money in the recruitment and training of new team members and maintain workplace culture and continuity of care. Plus, the more engaged and motivated your clinicians are, the better care they’ll provide to your patients, and that’s what it all comes down it, after all.
The Augmentum team provides a broad range of consultancy and management services, supporting healthcare business owners and decision makers in other key areas such as strategy development and action planning, building effective foundations and teams, keeping your finger on the pulse, and driving growth and success. If you’re looking for support in finding and retaining the right team for your practice, get in touch to find out more, or check out our website www.augmentum.com.au
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