Latest / The Word of Mouth Podcast / The People Problem in Dentistry | WOM 012
Transcript
- Jeffrey Lunt: Welcome to the word of mouth podcast, your weekly rundown of the business. Trends and news that are affecting the dental industry. I'm your host, Jeff, and this is my co host Sarah. Sarah Lunt: Hey Jeff, good to be here today. Jeffrey Lunt: Awesome. Last week we talked about marketing and patient acquisition, but none of that matters if you can't hire. And you can't scale, you can't convert these new patients if you don't have the correct people in your office. So this week we're gonna talk a little bit about personnel in a dental clinic and what it takes hire and maintain ⁓ and ⁓ what goes all that side of ⁓ dental practice management. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, Jeff, I think a lot of dental practices today think that marketing, patient demand, and technology are all big factors ⁓ ⁓ growth of a dental practice. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. But I really think, like you said, it's the people that are working in the dental office that make the biggest difference. And That's a big pain point for a lot of dentists, so I'm really excited to talk about that today and Hopefully give some insight into that issue and maybe some potential solutions to that issue. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, it's something that we know is a big pain point and also maybe strikes a nerve across the dental industry, whether it's the dentists who are having trouble finding good folks to work in their practice, or it's the people like dental hygienists or front desk staff who feel maybe underappreciated. we've had a few posts on our TikTok kind of ⁓ blow up with comments that it's dentists complaining about their side, it's hygienist complaining about their side. we're not necessarily here to say who's right or who's wrong in the industry. ⁓ obviously people have different agendas, different things speak to people, but one thing I know is when I was through my master's program that we talked about hiring talent and most of it was from a startup perspective of how do you attract good talent and For a lot of people in the startup world starting new businesses, not necessarily startups like tech startups, but just anyone starting a new business, money is always cash flow is always the number one concern, or often the number one concern, I guess I should say. and so dentists are in a very similar position where a lot of the hygienists, the number one complaint we heard is we just need to be paid more. ⁓ And meanwhile, salaries have gone down. So Paying their hygienists more can't always be the solution that I think hygienists expect. which is fine. There are alternative ways. That's all we talked about in High Masters program was alternative ways to attract and hire and retain good talent. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, the fact of the matter is, that we are a market where the expectations from employees have kind of shifted. And especially with dental hygienists and dentists, there are more open roles qualified candidates. And so these qualified candidates are demanding more for ⁓ the services they offer. And it does put dentists in a tough spot to hire. with these expectations that they'll get more benefits, that they'll get paid more. it's kind of ⁓ maybe losing battle for both sides that I'm sure there are out there and dentists are scrambling to find these solutions, but it is ⁓ important, Jeff, like you to recognize that everyone's kind of ⁓ between a rock and hard place in ⁓ these situations, both hygienists the dentists. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, we talked a lot about the insurance squeeze where insurance reimbursements aren't keeping pace with inflation. And everyone, not just dentists and dental practices, is feeling that inflation pressure where the cost of living continues to go up, the cost of maybe what is considered acceptable standard of living is going up as social media we all compare and we don't necessarily want to get the philosophy of living, but living has gotten more expensive and so I think a lot of people feel they need more more money to keep up with their lifestyle. ⁓ that being said, culture is a huge component what goes into retaining good employees. I think there is few people who would say if I'm happy in my current work environment and I'm making enough to live, I will leave to seek more money at a potentially ⁓ inviting Sarah Lunt: Yeah, I just talked to a friend that works for Costco actually, and they were telling me that ⁓ Costco does just enough to keep them around, they don't necessarily pay them an incredible salary, but they have these benefits and they give them raises j at just the right times ⁓ where it is a positive environment to work and like you said, they They have what they need, and that's enough to keep them around. So I totally agree that the culture ⁓ is And I think a lot of these dental practices struggle to have that culture that keeps ⁓ hygienists and ⁓ around. I think a lot of these dental are kind a revolving door. They can't keep these hygienists for long. They can't keep these assistants for long. And ⁓ that just leads to more effort on the dentist part and more ⁓ in hiring process trying to find new people. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, when it comes to employment, a lot of times we talk about golden handcuffs. and that's usually viewed as kind of a negative thing. You're stuck in a job because you're unwilling to leave your stable paycheck. but in this situation, if dentists can create a golden handcuffs that revolves around paying their employees enough for sure, ⁓ certainly not underpaying and assistants, but then also creating a work environment where The money coupled with the associations with clients and the patient culture and all of those things go together to create a situation where dentists can effectively make golden handcuffs for their employees where the employees don't have a desire to leave. and they don't want to have that desire to leave. I think ⁓ golden handcuffs of course can be a negative thing where you feel kind of trapped because of your salary. But golden handcuffs can also be a great thing where you feel like I d there's no reason for me to leave this job. I get paid enough. I have a great time at work. so I might as well stick around ⁓ and in a good situation. So, I don't think it always has to be a negative thing with talking about the golden handcuffs and things. We've talked, ⁓ with dentists, who have hygienists who've been with them for twenty years and It's those kind of practices that we love working with because we know that marketing and patient acquisition becomes so much easier when you do have that consistent culture and there's not a ton of hygienist turnover. ⁓ all of that goes into building a successful practice. Sarah Lunt: Absolutely. And I think the patients can feel this culture as well in these dental offices. I think when they can tell that there's a good relationship between the dentist and the hygienists and the dental assistants, and everyone seems to get along and enjoy being in the office, ⁓ the can feel that too, which ultimately leads to ⁓ more and growth. And so I think ⁓ really on this culture within the workplace, yes, affects the retention ⁓ of those in the office, but it has more positive impacts outside of that as well that can pay dividends to these dental practices. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah. I mean the average cleaning patient comes and spends most of their time with a hygienist. So having the same hygienist can keep those patients coming back. ⁓ I'd really quick I wanna touch on some of these statistics just so that we kind of have a baseline where we're working from for the rest of the episode. so just going through kind of Statistically, what is happening with the dental workforce? Forty percent of dentists say they are actively looking to hire a hygienist or an assistant. and so that means there are almost half of the clinics across the country are in need of some ⁓ employee. I saw another study that said that nine out of ten dentists say it's very difficult to find good hygienists. So the demand is certainly there, ⁓ for hygienists to find a dental practice to work with. It's now dentists figuring out how to meet those demands of those hygienists. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and I mean it's not just hygienists that are in demand. there's also a high demand for dentists across the United States. statistics show that There are over sixty three point seven million Americans that live in an area with a dental health professional shortage, meaning that it would take ⁓ ten thousand additional dentists to meet this demand. ⁓ so we do talk about the shortage of hygienists, ⁓ there's also this shortage of dentists that we need to be aware of as well. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and it's not just kind of the shortage side of dentistry, but turnover is a huge problem. Turnover's way up since twenty twenty. I think that the younger generations aren't staying with jobs nearly as long as kind of we I mean, I think about our dad stayed with his job for thirty five years. we had grandparents who stayed with their job for fifty years. and turnover is much more commonplace across all industries, but it's become an increasing problem since the especially in dentistry, ⁓ where turnover is is causing a lot of stress on dentists. And we'll talk about this in a little bit, but Retaining an employee, just like we talked about retaining a patient is five times cheaper than f getting a new one. Retaining an employee is much less expensive than than finding a new one. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, definitely. I think that's where that workplace comes into play ⁓ is older generations kind of had this grin and barrett where they needed to work, they had a job, they would just go to work, clock in, come home. ⁓ Whereas younger generations they do need to work in a environment or they'll leave. They have no problem changing jobs. like you mentioned, and so I think it is important that that culture is there like we've talked about. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and one other thing to note is the changing demographic in dentistry. ⁓ over fifty-five percent of new dental graduates are women. So an industry where hygienists have historically typically been women and the dentists have typically been men, we're shifting a lot. We just started working with a new client that they are an all women office. The orthodontist is a woman and all of her staff are women. And so dynamics are changing constantly in dentistry and it's not just the the male dentist and the female hygienist and assistants anymore. It's dentistry as a whole is changing and so kind of what ⁓ needs are met and how we're meeting those needs as an industry are shifting. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and the way practice is hire today also looks completely different than it did even five to ten years ago. That's something that's been changing a lot in recent years. And part of these changes is that the candidates have more power. with the shortage, with the high demand and low supply, the candidates do have more of a say over the benefits they receive and the pay as well. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and I think that that's somewhere where dentists need to focus on getting creative is hygienist salary is up thirty-three percent over the last ten, fifteen years. meanwhile, dentist's salary is down ten to fifteen percent. So ⁓ paying candidates more money is not always an option because that has to come from somewhere. And the case of independent practices, that's almost always the dentist's paycheck. And so taking a huge pay cut just to hire ⁓ an employee, while maybe necessary to keep your practice running smoothly, isn't necessarily always the answer. there are a lot of different ways to organize that can help retain employees. And it will all be situation to situation and state to state. There's some things that are legal or illegal in different states and so always make sure that you're in line with what the law allows for your state. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, I mean, it honestly feels like the hygienist is choosing the dentist, not the other way around. So I think there is some room for creativity to kind of be appealing to the hygienist, make them want to come work for you. ⁓ And with that, ⁓ the best candidates, the best hygienists get snatched up fast. And so these practices who have slow hiring processes are losing out on some of these good hygienists that are quickly. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, and hiring a hygienist honestly looks a little bit like trying to find a new patient, where ⁓ hygienists ⁓ even dental associates are looking at your Google reviews, they're looking at your social media, they're looking at your website, they're trying to learn about you the same way a patient would like to learn about you, and they're looking at your practice culture, they're trying to find out what kind of benefits you're giving. are you offering retirement plans? Are you offering ⁓ medical benefits? what are you doing in the way ⁓ of kind of opportunities for your practice? Are you offering opportunities to improve their education and branch out different areas within dentistry? We work with one dentist who has hygienist that's a s certified myofunctional therapist. So are you offering opportunities to kind of meet different demands within the industry? And so there's certainly ⁓ all sorts different opportunities for dentists to kind of sweeten the pot. but again, like we've talked about, culture is a big one. Are you having regular team meetings? Are there opportunities to work with people that they like? Those kinds of things making your practice feel like a family, especially in the independent practice where you're seeing the same people day in and day out, it's invaluable to have that kind of culture setting mindset in your practice, especially when it comes to attracting good high quality talent. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and I mean we've talked a lot about culture on this podcast because it really is so important. But I think there are a few culture problems that hygienists and assistants are facing that ultimately cause them to leave a practice. And some of those include lack of leadership, right? No one's really taking control, no one's really giving that direction. And so people tend to feel kind of confused or lost within. ⁓ The office, with poor communication, it's important that everyone in the office is on the same page and has this good communication, knows what's going on. That just builds confidence ⁓ in each other in the practice, ⁓ as well as dental office not having a clear vision. ⁓ vision, something we've talked about before, really important for these dental practices to have. It gives them a straight path forward and a direction in which they're moving. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, people want to be a part of a movement. We see that throughout human history. People like to embrace being part of a community, part of a group that's working towards something. And so letting your staff buy into the idea of growing your practice and whether or not that includes actually offering like equity and all of that stuff is a completely different discussion. But helping them understand that they are as much a part of the culture as you are as the practice owner. Or as the the head dentist. with understand that they are equally valuable members of your team. When I worked in the lab up at primary children's in the hospital, we always joked that we were kind of the peons ⁓ of the medical But what we did was ⁓ very important in terms making sure that these patients were having good health outcomes. But we were treated by nurses as lower than them who were. being treated by the doctors as less than them. And the doctors when they had to call us, they treated us like the scum of the earth. And we hated it. It was always a commentary in the lab that we were worked very hard and did a lot of valuable work, but were treated as constantly less than ⁓ the other people working in the hospital. And it's the same thing in dental clinics. We see it in a lot of clinics and some that we've chosen not to work with, Where the dentist just thinks he's the best ⁓ and that everyone else should kind of ⁓ defer to him, that no one else any good ideas, no one else knows he's got the education, and the practices we see being successful is where the dentist does have some humility and recognizes that growing a practice is a team effort and that although he is highly educated and great clinically, he also needs his team to run his practice effectively. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, Jeff, I think you bring up a great point that a little recognition can go a very long way. these hygienists, these assistants, they do just want to feel valued. And if they can feel that from the dentist, ⁓ hey, do a great job. You're awesome with the patients. I really appreciate what you do. You make a big difference in this practice. I think that can make a huge difference for these hygienists and assistants because I do think that can be the culture sometimes where The dentist is the top dog and everyone else is kind of below him. I think that's a small change that a dentist can make within the office to really with the retention of the assistants ⁓ and ⁓ Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, all of that goes into retaining these good employees. The employee retained, even if you have to give them a raise, is much cheaper than going out and finding someone. 'Cause not only do you not know if that person will work for the same compensation level, but also you have to hire them, which takes time. You have to train them, which takes time and decreases productivity of the office. and now you're trying to retain that new employee and you're kind of back at square one. So retaining your employees is certainly a much cheaper alternative to trying to find new talent. Now obviously it's not always the case that you can just retain the talent and ⁓ some people have extenuating circumstances, family things that come up, and so there is gonna be turnover, but trying to minimize that turnover Leads to better employment outcomes than trying to hire ⁓ and people that that fit a culture. You can honestly, it's easier to build a culture with the people that you have than trying to find the people to ⁓ to fit into what your ideal culture is. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, Jeff, and I think just to touch on some of those retention strategies that do work, That do keep the hygienist and the system around and help build that culture are showing clear paths, showing employees how they can grow within the practice and help contribute. Staying aligned with market rates and just kind of being aware of what hygienists are making your market and being within a standard deviation of that. And then also paying attention to ⁓ flexibility and Recognizing that work life balance matters ⁓ now more than ever ⁓ and and being aware of that. And then like we've talked about before, just having good communication, giving regular feedback and celebrating wins, recognizing when they're doing a good job and rewarding their hard work. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, no question that a lot of these strategies, and things that we've talked about throughout the podcast are things that make hiring and retaining good employees much easier. So we'll kind of wrap up with just kind of a rapid fire final takeaways, things that dentists can focus on in their practice. The first one is take hiring seriously. Make sure that you've got standardized processes and that your speed to lead in typical marketing jarkin, but your speed to communicate and get the hiring process pushed through, have fast interviews, fast response times, all those things make Higher quality candidates more likely to move forward with your practice because they feel valued. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, and investing in culture early. Don't wait until you have problems in the practice to start to build this culture. Start as soon as possible. Invest time and money into that and it will pay dividends. Jeffrey Lunt: ⁓ focus on retention first. So rather than the immediate reaction to someone needing to leave being great, let's start the hiring process again. figure out what you can do to retain your good employees. Sarah Lunt: Focus on building systems, not just roles. Systems can scale, but people alone can't. build systems so you can bring in people and they can thrive within the system that you've created. Jeffrey Lunt: Yeah, I think going back to last week and our patient acquisition and retention, having a positive culture and having happy employees who you can tell that they're happy. There are places where you go where you just know the employees value their job. They love working for that company. and it makes you more likely to go back to those places because that kind of joy and ⁓ and culture off. We see a lot of practices that we work with when the employee Employees say it feels like a family. The patients say the exact same thing. Man, it just feels like a family here. that goes a long way towards patient retention, towards referral rates, towards new patient acquisition, getting good testimonials and reviews. All of that comes from culture that's created before the patient ever walks in the door. And that has everything to do with this hiring and retention process of employees. and making sure that your hygienists are happy. And again, that goes beyond just paying them more. there are a lot of things that go into that and creating the systems around that really does make a practice feel like a family and really does go a long way towards making a practice ultimately be successful in growing and to thrive in the ever changing dental landscape. Sarah Lunt: Yeah, Jeff. You can have the best marketing, the latest technology, you can have a nice, beautiful office, but without the right people and without the right culture, of it works. And honestly, the practices that win in the next decade won't just be the ones grow the fastest, they'll be the ones that build teams that actually want to stay and grow and succeed together to create that culture and that family. Jeffrey Lunt: Absolutely. enjoyed talking with you, Sarah. If you as a listener got value out of today's episode, please consider subscribing. We're here on YouTube in person. You can come hang out with us, or you can get us wherever you listen to your podcast, Apple, Spotify, whatever your favorite podcast player is. please consider leaving us a review or a comment on YouTube. we love connecting with our dentist friends and love the feedback and look forward to seeing you in the next one.