Physicians Practice - January 2008 - (Page 69)

CME HUMAN RESOURCES HOW TO FIRE AN EMPLOYEE BY BARBARA A. GABRIEL, MA TERMINATING EMPLOYEES MAY BE THE HARDEST THING YOU HAVE TO DO, BUT RETAINING POOR PERFORMERS CAN TAKE A MUCH LARGER TOLL It was nearly 20 years ago, but Nancy Becker remembers the incident well. She was working as a medical practice manager when she received a phone call inquiring about a job opening. She knew the caller well. It was a woman she had personally ﬁred for poor performance from another practice. Becker was incredulous that this woman was inquiring about a job from the very person who had let her go three years earlier. But the caller was insistent, saying she had “turned her life around.” Becker, now a practice management consultant in Westchester, Penn., agreed to interview her, and she says that when the woman walked through the door, “I would not have recognized her. She dressed better, looked great, and had a good attitude.” The woman told Becker that when she dismissed her three years ago, “it was a personal wake-up LEARNING OBJECTIVES After completing this article, readers will be able to: • Explain why terminating a troublesome employee may be the best thing for a practice. discipline” and its application to dealing with underperforming or troublesome employees. • Describe the concept of “progressive call.” She changed her attitude, went back to school, and earned her GED and associate’s degree. She actually thanked Becker for being the catalyst for the positive changes she had made. Becker rehired her, and says the woman was an exemplary employee who stayed with the practice for ﬁve years, leaving only when Becker encouraged her to apply for an ofﬁce manager’s opening at a nearby practice, a job that she landed and in which she enjoyed a long tenure. Of course, not all termination stories have such happy endings. Indeed, it’s a task that no manager relishes. AN UNSAVORY TASK • Apply best practices as deﬁned by human resources experts when terminating an employee. Bob Levoy, author of the recently published book, “222 Secrets of Hir- ing, Managing, and Retaining Great Employees in Healthcare Practices,” says dismissing employees is “management’s most unpleasant task.” Because of the awkward confrontation that terminating an employee entails, Levoy says that many administrators cannot bring themselves to do it, and so they “put up with” poor performers for prolonged periods of time. Doing so can affect an entire practice, says Levoy. “Nothing makes employees as discouraged and resentful as having to work alongside people who don’t pull their own weight. Employees who are not performing up to par are expensive in terms of payroll, and even worse, are in danger of alienating or perhaps even endangering patients,” says Levoy. “If one person is permitted to behave JANUARY 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM 69 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - January 2008

Physicians Practice - January 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Fixing Medicaid Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks Noteworthy Cover Story: Fee Schedule Survey: 2007 Results Adding Ancillaries: Bucking the Practice Ask the Experts Idealab: 'How I Got Over My EMR Excuses' Technology: Don't Be Denied The Tech Doctor: Blessing or Curse? The Administrator's Desk: Learning From the Best Coding Career: To Partner, or Not? Management: Controlling Your Inventory Human Resources: How to Fire an Enployee Finance: Beyond Reimbursment - How to Fix Your Mix Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - January 2008

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