Physicians Practice - April 2008 - (Page 75)

Say “please” and “thank you” — You just cannot use these little helpers too much, and they don’t cost a thing. Encourage employees to engage in such behavior, too, peer-to-peer. You can even take this a step further: Decorate and hang up a piece of foam board (just a couple of dollars in an ofﬁce supply store) in a public place, and supply heart- and/or starshaped sticky notes (purchased at the same store) so employees can write notes of appreciation to one and say how much you value her contributions and that you appreciate that she makes the trek to the ofﬁce every day. If you notice a certain employee working extra hard to achieve the practice’s goal numbers, crown her “Queen for the Day” (or week), complete with tiara, ﬂuffy slippers (in your brand color, of course), ﬂowers on her desk, a manicure certiﬁcate, whatever — use your imagination. Naturally, you’ll come Crown a deserving staffer “Queen for the Day,” complete with tiara, a pair of slippers in your office colors, on-demand coffee, flowers on her desk, whatever — use your imagination. REWARD ABOVE AND BEYOND another. Remember that day when a patient yelled at your receptionist, and he handled it with maturity and panache? Write him a note! Whenever people do favors for each other or go above and beyond, direct the recipient or witness to the “Thank You!” board. Soon, it’ll become habit. ONE-ON-ONE Group solidarity is critical to building a strong ofﬁce culture, but it doesn’t cover individual performance. Here, the keys are recognizing a speciﬁc person’s work and achievements and offering a custom-ﬁt incentive. For example, Mrs. Mallik is concerned about her biller’s 60mile roundtrip commute, saying, “She’s a very good employee; I don’t want to lose her.” Surprise her with a gift card from a local gas station, WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM up with more masculine alternatives for any male employees working hard in your ofﬁce. An alternate plan might be a “Get Out of the Ofﬁce Early” pass. Simply create a coupon that states the bearer can leave an hour (or two, or half a day — you decide) early, with the rest of the staff picking up the slack for her that day. You might want to require that this be pre-arranged, so you don’t get caught short on a particularly busy day, and make clear the reasoning behind the reward: It’s not that the practice is a place to be “escaped,” but that you also value your employees’ lives outside it. This suggestion may work especially well for Dr. Mallik’s practice, as its employees receive no vacation time until they have been on staff for at least one year. Here’s one last suggestion that not only recognizes an individual, but it also gives staff the power to award the incentive themselves. Here’s how it works: The practice manager starts the program by purchasing some sort of trophy that can sit at a desk, such as a stuffed animal or relevant fast-food toy. Give your selection a catchy name. Top Dog? Shining Star? Top Turtle? Bzzzziest Bee? You get the idea. Then, bestow this trophy upon someone you catch doing something right or going beyond her normal duties. That person becomes the Top Dog (or Turtle or Bee) for a week, winning the honor of displaying the prize on her desk or clipped to her clothes. All the while, she must be on the lookout for the next worthy recipient. And on it goes. The practice manager need not lift a ﬁnger to keep this perk going once it’s been rolled out. Does the whole thing sound a bit silly? It is. But such team-building games add fun to what can be a stressful place to work, and the ensuing friendly competition will promote an invaluable sense of camaraderie. Mrs. Mallik already recognizes that her staff “spends more time in the ofﬁce than at home.” By keeping this wise observation in mind and implementing a few of the suggestions above, hopefully she can make a successful pre-emptive strike at staff retention by encouraging a tightly knit ofﬁce culture where loyal staff sticks around. • Shirley Grace is senior writer for Physicians Practice. She can be reached at sgrace@physicianspractice.com. APRIL 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 75 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

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

Physicians Practice - April 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Medicare Decision Time Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Outsource Your Pain Noteworthy Cover Story: Trial Lawyers Tell All Management: When It’s Time to Change Ask the Experts Technology: Do You Know Where Your Data Is? The Tech Doctor: Are Your Discarded PCs Really Clean? Billing & Collections: Playing Hardball The Administrator's Desk: Recruiting for Patient Satisfaction Start It Up: Finance - Mastering the Numbers Game Coding The Great Practice Makeover: Taking Care of Business Associates Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - April 2008

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