This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Recognizing staff contributions to your practice is critical
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
It is often the small things in life that count most to your staff — things that resonate within them when the external noise of clinic life recedes. No matter what our role, we want to be recognized for our strong efforts and contributions.
The recognition need not be monumental. A “thank you” at the end of a tough clinic day, a lunch celebration for a successful group effort that met an operational goal or a special shout-out at the all-hands staff meeting for an achievement all accomplish more than you can imagine.
Recognition is most effective when it is timely and customized to the individual. For example, a grandstanding, bold staff member will love to hear your praise at a staff meeting, but the same public acknowledgement for an extremely introverted employee may not motivate them in the same way.
Luckily you have a nearly infinite number of ways to praise your team.
Corinne Z. Wohl
Why are recognition and appreciation important parts of practice management? Shouldn’t employees just do their jobs because they are paid to do so? Research shows that the No. 1 reason people leave their jobs is lack of recognition for their efforts. Income ranks fourth on that same list. So even if you cynically feel that a paycheck should be “enough,” it is in your best interest as a practice owner or manager to learn how to effectively recognize staff performance.
Just as it is more cost-effective to retain a patient than recruit a new one, the same applies to staffing for your practice. Small, inexpensive staff recognition efforts boosting staff tenure can forestall costly recruiting costs.
Does praising and recognizing staff come naturally? Not in all organizations, and certainly not in ophthalmology, a setting where surgeons famously do not speak up until they are disappointed by staff performance.
It would seem that recognizing and appreciating staff would be an obvious business habit and come naturally, since most of us like to be treated that way ourselves. And yet, staff recognition is often applied intermittently or skipped altogether, even in otherwise great organizations.
Here are a few things to consider about employee recognition and how to implement a consistent commitment to this important process in your practice.
Acknowledge the importance of a consistent practice philosophy to support employee recognition:
- Teach your board and front-line managers that recognition is a powerful tool.
- Understand that recognition can result in improved employee engagement, increased productivity, greater creativity and more loyalty to the practice’s success.
- Send the message to your staff that the physician board, administrator and department managers are all involved and supportive of the process. If it is perceived that the doctors are not supporting senior management or that the administrator does not prioritize it like the department managers, a critical piece of the puzzle will be missing.
- Provide training and education to managers so it becomes part of your practice culture.
- Designate a departmental budget line for these items, if appropriate in your setting.
Some managers do not use recognition as a tool because they:
- Are unsure how to best recognize staff.
- Do not perceive it as a priority and use lack of time as an excuse.
- Feel that previous recognition efforts have not been appreciated or have evolved into entitlements.
- Think that the organization as a whole does not support this effort, so implementation becomes a burden.
Examples of the most-appreciated and effective types of recognition include:
- Physician and managerial acknowledgement of accomplishments, both small and large. This could range from a stellar clinic day accomplished with short staffing to meeting all meaningful use criteria for 90 days of effort.
- Praise in the form of handwritten notes, emails or public mention.
- Catching an employee going above and beyond and rewarding them that same day with something like a small gift card for lunch or movie tickets.
- Formal programs, such as length-of-service awards, employee referral bonuses, implementable suggestions rewards, etc. Tapping into the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators/American Academy of Ophthalmic Executives listservs as a great way to find and share ideas.
Evaluate and review the success of your efforts:
- Perform employee satisfaction surveys. Poll your employees in a non-threatening, informal way to assess their feelings about being appreciated in your organization.
- Incorporate the ability to assess this survey during each staffer’s annual evaluation or review.
- Be sure to ask about the survey in detail during employee exit interviews. There is generally no better way to get the real scoop than when someone is not fearful of retribution.
- Do not be surprised if survey results differ between departments. Since we are talking about human behavior and perception, on both sides, this is a common finding.
- Review the collected results at your regularly held managers meetings.
- Require specific examples of conduct be reported for team learning, encouragement and accountability.
- Identify the “stars” in your practice that shine in these areas. Have those doctors and managers mentor the rest of the team.
Successful employee recognition continues the likelihood of employees repeatedly doing good work and works consistently when the outcome is that your employees feel special. Keeping the rewards fresh, relevant, personalized and contingent on a desired behavior or performance will result in all parties valuing the outcome. As financial resources to support escalating expenses continue to taper, non-financial or low-cost tools become a more critical adjunct to successful practice management.