Dentists continually contemplate the best approach to implementing employee incentive programs or bonus plans. There are many types of employee incentive plans and different targeted approaches that can be offered with varying levels of effectiveness. The first step is to understand that an employee incentive plan should have what the name implies: a plan.
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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
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Employee motivation, often thought of as team building in dentistry, must have a goal. A typical goal would focus on having a highly professional and enthusiastic team, eliminating conflict and destructive gossip in the office, decreasing tardiness and absenteeism, enhancing job satisfaction and continually achieving an outstanding employee attitude. While all of these goals may be desirable, it is very difficult to achieve all of them through any one mechanism.
So, where do employee incentive programs or bonus plans come into play?
Experts in human resources and incentive programs believe it is important to have a specific goal for an incentive program. For example, assume that an office wants to increase staff productivity that yields an annual increase in doctor income. In this case, simply having a guaranteed year-end bonus program that gives the staff a specific set amount of money at the end of the year will be relatively ineffective. Not that the staff may not attempt to increase productivity, but they also are very aware that at the end of the year they will receive a lump sum of money just for being there, regardless of their performance. A guaranteed bonus decreases the motivation to work harder on an ongoing basis to achieve specific goals.
On the other hand, a better practice to implement with a goal of increasing productivity is to establish a bonus system based on performance. For each level of production increase over the stated goal, the staff might receive a specific percentage. Next, the doctor has to decide whether all of the team members need to be part of the bonus plan or if the bonus will be paid equally to all team members. This becomes more complicated when you realize that simply implementing a bonus or incentive plan may do nothing to increase practice productivity. What is needed is providing certain (or all) team members with the additional skill set and training required to secure their success while providing a new incentive.
For example, suppose a practice promises the entire team a sliding-scale, performance-based bonus if they increase practice productivity. What happens when a dental team is already performing at the highest level of its skill set? In essence, the practice is now asking them to perform at a higher skill level without any additional training. In this case, it would be beneficial to arrange for continuing education training for the entire team or for specific individuals so that the goal becomes achievable. Remember that an unrealistic or unattainable goal is a terribly demoralizing factor for any dental team.
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EFFECTIVE BONUS PROGRAMS
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Obviously, not all bonus programs are effective in accomplishing stated goals. It is essential to evaluate all the variables that need to be considered in achieving goals such as number of staff members, scheduling protocols, treatment philosophy, skill-set training and others. Most bonus programs in dentistry are structured solely on increased practice production. However, many miss other parameters that will inhibit the potential level of practice growth due to the technical skill-set training and resources available within the practice.
Most employee incentive programs run out of steam after a certain period. Studies show that almost any incentive program will have a positive effect initially but will fade with time. For example, a well-established practice that does not enhance skill-set training, but has a stated goal of dramatically increasing practice production, likely will find that the incentive plan effectiveness decreases very quickly. This will happen as enthusiasm wanes among demoralized team members who do not have the necessary capabilities to succeed.
An unrealistic or unattainable goal is a terribly demoralizing factor for any dental team.
Conversely, a younger practice that has significant growth potential and capacity in its schedule and a reasonably well-trained team may find the same incentive program to be highly effective for a much longer period of time, mainly because of the extensive resources available. However, even this practice will eventually witness a decrease in effectiveness, simply because of the fleeting nature of a standard bonus on employee motivation.
The solution to declining effectiveness of employee incentive programs is to change them periodically. Some may be based on money, others based on gifts, and still others based on vacation time, personal days, office group vacations or even the type of incentives that an organization like McDonald’s uses in which the company contributes to the tuition of employees’ children after the employee has worked for the company for a certain period.
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SUMMARY
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One great benefit of employee incentive programs is that they connect team compensation with practice performance. Options are always available to keep the incentive programs exciting and motivating. The key is to understand the goal and to put in place the employee incentive program that works for your practice.
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EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION
EFFECTIVE BONUS PROGRAMS
