Two Week Notice: The five things to do when a key employee surprises you with goodbye. Everything is just humming along in your practice. Your employees seem to be taking care of their responsibilities well. Having worked together for quite a few years, there is kind of an understanding among them about who is responsible […]
Two Week Notice:
The five things to do when a key employee surprises you with goodbye.
Everything is just humming along in your practice. Your employees seem to be taking care of their responsibilities well. Having worked together for quite a few years, there is kind of an understanding among them about who is responsible for what. Well, that’s what you assume anyway. You don’t have a clear understanding of exactly what everyone in your office actually does on a regular basis for certain, but that’s ok, it’s been working so far. You’ve always had that one team member who just takes care of everything for you while you are doing the dentistry. The rest of the group just follows her lead. Maybe she has the title office manager, maybe not- but you’ve always been able to count on her. And then all of a sudden, out the blue, she stops by your desk at the end of the day and tells you she needs to talk….
When a key employee surprises you by resigning, you can be angry and upset and that would be natural. After all, you spent years of time and money on continuing education for this person. You trusted them with every important item of work around the office. When it came time to give out raises, you did everything you could to reward this employee because your practice simply would not run without them. You made sure to offer praise and to let them know how much you appreciated their dedication. It just seemed inconceivable that she would ever not be there. How could she abandon you like this?
So what do you do when a key team member is sitting across your desk, letting you know that it’s time for them to move on? It’s a tough situation for both of you and can sometimes be emotional. Working together on something important over time can form powerful bonds. As tough as it is, you can’t help but feel your mind race through all of the tragedies that are going to happen. Sure you know the address of your office, but that is about all you had to remember because this employee just made everything work for you. You had gotten comfortable showing up and being pointed in the direction of the drill every morning, not having to care about anything else. Who will open the office? Does anyone know how to run billing? Who will order our stuff? What stuff do we even order? Who on earth will train her replacement? And how? Your practice will fall apart if she goes!!!! Your head spins as you imagine your office erupting into flames two weeks and one day from now.
Stop.
Take a deep breath, relax and try to look at this situation from a different perspective. Whether it feels like it or not, this is an opportunity for your office. But if you fail to think of it like that, you could compound matters and make a bad situation worse. Believe it or not, there is a way to not only survive this but also Here are the five things you need to do to get control of the situation.
First, Don’t take it personally.
You thought you’d be together forever. Was it you? Was it her? How could she do this to you!!?? Hold on their buster. This is a person with a life outside of your workplace. Sometimes, people’s life circumstances simply change. Spouses get relocated. More time needs to be spent with the children. The list goes on. It’s not 1945 anymore. Employees typically don’t drop out of high school or quit their farm hand job so they can come to town and singlemindedly work for you 37 years without a sick day. People are increasingly more geographically mobile now than in the past. People change careers. Spouses get relocated to other cities. Maybe she has a different path she wants to explore. Maybe she wants to go to school to further develop her career. The bottom line is the decision is about her and not about you. Do you really want someone to continue working in your office who doesn’t want to be there? These individuals you think of as employees have lives of their own and that is something you will never be able to control. (insert employee turnover statistic here).
Interests change and life happens. Accepting this reality is the first step toward a healthy take on this conundrum.
Second, Don’t be extorted.
Let’s just assume you have not been paying the Michael Jordan of your team minimum wage for the last fifteen years. Let’s say you have generally rewarded her in a way that is not only commensurate with her abilities but is also consistent with what she would make in a similar role in a similar practice. You have not, in effect, been exploiting her loyalty. If you are doing that, shame on you and you deserve whatever you get you greedy tightass. Pay up if that’s what this is about.
But back to the assumption that your workplace is a pretty fair place to work both in environment and compensation. This is where many practitioners crack. Because this person leaving is such a huge vulnerability, it is tempting for you to give away the financial farm at this fragile moment. DON’T. I repeat DON”T. This predicament you are in is a symptom of a deeper issue- not the real problem. Do you really want someone on your team who, instead of having a healthy conversation about wage, decided to extort you to get what he or she wants? Throwing money at the employee may be a short term way to keep your organization going, but two big problems will persist. For one, other team members will learn that the best way to get what they want is extortion. They will be conditioned to believe that by harboring a fiefdom in your practice, they can hold you hostage by threatening to leave. Also, you will be doing nothing to work on developing the structure that will keep you out of this mess in the future.
Third, follow the rules.
Most small businesses like dental offices don’t have large dedicated human resources and administrative departments to manage personnel matters. If you’ve been well organized in the past, you have an employee manual that’s clear on this subject. This team member signed off on having read it during your hiring and onboarding system when you first hired them. They would know you require an official letter of resignation which is the first of many steps for your employee exit system in your office’s binder or digital operating manual. If you have, hold that thought til step five. But let’s just assume you may not have been that thorough. Like most offices, this situation comes up very rarely and you haven’t needed that stuff. In any event there are lots of legal implications at this juncture like vacation pay, confidentiality matters, among others that need to be handled sensitively. Give your favorite lawyer a call if you have any questions or give someone like Paul at Cedr solutions a call for help. Avoiding a lawsuit should be your first order of business.
Next, offer support.
Now that you’ve handled the particulars responsibly, you have saved the chance to turn this into a positive. But you can’t do it alone. The reality is sinking in and you’ve got some serious logistical problems to solve. As much as this hurts right now, this team member served you and your organization well. She was dedicated and did everything she could to make your work life better while she was on the team. Help her get what she wants! Whether it’s a new career in your industry or a new career path altogether. Write a letter of support she could use down the road. Be a recommendation. It’s a long life and who knows what could happen. She may be on your team again someday or refer a patient or colleague to your practice. Let her know you’d like to be a resource in the future as she pursues her new path. Mean it.
Last, ask for her assistance-
This is not a matter of stroking this team member’s ego, nor is it all about saving your disorganized codependent ass. There’s much more at stake here. If this person cares about your practice, she will be likely to want to help transfer knowledge to the next team member who will fill her role. It’s also about a respect for the rest of the employees in the office- she likely won’t want to leave them high and dry in her absence. Most importantly, she will want to do a good job to ensure the transition is seamless for your staff and the people you serve. If this team member was vital to your practice, it is likely she was important to your patients as well. If you start from that mutual ground, you both can get to work on getting things organized. You will need to first build a spreadsheet to organize the regular duties this team member is responsible for. Next try to make a list of all the systems each duty relates to. No systems? Don’t focus on that now. You simply need as much information as possible. You’ll need this info for two reasons. First your current team will have to assume extra responsibilities in the interim while you search for a replacement. Second, when you start to organize training and systems for the next team member, you’ll have something to start from. Next, you need this team member to write a succinct job description for herself if you don’t have one. Also note all of the personal attributes that made this employee so awesome at the role. Lastly ask the team member how they think the next person could most effectively get up to speed on the work. What talents and technical abilities will the person need?
To really turn this into a positive, take this opportunity for everyone on your team to do the same. You need to have a handle on everyone else’s activity so you can adapt responsibilities in the short run. Coincidentally, this will start a process that will ultimately put you in a resilient situation where every maternity leave, employee resignation, or sick day doesn’t turn your practice into a circus. Don’t waste too much time daydreaming about that fine day, you’ve got work to do now. And you better get busy.
