If you’re holding back praise, especially when a job is well-performed, you’re missing the opportunity to create a great employee relationship.
Studies in large companies show employees actually respond more favorably to words of praise than raises.
Yet dental practice owners sometimes hesitate to offer praise because they fear employees may use that praise to justify an increase in salary.
What steps can a dental owner take to alleviate—or address—these requests?
Establish Compensation and Performance Review Guidelines as described in Section 4 of Dentistry Simplified. Compensation and Performance Review Guidelines will show the employee exactly why and when a compensation review will take place.
An employee’s compensation rate and payday schedule is perhaps more critical than the practice owner may imagine. Many employees live on a day-to-day income basis—a single paycheck is metered out to meet all their monthly expenses, often times with little left over. Similarly, their rate of pay becomes the rate at which they set their lifestyles—how they shop and where, and how and when they pay bills.
Without a pre-set method for employee performance and compensation evaluation, an employee might feel the need to lobby whenever possible for their next raise. But with a pre-determined method of review, employees know that not only has a review already been agreed upon but is also scheduled.
The dental owner is then free to offer up praise on a daily basis as it is earned. Your reward is a team member who feels good about themselves, about you and your practice.
Think that will have an impact on their performance? Absolutely. More than anything else you can do.