To Bonus or Not to Bonus in the Dental Field

When it comes to keeping the energy and enthusiasm levels high in your office, you may consider offering your team members a bonus. There are many benefits to running an incentive program, and with a smaller business it can be a productive way to provide extra motivation, and express your appreciation for your hard working employees in a tangible way.

Often dentists struggle with the decision of whether to provide incentive compensation for their teams-and many are adamantly against it. They feel that the team members should be doing their jobs, and no extra bonus is required for that. Dentists also may feel concerned that providing a bonus for the team could risk them coming off as “salesy” to patients and driving them away.

These are legitimate concerns. However the benefits of increased motivation and team investment in your small business far outweigh those considerations. If the bonus program is implemented carefully, it can be very successful.

A little extra incentive goes a long way in the workforce, and in the intimate confines of a dental practice the monetary motivation of a bonus can provide an extra dose of challenge, goal setting, and healthy competition.

How Bonuses Will Motivate Your Dental Team

It is important to structure a bonus plan in a way that your team members don’t come to expect a bonus, or feel slighted if they don’t receive one. An incentive program should encourage camaraderie and teamwork, not hinder it.

Bonus programs work best when they are specifically tailored to your offices specific goals, strengths, and current areas of focus. Sharing your goals and expectations for your dental practice with your team members aligns them to you, and puts you all on the same team.

There is sometimes the misconception that dental practitioners and specialists are, to put it bluntly, “rolling in dough”. In truth there is a high overhead to keep such a business afloat, and it is imperative that your team members feel as vested and passionate about your company as you do. An incentive programs offers the opportunity to put everyone on the same page; for your team members to feel involved and vested in your business.

Improve Dental Patient Care with Bonuses

People who go into the helping profession generally possess compassion, and have a desire to make other people feel better. However, not many people look forward to going to the dentist. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that many people dread it. It can be exhausting to cater to anxious, frightened people day in and day out.

It is important for your team members to maintain their cheerful demeanors for the sake of your patients, as well as for office moral. An effective incentive program will boost morale and enthusiasm when the drudgery of catering to unhappy patients starts to show its wear and tear.

When you actively and effectively express your appreciation for your team members, in the form of added incentives and bonuses, they will appreciate you right back. Naturally everyone has a job to do, and you hired them with the expectation that they would fulfill specific roles and duties.

No one likes to be taken for granted though, and in any medical field it is easy to forget how emotionally draining it is to serve people when they’re not at their best, or feeling very grateful for your services. An incentive program adds a little bit of fun, healthy competition, and keeps the bigger picture alive and well in a business that can be tiring and difficult at times.

We’d love to work with you, and help you formulate an incentive program for your business today. Contact us here at ClearEdge, and let us guide you in increasing your office morale, motivation, and profits!