What Happens if You Don’t Fill That Dental Associate Position?

In a perfect world, every dentist position would be easy to fill. In reality, the longer it takes to fill a position, the more problems your practice is likely to face.

Here’s a look at some possible problems:

• More work = more tension – When positions go unfilled, the remaining staff must pick up the slack, meaning more work and more tension in the office. For dentists, a larger caseload can lead to an unintentional decline in quality care.
• Longer Hours = less balance – In order to pick up the slack, your staff may have to work longer hours, which means overtime and less work/life balance. That’s negative for them and for you: more time at the office means less time at home with their family; overtime means you’re paying them even more to get the work done. There are always going to be times when the organization needs its employees to work overtime, even with a full staff. But open positions and a broken hiring process are preventable problems that don’t have to lead to extra work.
• Pressure in the Organization – An inability to fill important positions harms the organization as a whole and the individuals who make up the practice. The added pressure of taking on more work might also lead to other staffers looking for a new job.

Finding a dentist can be painstaking work, and a full-time job in and of itself. If you don’t have the time to take on the task of recruiting a new associate, we would be happy to help. Give me a call and I’ll demonstrate how my team has a 93% success rate in bringing quality candidates to our clients within the first 90 days of the recruitment process.