By Nicola Hawkinson, DNP, RN, RNFA, CEO of SpineSearch.
It may come as a major shock to learn that a surgeon is leaving your practice. How will you be able to replace such an integral part of your healthcare team? Turnover can be detrimental to a business’s bottom line. How will this affect your practice? Recruiting in general, not to mention recruiting a new surgeon, is usually thought of as a long and daunting task. Maybe your practice is small and you do not have a designated recruiter, or maybe you are part of a large system where it takes months to hire due to required interviewing/on boarding policies and regulations. No matter where you find yourself, be as prepared as possible for turnover in order to minimize the negative results that can result from it. Here are five tips on what you can do when a surgeon leaves your practice.
1. Conduct an exit interview. As employers we conduct initial interviews when hiring a candidate as well as annual or bi-annual reviews after the employee has been hired. However, exit interviews tend to be forgotten and can be influential in your practice’s success. Conducting an exit interview will allow your practice to review honest and open feedback. Exit interviews are beneficial towards making organizational changes that will improve your practice. Find out what motivated a surgeon to look for another job. Some reasons may be out of your control: a surgeon retiring, or their spouse being relocated to another state for work. Other reasons may highlight changes that need to be made in the practice like a negative work culture, poor compensation structure or decreased workflow etc. During the exit interview, ask the surgeon what he or she thinks is the practice’s greatest strengths and weaknesses. Feedback like this will let you know what employees are excelling at and what needs to be worked on. This will provide valuable insight and will help when interviewing new candidates. Keep in mind with every exit interview you will get different feedback because every employee has experienced something different. You should conduct exit interviews for all employees that leave your practice, both voluntarily and involuntarily.
2. Ask your staff for feedback. You should ask all staff members in the office from the secretaries to surgeons for their feedback regarding job responsibilities. Ask your employees what skills and experience is needed for a new surgeon to be successful. Holding weekly meetings with staff will also help you gain a better idea about the office culture and then you can see what candidates will fit best in your practice. Also ask your staff what they value most about working at your practice. You can use this information when interviewing new candidates. Just like potential surgeons will sell themselves to you during an interview, you must sell the benefits of working at your practice to the surgeon.
3. Create a new job description. If a surgeon has been working with you for a while, their job description may be outdated pertaining to skills, certifications and experience. Consult other physicians in the office to get a clearly defined “Job Requirements” section. Also talk to Human Resources so you have accurate information to provide candidates about current work schedules, compensation structure, benefits, vacation time, CME allowance etc., an opportunity for partnership.
4. Create a new compensation structure. Take the time to analyze your current compensation structure. Research to make sure that the compensation you are offering is competitive in the current market. Use resources such as the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) that offer benchmarking tools on their websites. You can select geographic location, speciality and years of experience to help you to learn standard compensation levels. Be competitive in the salary market in order to attract the best talent to your practice. Using a performance based compensation structure may also prove to be beneficial. Incentives will motive surgeons to strive for a full case load and to be readily available for on call needs.
5. Create a search plan. Now that you have a clear job description, competitive salary and bonus structure in place, the next step is to create a recruitment budget and time line. Recruitment can be very costly as it takes hiring officials and other employees away from their daily responsibilities to focus on resume reviews and interviews. It can be very expensive to advertise on job posting boards. Having a recruitment budget in place will allow you to allocate time and resources appropriately.
Creating a recruitment timeline will help you to keep on track of your staffing needs. Determine an end date for your search in order to stay consistent with the amount of time you dedicate towards recruiting. Carving out a few hours per day to go through resumes and to make initial phone calls will help you find qualified candidates. Do not hesitate to bring in the help of a recruiting agency. Recruitment agencies like SpineSearch are experts in the specialty of healthcare recruiting. Unlike the average practice manager, recruitment agencies are able to dedicate 100 percent of their workday towards advertising and recruiting. This allows agencies to identify the most qualified surgeons for your practices needs. Most agencies also do not charge any fees unless they find you the candidate that you want to hire. They handle all of the advertising and conduct references and background checks allowing you more time to focus on the day to day needs of your practice.
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