Opinions on staffing crisis in a small business

[china]

In my small business, I have always employed two staff members totalling five and a half days of staffing.

One staff member works three and a half days and the other does two days.

The three and a half day staff member (lets call her Mary) is the pillar of my business. She knows everything about my business. Mary has been with me for a tad over two years.

As my business closed for the Xmas break one week ago, Mary gave me notice and basically will not return to work when my office and business reopens on 6th January. Mary gave me a long list of grievances over which I cannot reconcile with her - job too stressful, I am too nasty, etc. etc. Money is not the issue - she agrees she is well paid. When Mary walked, she took away the entire corporate knowledge with her. She will not come back for one minute to impart her knowledge to anyone.

I am now left with the two day staff member (lets call her Jane). Jane has only been with me for six weeks from mid October. She has very limited knowledge of my business.

My xmas has been wrecked because I have now been stressing over how to deal with this.

I can get a "body" to come to work but they will have no idea how the business functions. My business consists of consulting and chasing of bills. So the staff members essentially need to function at reception in a meet/greet capacity and to answer the phone.

The behind the scenes work - the most important bit, involves chasing insurance funds and customers for payments and submitting invoices for payments.

The ideal staff member would need to have worked in this line of work before and be familiar with our computer database systems. Our office runs entirely around this computer system - all records, billings, payments come from this.

My business has been present for five years and it feels like that I am reopening all over again.

Any ideas on:

1. What to do right now?
2. How to prevent a recurrence of this debacle?

 

[westminster]

Find a good temp pronto from a professional agency and suck up the cost. Get them to document everything possible and help 'Jane' train up a new part timer.

2. Learn how to be a better boss. It doesn't happen over night but learning to deal with employees will help you in all relationships in life.

 

[geoffw]

To do now- there are agencies who deal with staff with specialist skills.

To prevent recurrence- I believe I've already mentioned a few times. Treat them with respect. I suspect the cameras were the last traw. And somebody else has mentioned a company which can help you deal with a lot of the ins and outs of being an employer. Contact them ASAP.

There are books, websites and courses on being a good manager. Start reading up ASAP.

 

[westminster]

Someone like this looks good http://www.indigoconsulting.com.au/ more than just finding you someone

 

[TPI]

Hi china,

Is your business really that unique?

It just sounds like a typical medical specialists consulting rooms.

An experienced medical receptionist may be enough, but it sounds like what you actually need is someone who can do a lot more, like a practice manager.

There are plenty of practice management consulting firms around (that deal specifically with specialists) - they will have all the "corporate knowledge" you require.

Perhaps you need to engage someone like this for this purpose to sort things out and ensure better systems and procedures are in place to prevent this recurring in the future.

Problem is going to be that many of these firms maybe closed now too!

So maybe your best bet is to go on SEEK and advertise for an experienced medical receptionist and/or practice manager with experience working in a specialists consulting rooms.

And maybe you even need to phone a friend (/another specialist colleague you can trust in a different specialty) who may be able to "lend" you their practice manager for a fee?

Other options are to ring the AMA and/or your specialist college for advice.

If your business is not what I am speculating it is, the same general ideas may apply anyway.

You've dealt with a worse crisis before, so I'm sure you will get through this one too.

 

[Joe D]

Mary is a little contrary but obviously Mary rocks!

Get Mary back with whatever weasel words and pay you need to offer her. Admit to her you are a dick and you are stuffed without her ................

Mary obviously made your business happen but you did not appreciate her for what she did. Once she is back don't repeat the same and then plan for all possibilities ..................

 

[Singo]

I have no idea what sort of person Mary is. But isn't it possible to sit down, talk with her and get her to train Jane? Never say never, they say. Unless she has already found a job, she may do that.

 

[D.T.]

Sounds like there's big trouble in little China

Out of curiosity, which database software do you use - Medical Director/Pracsoft or Genie or Best Practice or something else?

I've supported those 3 in an IT capacity

Those arent terribly difficult for anyone to pick up and learn from what I understand.

 

[china]

To do now- there are agencies who deal with staff with specialist skills.

To prevent recurrence- I believe I've already mentioned a few times. Treat them with respect. I suspect the cameras were the last traw. And somebody else has mentioned a company which can help you deal with a lot of the ins and outs of being an employer. Contact them ASAP.

There are books, websites and courses on being a good manager. Start reading up ASAP.

You are absolutely correct, the resignation letter stated exactly "....the cameras were the final straw"

 

[TPI]

Out of curiosity, which database software do you use - Medical Director/Pracsoft or Genie or Best Practice or something else?

I've supported those 3 in an IT capacity

Those arent terribly difficult for anyone to pick up and learn from what I understand.

Those are mainly used by GPs I would think, not sure what software specialists use.

 

[china]

I have no idea what sort of person Mary is. But isn't it possible to sit down, talk with her and get her to train Jane? Never say never, they say. Unless she has already found a job, she may do that.

Nope she has not found a job. Mary is very angry and has obviously planned her exit to inflict maximal damage to my business. She will not train anyone - has essentially just walked out.

 

[china]

Sounds like there's big trouble in little China

Out of curiosity, which database software do you use - Medical Director/Pracsoft or Genie or Best Practice or something else?

I've supported those 3 in an IT capacity

Those arent terribly difficult for anyone to pick up and learn from what I understand.

Genie is what is used. It may not be difficult but for someone who has never seen it nor know the concepts of the business around it, it is incredibly difficult. If you know anyone who is a Genie expert, please let me know.

 

[china]

Mary is a little contrary but obviously Mary rocks!

Get Mary back with whatever weasel words and pay you need to offer her. Admit to her you are a dick and you are stuffed without her ................

Mary obviously made your business happen but you did not appreciate her for what she did. Once she is back don't repeat the same and then plan for all possibilities ..................

All avenues of communication, enticements and negotiation have failed. I have to accept that Mary is gone and I have to move forward on this.

As I have said before, if money can solve a problem, it is not a real problem.

 

[D.T.]

All avenues of communication, enticements and negotiation have failed. I have to accept that Mary is gone and I have to move forward on this.

Such is the life of a small business. I left the one i was an employee at too, because hated dealing with the boss there and wasnt anyone else there to deal with.

My advice to you would be to get a practice manager level person. They then leverage some of your time by hiring / training other staff. Then staff deal with them instead of with you.

 

[china]

Hi china,

Is your business really that unique?

It just sounds like a typical medical specialists consulting rooms.

An experienced medical receptionist may be enough, but it sounds like what you actually need is someone who can do a lot more, like a practice manager.

There are plenty of practice management consulting firms around (that deal specifically with specialists) - they will have all the "corporate knowledge" you require.

Perhaps you need to engage someone like this for this purpose to sort things out and ensure better systems and procedures are in place to prevent this recurring in the future.

And maybe you even need to phone a friend (/another specialist colleague you can trust in a different specialty) who may be able to "lend" you their practice manager for a fee?



You've dealt with a worse crisis before, so I'm sure you will get through this one too.

Your comments are quite spot on.

I actually do not find any practice management firms for specialists. My business is located in regional NSW.

I have always thought that it would be a great idea to have a practice managment firm because if anytime a staff member leaves, the practice managment firm could step in and train up a new person from scratch leaving all business systems intact.

If you could send me a link to a practice management firm in NSW dealing specifically with specialists, I would be most grateful.

I actually feel that this current crisis is the biggest yet to hit my business in five years of trading. The eviction business seems to pale in comparison. I paid builders and they resolved the situation.

But here I am dealing with the loss of human resource which is not readily replaceable in the short term. I have lost someone that I have worked closely with for two years and many intricacies of that relationship cannot be readily replaced.

 

[china]

Such is the life of a small business. I left the one i was an employee at too, because hated dealing with the boss there and wasnt anyone else there to deal with.

My advice to you would be to get a practice manager level person. They then leverage some of your time by hiring / training other staff. Then staff deal with them instead of with you.

But essentially, I would have to manage the practice manager, which essentially Mary was. And again the business is held hostage by having most knowledge invested in one employee.

 

[china]

Find a good temp pronto from a professional agency and suck up the cost. Get them to document everything possible and help 'Jane' train up a new part timer.

2. Learn how to be a better boss. It doesn't happen over night but learning to deal with employees will help you in all relationships in life.

The problem is that Jane is not really trained herself. Mary had started on her training but Jane has really just mastered the basics of meet and greet in my office.

I am certain I need to learn how to be a better boss but that is not something I am good at. If at all possible, I would really like to outsource management of humans just as I outsource IT / bookeeping / cleaning etc. But I can't see how that works in a small business comprising myself and two part timers.

 

[Anh]

Hi China,

Sorry to hear about your problem.

Some suggestions IMHO:

1. Is there any agency that provide temp staff specialized in medical practice ? Or any other practices you know of, that you can ask their staff to help out on their days off until you find a permanent staff ?

2. This is for later but when you get a new staff, pls ask them to document what they do (ie. job aids/ instructions) so that in the future it will not depend on just one person (as part of your risk management )

3. With staff, it is not always about the money, trust is very important and needs to be built up over time. Clear expectation from both sides needs to be set from the beginning. ( From a previous post a while back you did not seem to trust your staff, but ultimately to work together long term, you need to trust them).

4. Pls take this as an opportunity to learn how to reduce risk in your business and to work with others better so it is a win win.

Good luck! Hope you will resolve the issue quickly.

Ta Anne

 

[alexlee]

But here I am dealing with the loss of human resource which is not readily replaceable in the short term. I have lost someone that I have worked closely with for two years and many intricacies of that relationship cannot be readily replaced.

If your staff member basically quit because they just can't handle working for you, your relationship couldn't have been good. It sounds like you didn't realise this. You let her run things for you, without understanding the processes yourself, and then you install cameras, all but writing 'i don't trust you' on the wall?

If you don't trust your staff, make sure you can do their job.

Do you understand why she feels the way she does about your work relationship? It might be news to you but empathy is often more important in human relationships than money.

 

[Joe D]

All avenues of communication, enticements and negotiation have failed. I have to accept that Mary is gone and I have to move forward on this.

As I have said before, if money can solve a problem, it is not a real problem.

Money talks, even if you are a **** to work for .

If you think money is really not the issue then try approaching the most senior (and experienced) staff member in your competitors business and offer them 50% more plus plus (or whatever) to join your business and do what Mary did and more.

I'm guessing in terms of revenue, 50% more for a valued staff member would not be a big dent but actually might help your business and if he/she was assertive enough might bring you into line with expectations.