If you work in dentistry, you want to be busy during the holiday season. A fully booked schedule shows that the folks in your area trust you to take care of their health and are committed to improving their dental hygiene with you.
However, a busy seasonal schedule can quickly lead to burnout and heightened workplace stress if you aren’t careful. This harms your dental business as customers can tell when staff are overworked and feeling stressed.
Burnout may also cause more errors in the workplace, which can be extremely costly in dentistry. As such, you should do your utmost to avoid burnout and cultivate a can-do mindset at your place of work.
Understanding Burnout
Chronic stress is an issue that has plagued dentistry for decades. A recent survey shows that 43% of dentists feel “they cannot cope with the stress of their job”, while 82% say that their stress has increased significantly in recent years. This points towards a difficult work climate for dentists and dentistry staff that is only intensified during the holiday season.
Understanding burnout is the first step toward creating a culture of mindful dentistry. The World Health Organization defines burnout as an “occupational hazard” that is caused by “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Folks who experience burnout may suffer from symptoms like:
- Feelings of depletion and fatigue;
- Mental distance from one’s job;
- Reduced efficiency at work and at home.
These issues can undermine the efficiency of any dentistry and cause costly mistakes among dentists and office staff alike. Unfortunately, long-term burnout comes with a host of further symptoms, including:
- Gastrointestinal issues;
- High blood pressure;
- Migraines and headaches;
- Weakened immune systems.
This can cause staff to take more sick leave than normal during the holiday season and may force folks to look for work elsewhere.
Work-Life Balance
Overcoming burnout requires a cultural shift at your place of work. As a leader at your practice, you have to encourage others to acknowledge the issue and try to reclaim their work-life balance.
Get the ball rolling by setting boundaries for yourself and your team. Creating clear boundaries between your work life and personal life can help you rest and recover when you are away from work. Start with simple steps like leaving on time, taking your full lunch break, and silencing your work phone when you have time off. This will pay dividends when you return to work as you will be much more refreshed.
If you notice that stress spikes during the holiday season, ask employees to keep track of the trigger and try to identify the cause. You may find that a busy schedule isn’t the root cause of the issue, but that a sub-par patient management system is. This empowers you to make a few changes to your workplace that could cut down on red tape and improve time management.
Time Management
Time management is the key to any high-performing workplace. Effective time management can help you combat burnout by ensuring that everyone leaves the office after they’ve completed their scheduled 35 hours of work per week — even during the peak of the holiday season.
Help staff improve their time management by setting goals together and making to-do lists at the beginning of each workday. You can also teach staff how to effectively delegate tasks to other team members. You can also consider automating more of your booking processes in the lead-up to the holiday season. This can be a real time-saver for office staff who lose hours of productive time every week to mundane tasks. Simple automation software can effectively filter patients, track time, and respond to emails.
Don’t punish employees who aren’t able to meet your goals. Instead, work with them to help them find more effective ways to work.
Improving Staff Retention
You need all hands on deck during the busy holiday season. The last thing you want, then, is for employees to quit in the build-up to the holidays. This will derail your operational efficiency as you’ll have to retrain new hires during the busiest part of the year.
Low staff turnover can enhance the patient experience, boost your reputation among prospective employees, and increase job satisfaction. This is crucial during the holiday season when you need reliable, happy employees to handle the seasonal influx of patients.
You can improve staff retention by offering remote work when possible. While dentists and hygienists cannot, for obvious reasons, work remotely many office workers and administrators can. Give these folks a chance to work from home when possible, as this will give them more time to spend with the family during the holidays and will increase motivation amongst your team.
Further, improve retention by surveying staff to find out what kinds of benefits they’d like to receive during the holiday season. Some staff may want to take on a more flexible schedule during the holidays while others would benefit from an extended period of holiday leave when life returns to normal. Accommodate these requests to build loyalty and improve retention at work.
Conclusion
Mindful dentistry is all about listening to your staff and accommodating their preferences. Get the ball rolling by ensuring that everyone can protect their work-life balance during the busy holiday season. This will pay dividends in the challenging weeks to come when you’ll need your employees to be rested, motivated, and ready to take on the busy season.
About the Author:
Beau Peters is a creative professional with a background in service and management. He is also an avid researcher and a writer of “all the things.” He has a passion for purpose-driven content and bettering the human experience. In his free time, he enjoys having a good cup of coffee and seeing the world.
