I am a dentist. I felt strongly that half my staff was against me (4 of 7 employees). So I fired them. I inherited them when I bought my business a few years ago. I am very ethical but I do care about gross revenue (as any owner should). They never fully embraced caring about revenue production or understanding that bonus pay is tied to profitability. Nonetheless, I feel it is a failing on my part as a leader that they as a group were not on my team. What can I do as a small business owner to display better leadership and engender better office morale. I should mention that I pay above market wages, have better benefits than market competitors, work with my employees to satisfy the number of hours they need and I run a schedule that is very predictable 8-5 with a lunch and we do not deviate. Further, we take great care of our patients and the staff never has to worry about patient satisfaction or quality of care. Thank you for your input.
It sounds like half the team were toxic and had to go. When people decide to put their needs above their job role and responsibilities- they are done.
However, trying to incentivise administrative staff with bonuses is hard. In most cases it doesn’t work because most people don’t like to feel pushy. It takes them out of their comfort zone. So it becomes a disincentive and you end up with poor morale.
You have to recognise that not all staff will feel their contribution directly impacts the bottom line. They will feel disconnected from it. It’s your job to show them that everything they do matters and is appreciated. A thank you is often woth more for morale than cash in my experience.
When you are hiring for your new team put someone exclusively in charge of generating more sales and increasing customer satisfaction. Give them a very clear and rewarding commission scheme and tools like Salesforce to do their job well and they will stick around for a long time. They should report to you, not the office manager.
Then leave the office manager to hire and manage the other staff and do a monthly or quarterly meeting about the goals for that quarter and the bonus available if everyone pulls their weight. Don’t pick on individuals and let the office manager deal with the day to day.
Lastly bringing in coffees, cakes or other tidbits is a great morale boost. You could for example do this on your quietest days and include the customers to encourage them to book in the morning or whatever.
Good luck.