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.

  • GoToMSP@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I’m sensing a huge disconnect between how OP sees himself/herself and how the staff see them. Something isn’t adding up and based on your tone and how you speak about things, you don’t sound friendly, like a pushover, or easy going at all.

    Either way, as the leader, the problem is always you. What can you do better to create a supportive and welcoming environment for employees where their interests are aligned with yours?

    • restlessbish@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I completely agree with this sentiment. There’s probably a lot more that we don’t know and probably never will. I understand that new ownership can be challenging but you can keep them by being engaged, kind and understanding.

      • Bayunka@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        10 months ago

        I know of a small business owner who made sure their current staff were well looked after in the sale of the business. However, after all the hard work old owner put in for them, the 3 staff members collectively made their own plans and asked for a 10K raise from new owner prior to settlement. They jeopardised their sale at the last minute. It was so unfair on the current and new owner due to greed from staff. So could just be the staff old existing staff members were part of the problem too. As the change over has happened 2 years ago, as an owner OP was just fed up with them.