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.
Read your own post. You actually used the word inherited to describe the people that were already there when you bought the place.
I wasn’t attacking you for a perceived degree of privilege, but for your lack of engagement and, as you correctly saw it, leadership.
The day you bought the practice, they became your people. If four years later you feel they’re against you, that’s on you.
And you did them a favor by cutting them loose.