If you are asking Reddit, you have the wrong person as your office manager. Do not underestimate the seriousness of this situation. You are building a practice and a culture. Just one person who doesn’t buy in on a small team is a major headwind. Implement the PIP, let her know exactly how she’s not meeting your expectations and start documenting performance issues. When it comes time to let her go, you’ll want to be able to refer to the disciplinary documentation in a matter-of-fact manner. She may show improvement for the short term, but you really want someone who promotes your culture, not someone who can just barley be good enough. You want patients promoting you as the dentist who cares, not just another dentist with a rude staff. These decisions are more about leadership than HR practices. With that said, the employment market is such that all of us sometimes have to eat shit in the short term when it comes to putting up with employees

Paying the equivalent of one day of the profit she generates in return for a smooth four month transition where the employee could help recruit/train her replacement as well is a bargain. I’d feel fortunate if I got a four-day notice. Who knows how her relocation will go. She could be back

You may want to flip your question from “what should I do” to “what do people need?” Starting with the demand side may lead to better economic success. It’s hard to be passionate about a failing business. I have a passion for painting emojis on thimbles but nobody wants to pay me for them. Nobody even really wants to take them for free. Also, passion can be overrated. You haven’t discovered all your passions yet. I find myself to be passionate about anything I apply myself to and become good at. I’m passionate about customer service because I built a team that’s good at it and I get a lot of motivation from my customers telling me they appreciate the service we provide. It’s not like I came out of the womb with an intrinsic desire to excel in customer service. For me confidence comes from experience. When taking on a new task, I know, from experience, I have figured out other complicated things and I can figure out the new one in front of me.

What does he want for the 50%? Too hard to break down over Reddit. It currently seems to be more of a job than a business. If you are going to turn it around, you want 100% of it. It’s possible the business could be a gem again with new ownership and energy but in it’s current state, it’s just not worth much if anything at all