National Commission on Veterinary Economic Issues - News Feeds

Hiring and firing strategies

• Veterinary receptionist interview questions
  Use these questions to interview candidates for your receptionist position. These questions will hit on qualities critical to a veterinary receptionist performing his or her job successfully.
  
• Breaking down the language barrier
  Hispanic, foreign-born population growth signals need for multilingual expertise in practice, DVMs say
  
• Hire the right employees to reduce turnover
  A targeted approach to hiring will yield better candidates that fit your existing team. Before you place your next ad, consider this advice to focus your efforts.
  
• Recruitment tip: Why background checks matter
  If the only thing standing between you and a fantastic new job was a little white lie, what would you do? Would you tell the fib and not look back? Or would you take the moral high road?
  
• Walk away from workplace violence
  See the signs of a coworker—or a practice culture—on the edge.
  
• Veterinary managers on the move
  More veterinary hospitals than ever are sporting new managers to take the load off overworked veterinary practice owners.
  
• Non-compete agreements: When associates and owners clash
  National Report — When Dr. Christie Cichra graduated from veterinary school in 2006, she had a job lined up.
  
• Entitled employees experience more job frustration
  Veterinary team members who feel superior to others at work are more likely to lash out at their coworkers and engage in other abusive behaviors.
  
• The top 6 hiring mistakes—and how to avoid them
  Keep your veterinary practice running smoothly by avoiding these costly hiring blunders.
  
• 5 facts about employee rights
  Many team members blindly stumble through issues of breaks, overtime pay, and family leave. Find out whether your practice gives you enough—or whether you expect too much.
  
• Your employee rights were violated. Now what?
  Protect yourself and preserve a strong working relationship with these three tips.
  
• Video: Managing too many part-time employees
  You need them for flexibility and you don't need to pay them benefits. But you can have too much of a good thing.
  
• Use this advice from CVC in Baltimore to avoid the wrong hire
  In this video segment, dvm360 Content Director Marnette Falley shares hiring strategies from consultant Denise Tumblin, CPA, from her Progress in Practice sessions in Baltimore.
  
• Federal agencies investigate veterinarian fraud case within USDA
  Athens, Ga. — Finding the perfect first job upon becoming a DVM can be a challenging feat, but for Tim Holt, getting several prominent positions as a veterinarian was not a problem — and he never graduated from veterinary school.
  
• HR Web resources
  It's tough to keep up with human resources laws and regulations. Take a peek at these Web sites for laws specific to your area.
  
• Making the most of a practice manager
  The issue of maximizing managers' contributions is the second in a dvm360 series on critical changes facing practices. What does a great manager do? What should the practice provide to get those results? This package gives the answers.
  
• Q&A: When to add an associate to your team
  Are there quantifiable measures I can use to determine whether I'm able to add an associate to my practice?
  
• Video: How to hire the right candidate
  Stressed about who to hire? Here's a guide to ensuring your new team member will be a great fit in your practice, courtesy of Debbie Allaben Gair, CVPM, president of Bridging the Gap in Sparta, Mich.
  
• 9 tips for using your team more effectively
  How to get your team management skills up to speed.
  
• The dvm360 Five - Episode 7
  Watch news on cat healthcare, hiring new team members, and an online animated series about a veterinarian.
  
• All you need to know about long-term medical leave: What you don't know can hurt you
  Complaints, lawsuits can cripple veterinary practice owners who don't have a written medical-leave policy
  
• Veterinary team handout: Principles of mutual respect
  This veterinary practice manager asks doctors and team members to sign off this document that shows they know team respect is crucial.
  
• 7 things to look for in a great veterinary technician position
  It's not all about salary, if you want a job that makes you happy and balances work life and family life.
  
• Q&A: Giving bad employee references
  Tips to keep you and your practice out of trouble when giving job references.
  
• BizQuiz: Do you know the right way to fire?
  You're the boss. Are you prepared to handle this situation? To find out, answer the following questions about the employee termination policy recommended by Mark Opperman, CVPM.
  
• Despite higher starting salaries and student debt, more DVMs are shunning the working world for the classroom
  Student debt and starting salaries are up, but new DVMs are still opting to stay in the classroom longer.
  
• Sample: Computer usage policy
  Use this sample policy to define acceptable computer behavior and outline the consequences of putting the practice at risk.
  
• Sharpen up your veterinary team with employee upscaling
  How to replace underachieving team members with overachievers.
  
• 6 ways to find perfect "10" employees
  Trust me—you have "10" employees in your town, no matter how small it is.
  
• Hiring tip from CVC in Kansas City: Use scenarios to find great employees
  Asking about strengths and weaknesses will only reveal so much information. Dig deeper to find job candidates' true capabilities.
  
• Helping team members be their best: Assembling your team (Proceedings)
  Hiring people and having them all work within the same 4 walls doesn't make them a team.
  
• Where the jobs are: Who's hiring, who's firing
  Hiring numbers are down from last year. What does this mean for your practice? Here's a look at how many practices are hiring and what positions they're looking for.
  
• A hiring hiatus: What you should expect
  Veterinary practices are hiring less this year, and owners may just have to wait out the recession.
  
• Veterinary practices offer these benefits to team members
  A list of veterinary team member benefits by percentage of practices
  
• How to offer veterinary team members the benefits they want
  Ask team members what they want, compare local wages, and consider offering more time off
  
• Breaching a non-compete clause has consequences
  Much more is at stake than enforceability; your career is at risk.
  
• Employees reluctant to leave hostile environments
  An inhospitable workplace doesn't necessarily mean a new job search for many workers.
  
• New graduates face a brave new world
  Brace yourselves. Sometime this summer, coming to an area near you, will be the new graduate.
  
• Avoiding layoffs (Sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health)
  While cutting expenses is a critical part of a recession plan, it's not a good idea to lay off employees without fully evaluating the effect the decision will have on the business.
  
• Sample case study: Constant turnover
  Stop the revolving door.
  
• Video: Mark Opperman, CVPM, explains a drama-free way to fire an employee
  Here's how to take the emotion out of termination.
  
• Are you toast? Why owners fire practice managers
  Don't get burned by a bad manager. You're the practice owner, and that means you need to keep a finger on the pulse of everything that's happening at your practice.
  
• What it takes to have an awesome technical team (Proceedings)
  How to develop a team of "10" technical members
  
• The next wave of veterinarians
  Learn what the new generation thinks of the challenges that await them.
  
• What's new in HR (Proceedings)
  Electronic Verification (E-Verify) voluntary program run by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the United States.
  
• Patient care coordinator
  Scan this job description.
  
• Stimulus plan brings COBRA changes
  Government is subsidizing premiums, but employers pay up front
  
• Stress kicks into high gear after job cuts
  Post-downsizing stress syndrome is different than day-to-day stress.
  
• Most practices avoiding doctor layoffs
  Despite the current recession, few practices have laid off doctors.
  
• Employees can still—and will—leave employers
  Study shows workers continue to seek greener pastures.
  
• Q&A: Find your dream associate
  Our practice is in the process of hiring our first associate. What should we look for in a candidate?
  
• Keeping employee records safe
  Organize and file employees' sensitive personnel documents with these tips.
  
• Q&A: Make your practice desirable to applicants
  How can we attract high-quality applicants to apply for vacant positions at our practice?
  
• How to stay optimistic in 2009
  Here are seven strategies for staying positive in the gloomy economy.
  
• Nine smart ways to downsize
  If your practice's finances are down, you may need to downsize. Follow these tips to do it the right way.
  
• Associates: How to find your perfect practice
  Lots of practices are searching for associates. Use these tips to help them find you.
  
• How to find an associate
  Where's Dr. Wanda? These tips can help you attract candidates and hire a great associate.
  
• A testimony to the value of hiring technicians (Sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health)
  Before making a change that will affect how you do business, it is necessary to know how the technician concept will play out in reality.
  
• No. 1 team trend
  Turnover is a perennial problem. Learn what you'll face in the new year—and how to ease the strain.
  
• Signs your employees are thinking of jumping ship
  Here are three behaviors to look out for.
  
• Managers' Monday: Interview do's and don'ts
  Be careful what you ask job candidates.
  
• Applicant evaluation form
  Use this form to help you document hiring decisions.
  
• Common conflicts between associates and owners: What can you do? (Proceedings)
  There is anticipation in the air as a new associate (frequently a recent graduate too) joins a practice.
  
• Managers' Monday: Using 360-degree employee evaluations
  Going full circle gives team members input and provides a more comprehensive report.
  
• Managers' Monday: Don't downplay job descriptions
  Use them to hire, to evaluate employees, and to keep your practice procedures up to date.
  
• Managers' Monday: Put job candidates to work
  Working interviews can make tough hiring decisions easier.
  
• Tip from Firstline Live 2008: Halt turnover
  Employee referral programs help practices find--and keep--top-notch team members.
  
• Heads-up on hiring
  How many veterinary clinics are fully staffed, how many are hiring, and what positions are they filling? Plus: Overhiring—is it for you?
  
• Tackling turnover
  Lakewood, Colo. — Associate veterinarians are jumping jobs faster than the average American worker, according to a new study, and salaries that don't keep pace with inflation could be partly to blame.
  
• Put your practice into overdrive with overhiring
  Overhiring can reduce the cost of turnover.
  
• Three strikes you're out!
  No one likes to fire people. But if you don't get rid of that problem employee, you're putting the good ones at risk. Take this approach to make this necessary evil as painless as possible.
  
• Nailing down a noncompete
  What time frame is valid for a noncompete clause in an associate's contract? What distance from my practice do I use as a boundary?
  
• Veterinary turnover rates higher than national average
  Denver - The veterinary profession is experiencing a higher rate of turnover than the national average for all industries, and low starting wages and minimum benefits may be to blame.
  
• Get everyone involved in hiring
  Involving your team members in the process is a better way to hire.
  
• Does a team member on mood medication need a doctor's note?
  Can I question my employee who's revealed a history of mental illness and prescribed medications to control it?
  
• 7 strategies for finding and keeping great associates
  Good associates are rarer than hen's teeth, so how do you attract them to your cozy practice and keep them?
  
• Make the promise. Keep your team
  His motto? No team member will leave his practice feeling unchallenged, concede to a lack of direction, or have professional growth hindered.
  
• Firing employees on workers' comp can present challenges
  They say that most things in life swing like a pendulum from extreme to extreme. We know the business economy follows a boom-and-bust cycle that is mitigated only marginally through government intervention. Also, the political inclinations of society vacillate between conservative and liberal thought and from intolerance to excessive political correctness.
  
• A technical revolution (Sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health)
  In a world where time is money and the demand for high-quality healthcare is paramount, certified equine technicians use efficiency strategies and innovation to stretch the clock and boost the equine practitioner's abiility to provide the best care possible.
  
• A good boss lets bad eggs go
  You show consistency as a boss and respect for your top employees when you terminate someone who needs to go.
  
• Have no fear: Help is here
  You're already familiar with the idea of hiring a relief veterinarian and the benefits that come along with doing so. But what about hiring a relief technician?
  
• Let them go, but get back your goods
  How can I ensure that fired employees return hospital property, such as smocks and door keys?
  
• Employing disabled staff members
  You can't discriminate against a qualified person because of his or her disability. But you also aren't required to hire someone if he or she isn't a good fit.
  
• Associate pay: adjusting for experience
  Reward associates for their knowledge, education, time, and experience level.
  
• Employee warning notice
  Use this form to document verbal warnings when you're disciplining employees.
  
• Wanted: Able associate, must love dogs
  It's tougher than ever to get a strong new associate. But these strategies can help your practice stand out.
  
• Reality check: the true cost of living
  Salaries make up a big chunk of your total expenses, but when team members cover their basic living expenses, there may not be much left.
  
• Avoiding an age-discrimination suit
  A longtime staff member who's in her late 50s is having trouble learning our new computerized billing system. We don't want to fire her, but we need to replace her with someone who can handle our new technology. If we asked her to retire, would we risk an age-discrimination suit?
  
• Background checks improve hiring
  You can't afford to skip this crucial step when recruiting employees.
  
• Warning: fire ahead
  How many warnings should I give, and when should I fire someone?
  
• Employing your children
  What are the legal issues in hiring my 13-year-old daughter to work after school?
  
• Front-desk turnover
  Q What's the typical turnover rate for front-office team members? How do I know if my turnover's too high?
  
• Pruning poor performers
  Legally, you can terminate an at-will employee at any time. Of course, there are some exceptions.
  
• Criminal history: check, check
  Background checks are not a waste of time or money. Here's why.
  
• Take action with a warning notice
  Take these steps to document poor performance.
  
• Giving someone the axe ... the right way
  Learn the potential legal ramifications of terminating an employee.
  
• Measure your new hire's fit
  How do you know whether a newly hired team member is right for his or her job and, equally important, right for your practice? Many practice owners evaluate a new hire's job performance during a probationary period, which can last from 30 to 90 days.
  
• Do you have what employees want?
  Associates and support staff weigh in on the factors that attract them—and keep them on the job. Is your practice attractive to potential team members? (And is it equally attractive to potential buyers?)
  
• The 10 most common hiring mistakes
  Take these steps, and find that new person who fits with your team perfectly.
  
• Stop complaining about negative team members, and show them the door!
  Let's solve your morale problem by just firing all the unhappy people. Think that sounds rash? The truth is you have nothing to gain from keeping them around. You can't change them. Yes, you can require certain behaviors, such as being on time, doing their jobs, or developing proficient skills or knowledge. But a lot of people simply have a rotten, negative attitude, and there isn't much you or anyone else can do to change that.