In this unfortunate economy, many owners are choosing to lay off valuable staff in an effort to save money and you may be wondering if you should too. And while you never want to be overstaffed — particularly during difficult economic times — you can ill afford to lose experienced and talented staffers now more than ever.
In fact, most practices are understaffed. Ironically and counter intuitively, high-performing veterinary practices actually spend a greater percentage of gross income on staff salaries and wages. This fact is supported by at least three studies:
* Dynamics of a Successful Practice Study (Arthur Andersen)
* The Well-Managed Practice Study (Advanstar/Wutchiett-Tumblin & Associates) (http://www.wellmp.com/PracticeStudy.html)
* KMPG Mega Study (http://www.ncvei.org/kpmg.aspx)
How is this so? Having an adequate number of competent, capable, well-trained staffers allows two important things to happen: Doctors can spend more time with each client and patient and doctors can see more clients and patients in the course of a day.
Compelling evidence from other health care professions also supports keeping your staff. In the 1980’s, optometrists nearly doubled their staff to doctor ratio. The result? Each doctor enjoyed an additional 50% patient visits. The additional staff per doctor created enormous capacity for optometrists.
Dentists with hygienists see 23 more patients each week than those without a hygienist. More food for thought: All human health care professions have roughly double the staff to doctor ratios seen in veterinary medicine, allowing the doctor to see two to three times the number of patients. In fact, the Medical Group Management Association (www.mgma.com) has discovered that mid-level providers produce a 200% return each year. A nurse paid $90,000 is likely to increase practice production by $180,000.
It’s also important to note that employee satisfaction plays a large role in business success. The Harvard Business School Service-Profit Chain (http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2008/07/putting-the-service-profit-chain-to-work/ar/1) . pointedly depicts how profit is achieved in a service business:
* Profit results from client retention
* Client retention results from client satisfaction
* Client satisfaction results from outstanding client service
* Outstanding client service results from employee retention
* Employee retention results from employee satisfaction
Before making any layoff decisions, it’s wise to determine how staff layoffs would impact employee satisfaction.
Ultimately, avoiding layoffs and keeping your practice fully-staffed should positively impact your practice. You’ll be able to spend more time seeing clients while your staff continues to provide outstanding client service.