Little Things to Keep Staff Happy

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. An office’s staff is its face and voice. New patients talk to the staff long before they meet the doctor. It’s their face they see when they walk in the door. Having happy, helpful employees is essential to keep patients happy, too. Not to mention that it makes coming to work much more enjoyable. 

Now, we can’t give them everything, but there are certain little things we can do that will make them happier to come to work.

My staff doesn’t ask for much. Whenever they ask for time off, so long as I have enough notice and only one of them will be out, I try to accommodate them. If they need something to make work easier (like a bigger computer monitor so they can see better), as long as it’s a reasonable request, that’s fine.

With few exceptions, any comments about my staff from patients have been very positive. And I make sure to share those comments with everyone.

We start seeing patients mid-morning instead of at 8 a.m. on Fridays, and that’s breakfast day. We all have breakfast together.

Tonight, we are all going to a minor league baseball game together. We went out to lunch for Administrative Assistants Day.

We talk about family and friends. We share stories about our childhood.

Sure, we’ve had our issues. Put any group of people together for 8-10 hours a day every single day, and someone is going to get on someone’s nerves for a little while. But for the most part, we all get along great.

I hope to keep my staff around for a long time. And I hope to keep them happy, too.

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