Software of Excellence Blog

Path of Excellence: Retain and Attract Staff

Published: 16 May 2022

A new report published this month, commissioned by the Association of Dental Groups, revealed shocking statistics regarding the state of the industry’s workforce...

‘...for every time a dentist leaves the NHS and isn’t replaced, approximately 2,000 patients could lose access to NHS care. That means that the loss of over 2,000 NHS dentists last year could result in more than 4 million people losing access to NHS care’¹

In a period of extreme dental demand, it’s clear that action needs to be taken, and soon, to meet the oral health care needs of the nation – this is where the discussion of staff retention and attraction comes in.

To get to the root of how you can attract talent, you need to ask the following question: ‘what are people looking for in a dental role?’

In times where the largest proportion of the working generation are millennials, we can draw on several conclusions – people are looking for:

1. Variety in their working day

2. Progression opportunities

3. Financial return

So let’s break this down...

Variety with task automation

As the world opens back up post-lockdown, there’s no denying that the popularity of cosmetic dental services has skyrocketed.

As dental leaders, investing in the right technology that will support the delivery of a wider range of high value treatments is absolutely vital in not only attracting in-market patients, but potential employees too.

With tools such as Online Booking able to optimise the clinician team’s diary, your team will feel confident in their time capabilities to drive a wider range of high-value treatments which can ultimately benefit both your staff and practice:

Greater staff engagement, particularly associates
Higher income revenue for your practice

Progression opportunities with performance transparency

To progress in any role, you need to be able to demonstrate any strengths and ‘wins’ in your performance. Keeping track however in a role as demanding as dentistry can be both time-consuming and challenging, however, at Software of Excellence we want to streamline this process so your team can prioritise growth and development with performance transparency.

Dentist Portal enables practice members to drill down on individual KPIs, including patient numbers and recall effectiveness, without having to request or sift through copious amounts of reports and records. Paired alongside MyPractice Cloud, both you and your associates can view how individual performance fit into the overall success of the business – in turn, promoting staff empowerment, morale and focus!

Financial return with a thriving patient base

As referenced in our previous ‘Retain and Attract’ blog, the success of your practices replies on retaining existing patients and attracting a steady flow of new people. Without this, your team simply cannot undertake the work they strive for and may turn to look for employment elsewhere with greater financial return.

Optimising communication with your patients via: