#934: It’s Time to Reevaluate Your Handbook

Dental A Team Podcast

Did team members in your practice have to have any hard conversations this year? Maybe about dress code or drug testing? Did that new PTO policy work? Were there uncomfortable topics with patients? Tiff and Dana give advice on how to go about updating your handbook as 2024 comes to an end, so you can be more ready than ever when 2025 begins.

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The Dental A Team (00:01.422)

Hello, Dental A Team listeners. We are so excited to be here with you today. I have Dana. You guys know I love podcasting with Dana. She's my girl. Dana, thank you so much for being here with me. know we have, it's Friday, and so we're super excited about that. We have fun things in our lives coming up and we have so many podcasts to get recorded today for all of these people and I'm so excited because it means I get extra time with you. Dana, how are you today?

Dana (00:27.746)

Doing good, doing good. I'm just as excited to be here. I love this time too.

The Dental A Team (00:32.202)

Awesome. Awesome. And we just sprung on you guys, only asked for your permission, but we sprung on you a little meetup for the consultants here in a few weeks. And I am so excited. You guys, you listeners, I know you guys know we are all kind of like super close by. Some of us are further away in other states, but we're a fully remote company. And so we don't get to see each other a lot. And so the culture that we're able to build with our company, in my opinion, is freaking incredible because we're rarely ever

together but we are going to do a consultant meetup in a couple of weeks and we do a Live To Give every single year where Dental A Team just kind of goes back to the the communities as best we can and we do angel tree shopping or one year we dropped off coats for

homeless shelters and women's shelters and kids shelters and all these different things. We just really love to give back and so we do a live to give shopping spree basically. So in a couple weeks Dana, I'm so excited. You're gonna be here. Kristy's gonna be here. Britt is here already, but I actually will see her. Kiera's flying in. It's gonna be such a huge event and I'm just so excited to get some time to crunch some things, figure some things out for the future for us.

and do the Live To Give and get some shopping done for some kiddos. anyways, how excited are you for it though? We sprung that on you like yesterday.

Dana (01:57.814)

You did. I'm truly so pumped. Anytime I can, and I say this from the bottom of my heart, get time with my consultant crew. It's some of my favorite time and they're some of my favorite people. So I would have moved heaven and earth to make that work.

The Dental A Team (02:14.302)

No, thank you. I agree. It's so much fun getting all of us together and

Just getting some fun out there and getting some brainstorming. I feel like we brainstorm the best when we're side by side and I'm excited for it. Well, on that note, it's kind of our end of year wrap up is what our meeting is about. Like what is next you're going to look like and part of those this is HR Britt is what I like to call her. in our company, she handles our HR pieces and part of what I want to talk to you guys about today is really the employee manual and towards the end of the year making sure that it's wrapped up and ready to

Dana (02:28.972)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (02:50.132)

to go for next year. So Dana, you had some really great ideas, you always do, on updating the employee manual and where to go about those things. And one caveat I have, number one, I love talking about companies like CEDR.

They're fantastic. C-E-D-R, you guys. If you need an employee manual, if you don't know what needs to be in there, like we have options, we have ideas, we can definitely help you through with that. But CEDR does a really great job at pulling all of your state's laws, all of those little pieces that we don't necessarily always know you might not know. So I'll always say that. Reach out to CEDR if you use them or if you need one from scratch. Updates wise, same thing. Like what does CEDR have for your state? Right now towards the end of the

year, we pretty much know what the new laws are going to be coming into effect for the next year, this next year, I know what year you're listening to this in right now. But this next year is 2025. So most of those state laws have already been passed or any federal changes or laws to employee sanctions and different pieces have already been passed. So they're already there, you just got to find them. And you've got to make sure that they're all encompassing that you've grabbed all of them. So CEDR does that for you any employment lawyer,

Most of the lawyers you guys retain for most of your business pieces can usually snag that information for you too. So just double check. know, states like California and New York have really strict employee policies, so you just want to make sure you're always on part of there. So that's like the first layer of updates for me and the easiest space to really tackle and hit. But Dana, I loved your idea and really like looking back on the year to project for the future. Will you walk us through kind of

your thoughts on that and what you used to do when you were in practice.

Dana (04:37.142)

Yeah, sure. I think the end of the year is a great time to just kind of reevaluate. Did I have everything in my handbook or did situations come up throughout the year that man, I really wish I had had something in writing for that. So, you know, I had a couple instances and practices this year where like they had to like have some hard conversations around like drugs or dress code, right? And they didn't have those things defined or they didn't really know what to do because it's like, well, can I ask them to take a test? Can I ask them to wear something specific because I don't have it

in writing. So if you happen to have to have some of those hard conversations or make some uncomfortable decisions and you don't have it in writing, now is the great time as you are updating for laws or you're getting your handbook in place to begin with. Just considering throughout this year, was there anything? Did my PTO policy work? Did raises come up at times I wasn't expecting them? So maybe I put in my handbook like when I evaluate for raises or that raises are based on performance or that I follow a tier raise structure.

The Dental A Team (05:26.414)

I'm stop.

Dana (05:37.664)

you know, maybe we had some team members who they asked for some last-minute PTO, so like maybe we need to get in writing a little bit stronger of what the process is for getting it approved and what kind of notice they need to give. So just looking back through the year and did anything happen that man I wish I had had something in writing or this was uncomfortable because I didn't.

The Dental A Team (06:00.686)

think that's fantastic, I love that whole structure there. I love that you pointed out like drug policies, things like that. Those are things I think we forget to think about often times when we initially make it because...

I mean, we're all here with the mindset that people are naturally good human beings and that things are, which not to say that they're not naturally good human beings, but sometimes what we feel like is intuitive or known or like just natural thought process just isn't the case. And we find that in literally every aspect of life. So not forgetting that when it comes to the employee manual is true as well. And making sure I think Dana, as you're talking, I'm thinking like getting so granular with it that it can't be confused or misconstrued.

that it's insanely clear that from the smallest level possible and the biggest level possible, we can understand this entire makeup of whatever this rule or whatever you want to call it is.

It made me think too about smoking breaks and where are they allowed to indulge in a cigarette if that's something that you may have a team member on your team who does that or vapes or these are all the real things. These are all common factors of everyday life. Where are those things able to be handled, be done? I know for me, my practice I worked out for years, we had that it could not be on the premises at all because we didn't want patients walking into it.

advocate it for our patients for their health and their overall you know teeth so we had to make sure that they weren't walking into it and they weren't seeing any team members who may be on the team that did partake in those so it had to be off-site completely on their lunch breaks or what have you so I think though that's something that we tend to miss until like you said we get to the situation and we're like great awesome I actually don't have something for this so carry on and we'll fix this later making sure though I

The Dental A Team (07:56.116)

think too, we're having those conversations with those people. Because I can say that maybe, you know, when updates come around, and they're like, pointed, right? And then you're sitting there like, is that because of me? Did that? You don't want to make your team members feel like you're attacking them or a situation either. So I think making sure to have those conversations with them like, hey, we know that this happened. We know that this was a situation. It wasn't something I was prepped to handle. We handled it together and we did our best. We handled it beautifully.

Moving forward just so you know, there will be a policy in place for it. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. It was obviously something that I had not known I needed to put into place, but I'm really glad that it was you and we could have this conversation and get through this. I think it's better, and Dana correct me if you think I'm wrong, then like, guess what? It kind of feels underhanded, like slighted, and that's just that space of not having the ability to have what might be deemed as a difficult

conversation and it doesn't have to be difficult. Dana, how do you feel that you advise your clients because you do have a ton of clients and it is time to update those employee manuals and you just said you know you had a couple of these things come up for some of your clients this year. How did you handle that? How did you have them handle those situations as they arose and how are they going to put those into place next year?

Dana (09:17.038)

Yeah, and it did come down to just like a hard conversation and hey, I don't have anything in writing and we're navigating this fresh and new together. And I'm going to set some expectations on the spot.

and you know we're going to come to an agreement and how we're going to handle this and what solutions we're going to come to and then I'm going to make sure that I have it in writing because having it in writing doesn't mean we don't have the conversation just like you said it just makes the structure of the conversation a little bit easier and there are written out measures that you can default to so I love how you said like just go ahead and have the conversation anyway it's much more awkward than just like here it is and everybody kind of knows so it is just we got to admit we don't have anything in writing we really

are going to handle it together. It is a new thing. We're just going to communicate and we're going to get through it and move on from it and make sure we've got it documented so that if that ever happens again there is that structure put in place.

The Dental A Team (10:10.092)

So how did those conversations go for your clients that you worked with? one you mentioned is a pretty, that's a pretty strong policy to have to put into place. And I do understand like there are some, you know, recreational things that are out there that have been passed as laws for that it's okay for a lot of the state. So it makes it kind of difficult to navigate those pieces, but it's still considered a drug. But how did that, how did those conversations go for those clients?

Dana (10:16.238)

you

Dana (10:37.154)

They went well. think that they were just open and honest and that the bottom line is I have to protect my patients and I have to make sure that things that happen on the premises don't affect the way that we care for patients, the way that we speak to patients, the way that we handle patients. At the end of the day, that's what I have to protect. So these are the things that we're gonna put in place. We're going to make sure that those things don't happen again and we're gonna move forward. But at the end of the day, we're gonna protect the practice and the patients that sit in our chairs.

The Dental A Team (10:42.507)

Mm-hmm.

The Dental A Team (11:02.87)

Awesome. that. I love that. And I think that's a space too, where we have to not only protect our patients, but we're protecting each other and our business too. Because if you guys don't, if you guys don't put these policies in place and protect your business, where are your patients going to go? And if we're not protecting our team, meaning, you know, we can't, we can't deviate from what is considered acceptable for someone. It's got to be fair across the board. It's got to be the same structure for everyone. Because if someone gets that special treatment, the rest of

the team feel slighted or confused and then guess what is really really hard to hold accountability in any other aspect. So I really want to switch a little bit, continue this conversation but within that really talk about how important it is to make sure that we're sticking to the standards and upholding the standards that we set into place and set into motion. And from a leadership standpoint doctors, practice owners, you guys are the ones that need to make sure that this is a hundred percent accurate. Your office manager

or business administrators may be putting this together for you. They may be communicating with CEDR or your lawyers or whomever, but you guys need to make sure that it's accurate. And then from there, from a leadership standpoint, you, your leadership team, your whole team really needs to be abiding by these. I think the spaces that I see the most frequently misused, like you said Dana, was like the PTO situation or vacation time that's not paid, unpaid vacation time, sick leave, getting

to use the benefits or getting paid out the benefits at the end of the year or not. One thing that I saw a lot of clients come up against is expectations of payout when they were let go, when a team member was let go or when they quit, they didn't have it explicitly written at termination. You know, they said at termination you would be paid out, but they didn't have it explicitly written that it was if you decided to leave, I'm not paying you out, but if I decide you're leaving, I will pay it out. And so they ended up having to pay it out.

out. But from that leadership standpoint, Dana really like pushing on them to understand we've all got to follow the same rules. And this means your office manager too. And if we have different structures laid out by different positions, that is totally fine. But that needs to be clearly defined as well. I think one of the worst things we can do from a leadership standpoint is put a leader on a pedestal, make them completely different from the rest of the team. They are

The Dental A Team (13:32.23)

in many ways, but make it so different that they're looked at as though they're untouchable. That there's no accountability being held in place, that they get to free for all, do whatever they want, but the team over here has to abide by these rules in this employee manual and they're like told they can't have time off and you don't even know when your manager's off. Like those pieces I think can really ruffle the team. Dana, what do you suggest to your clients as they're, because I know like I said you're building these out right now, but what are

you suggesting for your clients in respect to that? How do they go about that? And what do you think about all of that?

Dana (14:11.66)

Yeah, I completely agree with you. think that there are some instances where leadership is different when I think it comes down to like policies and like procedures for team members and it's it's team members across the board, including leadership. And I think that like having your office manager your leadership team like also

live that and roll that and be active participants in this is exactly what I follow and these are the standards that I hold for myself and these are the policies that you know I'm going to also abide by I think is really super beneficial.

The Dental A Team (14:45.027)

Yeah.

The Dental A Team (14:48.398)

Yeah, I agree. I agree and making sure I think that they discuss those and they have conversations around them too. Wherever you guys note that people are going to be out, make sure everybody is noted on that same schedule that everything looks the same. Like Dana, like you said, doesn't have to be everyone's clear cut gets the same because I know tenure, I know based on, you know, your position in the practice, especially PTO, things like that might be different, but you want it to be across the

board as similarly spoken as we can get.

One huge note for practice owners, business managers, all of you guys, things like that, PTO, amount of PTO that we get, payroll, our pay, bonuses, payouts, anything like that needs to be a no-go. We do suggest that this is in your employee manual, that there's no discussions around what I make. I should not be talking to Dana in a practice about, as my position, this is what I make.

my bonus looks like. I actually had a practice recently. The whole hygiene department is turned upside down right now because we had an issue where this was discussed and

We worked really hard to make it hygienist very happy and meet all of the needs and requirements that were asked for that went above and beyond as not by a lot, but above and beyond where some other team members may have been in an effort to keep this person on staff. We know how difficult it is right now to find team members, but especially hygienists and that information was asked to be.

The Dental A Team (16:37.474)

been kept quiet, it was not kept quiet and there's an entire team very upset, understandably, and now a doctor who's, you know, overhead is about to be pretty upside down for the next couple of months due to the fact. So I want to make it really clear and the team members that are listening, I don't say that so that you guys are slighted, so that you guys don't know what's going on, so you guys don't have the information. I say it because I truly feel with everything that I have, I always have

believed this and I believe this about myself. If you are worth more than what you're paying, what you're paid, you believe you are worth more than what you are paid, you need to advocate for that and you need to not expect other people to just show you how they feel you should be paid. Like they, a lot of us, think, I don't know how to say this, a lot of us feel as though our worth is shown to us by other people based off what they think we should be paid.

That's not always the case. My worth is from inside. My worth is what I think I am worthy of, what I think I can do, how I can show up. I want team members to understand that. I want team members to understand that it's not always equal and fair. Tenure makes a huge difference. The amount of time that you've been in the industry, how long you've been doing the specific position that you've been doing, what do you add to the bottom line of the practice for that position?

to add more value, ask how you can. Those are really great ways to be compensated more, to be shown your worth and your value in compensation. But on the flip side of that, as business owners and doctors and leaders, we need to make sure that it's very clear that those things are kept under wraps because it just makes really good employees feel really bad sometimes. So make sure things like that are in there. You know, just spitballing things, Dana and I have seen this here.

and making sure you guys are set. So I think the biggest piece is Dana, I loved your like take a look backwards on the year of what has happened, what's popped up, what's spiked that you think needs attention or you didn't have a policy and you wished you did. I love that. Making sure you communicate with somebody about the laws of your area. So whether it's CEDR, whether it's an employee, an employment lawyer or your lawyer that you have.

The Dental A Team (19:02.014)

deemed as your practice. Again, there's states that are heavier in employee laws than other states. If you're in a heavy state, you typically know that. Please be careful. Please make sure you follow all of the guidelines. I implore that upon you. Dana and I live, luckily for us, it's very easy or it was very easy when we were in practice to do these and it didn't take much from CDER to like update the employee manuals because it was very easy, but I know there are some states, especially on each of our borders there.

that are a little tighter around that coastline. So state updates and laws, holidays, PTO, etc. Anything weird that you've come up against that you were like, this is so weird and I didn't even think about this. I don't want you to...

think about everything. I don't want you to think that it's going to happen every single year, you're going to have something new. So write it down, brainstorm it and have a space, would say, Dana, you'll probably do this too. Have a space in your active drive where it's like, hey, these are things I'm going to update next year. Last piece, I will say, have everyone sign an employee update every year, whether you do updates or not. The employee manual should be gone through. It should be something that's just like open and honest, spoken about all the time so that there's no questions. know you still have

I always get confused about my PTO when I was in practice. like, I don't know how many years I've been here. I don't know how much I have. My manager was like, I don't know why this is so hard. And I was like, I don't know.

This is where we're at. So I think just talking about it constantly, making sure everybody understands it and making those updates and then making those changes solid with a good signature is always best. Dana, I love that idea. I love that you had some talking points today. Those were fantastic. Thank you so much for this. guys, Dana's going to help me with an operations manual update one as well. We know she's my ops queen. So Dana, thank you so much and I hope you...

The Dental A Team (20:53.674)

enjoy recording the rest of the podcasts with me today. Awesome. Thank you guys so much, and we'll catch you next time.