Practice Management Alert

Harness the strengths and eliminate the weaknesses of your younger staff to better serve patients and propel profits.

Chances are good that a significant percentage of your practice staff is made up of members of the so-called millennial generation, and practices that learn how to manage these employees optimally will reap the benefits.

These 35-and-under workers have aged into a major cohort of the workforce, and many practices report their offices are full of them. Your practice’s ability to hire good millennial employees and to retain them, thereby reducing turnover costs, can make or break your profitability and growth.

What sets this generation apart? Millennials grew up as natives to the new communication technologies that have revolutionized our world: the internet and cell phones. But their differences aren’t only in the realm of communication; they also value time, money and relationships very differently from previous generations. Millennials bring with them a different set of values and skills than the generations that came before.

Psychologist and workforce consultant Gustavo Grodnitzky, Ph.D, regularly advises businesses on how to get the most out of their millennial employees, and he has identified some effective ways to manage the strengths and weaknesses of this ascendant generation in your medical office:

Millennials value a “blended life.” Whereas baby boomers prize spending long hours at work, and Generation X prefers work-life balance, millennials are more comfortable working wherever and whenever they need to. To millennials, Dr. Grodnitzky tells Practice Management Alert, “it doesn’t matter where they get things done, it just matters that they get things done.” Thanks to their always-connected lifestyle, they are happy to work offsite or at unusual hours when needed. This can be particularly useful for administrative or tech-based employees you currently house in your “back office” who, with appropriate technology, security, and monitoring, could just as easily work from home.

Millennials are driven by a cause. Baby Boomers measure their success more by material rewards than Generation X does; millennials, by contrast, care mostly about being a part of something bigger than themselves. This bodes well for your medical practice because your purpose is clear: you heal people. That clear sense of purpose can help you hire and retain the most talented millennial staff.

“Everything they do, even entry level positions, must be in some direct way tied to the cause of the company--how the company’s product or service changes the world or changes human experience in the world,” notes Dr. Grodnitzky. They want to be deeply involved in how your practice makes patients’ lives better. If they feel connected to the cause, they will work with tremendous enthusiasm and creativity; if they feel that the cause is unworthy or not connected to them, they will check out and start looking for new employment.

Millennials master technology quickly. Because they were raised with the latest technology, they take to new tech like fish to water. Your practice can benefit tremendously from their knowledge about “the use of technology to create efficiencies,” says Grodnitzky.  They can also quickly assimilate new systems, and help to teach those systems to older staff members.

Millennials may lack interpersonal “soft” skills. The downside to their growing up online is that many millennials never mastered many of the in-person social abilities that their parents and grandparents did.

“Skills like eye contact, body posture, mirroring, and some verbal small talk are lost to them because their primary form of communication is digital and asynchronous,” warns Dr. Grodnitzky. “They may have to be taught to initiate conversation when a patient walks in, rather than waiting for the patient to ask for help.”

And don’t be alarmed if you find you must teach them simple, old-school skills. “They may have to be taught when is it more desirable to pick up a phone and call or actually go see a customer, rather than just send them a text message or an email,” he notes.

Recruiting and Retaining Millennial Employees

To a much greater degree than the generations that preceded them, millennials feel comfortable switching jobs often. As a result, medical practices worry about investing time and resources in an employee, only to see that employee jump to a rival practice after a few months or years. Grodnitzky stresses that the best wayto avoid losing your millennial staffers is to create workplaces and relationships that fulfill them. “They come and stay if a company focuses on relationships, a cause, and a culture that allows them to blend their lives while maintaining growth and performance,” he says.

The most important relationship you can create is between the employee and their supervisor. “They’re not job hoppers; they’re boss shoppers,” he quips.

“They need to have a good supervisor who is willing to engage them on a personal level,” says Grodnitzky. “They need a sense that the supervisor is interested in their growth globally, not just at that place of employment.” The more you show interest in their development as a person and as a professional, the more likely they are to stay for an extended period of time.

And if you forge rock-solid relationships with your millennial employees, you can solve both your retention and recruitment problems at one go. “They become your best recruiters,” Grodnitzky suggests. “If you build a good relationship, then all you have to do is go to them and say, ‘We’d like to hire more people just like you. Do you have any friends who might want to work here?’ If you have a good culture with good leaders and supervisors, you’ll be flooded with resumes. ” Not only does a supportive work environment make for more employee loyalty; it can also help to bring in the talented staffers of tomorrow.