Ideas with staff motivation????

[chrome surfer]

We hired an extern (admin graduate) from Blare College. We liked her personality, charm, ability to take on any task, but she was a better extern than employee (now employeed 11.5 months). My question is how do we/I get her to understand that the errors she is making are serious. We have re-trained, deleted tasks, etc. We use office mate and when I look into om to give a patient the balance due I am not certain it is correct. Doc seems to think that cross training into opticianary would be better for her. Help me!! I have held training sessions and explained the difference in ARs, materials, pd, seg hts, she still does not get it. Doc sent us to to Vision Expo West last year and we'll go again this year. She learned nothing last year and I'm afraid she'll learn nothing again. If I cannot trust OM with data entry how could I possibly trust her ordering. What this boils down to my work has now increased because I have to check it all and I am putting together elementry pricing sheets explaining every facet to every step. I do not want Doc to invest money in vision expo with the same stuff happening. Examples of what happens around here:
1-Pt comes in wants cl she did not look through file to see if benefits were abvailable, guess what they were saving the pt $95. this has happened 3 times that I remember.
2-Wrong AR's on material, wrong order to labs.

Any one have Ideas?

[Jacqui]

As harsh as it sounds, your best bet is to get rid of her.

[CME4SPECS]

Document the errors, and make here aware of them. Then give her a week or 2 to straighten up...then ship her out!

[optical24/7]

CME is correct. Job retention should be motivation enough for this employee.

[Cindy K]

Doc seems to think that cross training into opticianary would be better for her. Help me!! I have held training sessions and explained the difference in ARs, materials, pd, seg hts, she still does not get it. Doc sent us to to Vision Expo West last year and we'll go again this year. She learned nothing last year and I'm afraid she'll learn nothing again.

If this gal isn't getting the hang of office procedure by this time, how is she expected to learn Opticianry? If I were in your position I would take the steps necessary to eliminate her NOW. I speak from experience-- I've had the misfortune of having to train 'untrainable' office staff on several occasions (you just know, when you see the newbie filing and audibly reciting the alphabet, or better yet, using the calculator to determine the final cost of a 50% off frame, they're never gonna 'get it'). Interestingly, all these staff members who didn't work out presented themselves as bright, articulate, friendly, etc. etc. during their job interviews.

If you're still unsure what to do, remember: her work habits do not just AFFECT you, they REFLECT on the office in general.

[Dannyboy]

best thing is to penalize errors in a monetary sense. Fire her!

[GOS_Queen]

Hopefully, the employee was given some kind of job outline/job description at the beginning of employment.

What is the office policy handbook say about performance expectations?

Has the employee been given any sort of performance review (documented with behaviors)?

[Fezz]

Document, document, document! Leave a paper trail. You must also show that you tried to work with this employee and did not just single them out to fire/terminate them.


Cut the dead weight before it infects the rest of the ship!

Good luck.


Fezz
:cheers:

[For-Life]

Sounds like the big problem here is that she does not understand the consequences of her actions. Actually, as an optician she may improve because she may understand how important things are.

However, at this point sometimes you have to cut your losses.

[Jim Stone]

Probly just try another. Incentives!

[francisOD]

I agree with everyone here...document the problems, sit down with her with an agreement of problems and corrections that need to be made and time frame for implementation. Both of you need to sign off on this. If in that time frame, she has not straightened out (she will not by my past experiences) then you are on good grounds to let her go...and the sooner you do it, the better. You will see all of your productivity numbers increase. Very though descision to make, no one wants to be the bad guy or girl but trust me, this will be the best thing for the whole office. If you have other employees, their frustrations are mounting as well, they are just not saying it yet...but you will have their support when you let her go. Some might even say...what took you so long!!!

[Framebender]

You can do the whole documentation thing and you may or may not win at unemployment. A better way is simply to cut her hours to 5 hours a week. They never last long after that and once they quit they are ineligible for unemployment. It may be cold, but you don't want your rates rising either.

Good luck to you!

[Cindy Hamlin]

once they quit they are ineligible for unemployment.

Framebender, that is not ALWAYS the case.

[Framebender]

But your chances are much better. This was one of the tactics used by Lucent here in Colorado. It effected 2 of my neighbors, neither of them were able to get benefits.

Of course nothing is certain, but I'd go with the odds.

[chrome surfer]

I have done documentation and yes a special evaluation was activated she was given one month to re-evaluate and improve. The comment that followed next floored me "Can I still go on vacation in two weeks?" personally I could not even think about going on vacation much less think of having fun when my position is in trouble.
I have decided that the only answer is YOUTH she is 23 and the rest of the office is 35 to 50. I turned to you all for Opti wisdom because I want to be fair to her but 11.5 months is fair enough. Doc likes her charm, easy going (so easy going she doesn't care) personality I like her too but I am tired this is busness and I am exhausted!
This has been a wonderful sit my only regret is not finding it earlier.

Yvette

[chip anderson]

Unfortunately, other than an enherent enthusiasm for the job or the people which many employees lack nowdays. Money is the best motivator. Reward good work, withold some sort of remuneration after x amount of mistakes.


Chip

[Diane]

Unfortunately, other than an enherent enthusiasm for the job or the people which many employees lack nowdays. Money is the best motivator. Reward good work, withold some sort of remuneration after x amount of mistakes.


Chip

Unless it was in the stipulation of the hire, you cannot withhold renumeration without notification first. Perhaps spiffs, etc.

This case demonstrates that good hire practices with good policies need to be in place, first. Then ensure that policies are followed and if they are not, the policies should state clearly what happens if they are not followed. I believe in good HR documentation. A good employee manual with clearly stated policies and having signed documentation makes for a good employment environment.

Diane

[CME4SPECS]

It appears as though you may have higher standards than the office that you work in. Your boss seems to be the real problem.
Having a boss that likes someone's charm more than he likes her workmanship, that's a little strange to me.

[chip anderson]

Give commission spiffs, deduct mistake costs from same pay ballance. Do not deduct from base salary. You can do this without time of hire policy.

Chip

[eyeboy]

I went to a good seminar on staff. One way to look at staff is to think of there personality like an iceberg. Only one third of an iceberg is visible above the water line. If compared to a staff member we can only affect the part of their personality or behaviour that is above the 'water line'. Their core personality can never be affected. in the case of this staff member their laid-back attitude can probably never be modified no matter what you try. As you've already said the only way to solve this is probably get rid!!!

[chrome surfer]

It appears as though you may have higher standards than the office that you work in. Your boss seems to be the real problem.
Having a boss that likes someone's charm more than he likes her workmanship, that's a little strange to me.

This is the best office that I have ever worked in. I have been let go from one national chain because I made waves and would not pass sub-standard work to the patient I was also let go from one private practice here because I confronted the Dr. about his revolving door and he needed to keep staff long enough to make a difference. When I ran into Dr. R. he chucked when I told him I did not want to be in Mac-Optical. I have a wonderful repport with Doc and his wife. The three of us have grown this practice from word of mouth, quality exams and yes I do a good job and yes I have high standard and expectation. They allow me to order what ever equipment is necessary for me to do my job well and efficient. I love my employment here I could not have asked for a better doc if I had put in an order myself, lol. Doc and wife have wonderful hearts, kind spirit, gentle souls they both are highly educated which is why I think they have trouble understand reality. We do lots of community outreach in Colorado Springs & Denver's homeless youth, doc & his wife's only problem is that they have warm hearts & I feel like Meryl Steeps charactor the "Devil wears Prada", lol. I feel she has taken advantage of their kindness and I have to be the realist with the cattle prong.
I hope I do not insult any of you brains out here but reality is a stinger. It is hard to reason with it much less understand it. I am firmly grounded in my spiritual beliefs as they are also but I get upset when I get played.
The adage good guys get taken advantage ...

Thanks to all for the advice everyone have a great/safe week-end.

Yvette