We recently received an inquiry to our Silkin Management Group website silkinmanagmanagementgroup.com wherein a doctor was asking for advice about how to handle a problem staff member. On our website we have a function called “Ask a Consultant”, in which one can request help from one of our consultants about any practice management problem they may be experiencing. In this case the doctor relayed that she didn’t know what to do with an employee who was disturbing and distracting other staff with her problems. I thought I would relay my response to her as it might be helpful and informative to other Silkin clients or anyone reading this blog. I have broken my response into two parts – the first part is below and the second part will be in a blog published on December 14 which can be accessed at: silkinmanagmentgrp.com.

“Thank you for contacting Silkin Group. I can sense your frustration with this situation. There are several things that can help you in this current situation and help prevent this from happening in the future. This is a bit of a lengthy reply due to the nature of your problem. Please take the time to read through this as I believe it will give you some insight into the problem and how to handle it.

The first, and probably the most important thing that should be in place, is that you have very detailed job descriptions and office policies existing in your office. As part of or one of these policies there needs to be something clearly written about what is acceptable and unacceptable employee behavior.

When new employees are hired, they should be given a copy of this policy manual to read and, once read, they are to sign off as being read and understood. This lets them know what type of behavior is and isn’t permitted in your office. By signing off that they have read and understood the policies they have thereby agreed to follow the policy which gives you recourse for disciplinary action and/or termination for non-compliance. Of course one would generally not proceed to termination for initial offenses, but rather instigate the handling with a gradient approach (i.e. first offense a warning, second offense suspension for a day, etc.).

As new policies are written, copies would be handed out to all employees for them to read and sign off on. These signed agreements should then be added to their personnel files. These can then be referenced in regular employee evaluations, job reviews, disciplinary actions and if needed, termination situations.

If, however, you only deliver your “policies” verbally, you leave these expectations open to interpretation and lower your ability to be able to effectively and safely (from a legal point of view) handle employees. It is imperative to have everything in writing so that there is no room for interpretation.”

As a note to anyone reading this: At Silkin Management Group we work very closely with our clients on the implementation of office policies and job descriptions. We have a 400 plus page Office Policy and Job Description Manual, easily adapted to any office, that covers everything I’ve written about above plus much more.

More to come in our December 14th blog.

For more information about Silkin Management Group, please visit our website at silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can access our “Ask A Consultant” feature there or email us at info@silkinmanagementgroup.com.

Ken DeRouchie
Silkin Management Group’s “Ask a Consultant”