Sponsored Content
By Amy Alvarez, SHRM-CP
Dec. 18, 2019
Staff management is among the greatest challenges faced by practice owners. Fortunately, there is expanded assistance in this area from one of the industry’s most powerful alliances.
IDOC, which recently expanded its practice owner’s hiring tools, is more equipped than ever to help you effectively and efficiently meet your human resources responsibilities.
A Clear Foundation for Employees
Our employee handbook service helps practice owners create a clear foundation for their employees about expectations and benefits while equipping them with an understanding of their own rights and responsibilities as employers. It also helps practice owners stay compliant with the labor laws applicable to their location and size because we create our handbooks in partnership with a national law firm.
Powered by OutMatch, our employee testing service expands practice owners’ hiring tools to include a review of a minimum of six cognitive behavioral skills, an interview guide based on the candidate’s results and a development plan to help the employee or practice owner leverage the individual’s strengths and weaknesses to be successful with tips and resources built into the development plan, including articles, TED talks and other expert advice.
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Our consulting services (which include human resources, practice management, finance, marketing and optical management) allow us to spend time with the practice owner or staff members to offer unique solutions that match their individual needs and practice dynamic. We spend time to learn about owners’ practice goals, concerns and current plans to create a strategy tailored to each practice’s unique needs.
In human resources consulting, we cover all things HR, and frequently speak about hiring and termination best practices, on-boarding and ongoing training, performance management issues and policy compliance.
Advantages for Practice Owners & Managers
Through our consulting, practice owners can gain confidence in their own leadership ability and comfort in their instincts. Through our employee handbook, they gain confidence because they know their best practices are compliant. Through employee testing, practice owners gain confidence during the hiring process by adding the use of non-bias screening tools to help them bring in qualified employees to their practice.
Most people are surprised to hear it, but employees want guidelines, expectations and feedback. The people you hire have the greatest impact on your success. Investing the time to improve the practice, through services or consulting, creates more opportunity for staff to understand their roles, ensures the practice has hired the right people, and empowers the practice owner or office manager to play a more active role in people management. All these services help the practice owner or manager understand how to turn the tide with their teams, and navigate a path to success.
The feedback we are getting from IDOC members about our new employee testing service, and other enhanced human resources tools, has been overwhelmingly positive. “IDOC’s human resources tools have made things much more orderly. Everyone knows what is expected,” says Nina J. Cox, OD, a practice owner and IDOC member in North Chesterfield, Va. “When employees know what is expected, they are more calm and they know what they are doing. They know what the practice is doing for them. It makes the practice more efficient.”
Dr. Cox says she will definitely use the new employee testing service powered by OutMatch. “I will certainly use the testing service. I think the testing is great, and is a lot more specific than what we had before, she says. In addition, Dr. Cox says the help from IDOC in creating an employee handbook has great value to her practice. “IDOC made it very simple to get my handbook done. It is legal and vetted and is a huge savings. The content, lectures and blogs are invaluable. They are helpful for a squeamish leader like me.”
Continuous Improvement
We are always looking for ways to make the services we offer more efficient for practice owners and office managers, ensuring their time commitment is minimized as much as possible. In 2020, we will be focusing on ways to make the services we have more robust, and are working closely with our members to offer what is in their best interest.
Our employee testing service saw improvements in 2019 with a more complete development plan with resources available in the report instead of on the web site. An additional resources portal will become available next year with other training materials for practice owners and office managers to use.
Through our consulting and services, we are privileged to hear and see the unique challenges our members’ experience. We do not take the role we are asked to play to support practice owners lightly. We spend as much time as necessary with practice owners and managers to help them feel confident in their HR practices, and as leaders in their business.
For more information about IDOC’s human resources tools: HRServices@idoc.net or 203-853-3333.
Amy Alvarez, SHRM-CP, is a human resources consultant for IDOC. To contact her: aalvarez@idoc.net
