Staff Management

Manage Employees Effectively with Staff-Only Web Page

By Chad Fleming, OD, FAAO

April 1, 2015

SYNOPSIS

An employees-only page on your practice web site is an effective training and management tool. Use it to minimize your repetition of instruction and clarify changing procedures and practice goals.

ACTION POINTS

POST KEY CHANGES & POLICIES. Enable staff and doctors to communicate faster about decisions affecting patients.

ORIENT NEW HIRES. Thoroughly explain intra-office communication system, and immediately register new hires, so they can be on-boarded as fast as possible.

DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY. Require staff to check the site once a week to be informed, no excuses.

The technology you already have can be used to boost productivity and staff accountability. At our five-OD, 18-employee practice, we keep staff up-to-datewith a “What’s Happening Now” page on our practice web site. This staff-onlypage is just accessible to staff members who log into the site with an authorized username and password. We use the site to keep staff apprised of everything from changes in their employee benefits to our office schedule.

We also utilize this employee-only page as a trainingand staff management tool–and we capture greater efficiencies and clarity of purpose as a result. Our employees-only page does not replace good communication within the office, but it provides a powerful way of noting new policies, reinforcing decisions made at staff meetings. For example, we recently posted information on WHN about Bruder Eye Hydrating Compresses, which we recently added to the products we sell. Staff was given details for how this product can be used, including where in our EHR it can be found, along with the cost to the patient. We also recently added a “Cleaning List” item to the page, which gives staff guidance on how best to clean their portion of the office at the end of each work day.

When your practice grows, like ours did, from three employees and one OD to 18 employees and five ODs, the method of communication has to be thorough and efficient so all staff members and doctors have the best chance to succeed. All practice sizes can benefit from a private staff information page because there is always a need for accountability–ensuring there is no way staff can claim not to have received information. The accountability is enabled by having what is said verbally put in writing to confirm that it was said. This also avoids the uncomfortable “you never said that” conversations.

Thisemployees-only page on Dr. Fleming’s practice web site is a central place, always accessible, forsharing practice news and noting changes to employees’ schedules and benefits.

Create Central Info Repository

Every Wednesday, there is an owners’ meeting, and the WHN page is updated with pertinent information. If updated outside of Wednesday, then an e-mail alerting all staff and doctors is sent to check for updates about our systems and processes, announcements about staff changes, notes about comparing data when owners are making decisions, updates on vendor relationships, areas our office could improve in patient care, trends occurring within the office, and all other communication.

The WHN feature allows the owners/managers to document, store and reference all policy changes in a single location that can be accessed with username and password. It never includes personal health information on any patient, so staff can review it at any time, anywhere.

WHN is organized by month, and is a running log. At the end of the year it can be archived to a document that is accessible to staff on the practice web site under “documents & forms.” All notes are searchable, so staff can type in “cleaning list” in the search box on the web site and it will appear in the search results.

Post Staff Meeting Notes

There was a need to collate all of the staff meeting notes. We have one big staff meeting per month with a lot of information shared, which employees are accountable for knowing and making use of. Some staff found it convenient to say they did not get the staff meeting notes that we used to e-mail before we created WHN. Collating the information has resulted in more staff reviewing and referencing the web site before asking the owners/managers questions because they know that they will be pointed to the WHN page.

May Be No Cost to Adding Private Page

The technology of our web site, managed by iMatrix,allowed us to password protect and manage the site’s content and users. There was no additional cost for this.

There is little time required by myself or my other staff members to maintain WHN. In fact, it takes less time–10 minutes or less weekly–because the content is added to the online management system through iMatrix. At our owners/managers meeting, we document all of the additions we want on the WHN page and approve them and they are posted at least weekly, but can be immediately added on a daily basis if necessary.

One of the owners typically posts the information after the owner meetings on Wednesday, or asks one of the administrative staff to post it. Usually it works best to project on the computer what is going to be updated to the WHN page for all staff and doctors, once approved by owners, it is then posted by simple copy and paste from the meeting notes out of Evernote software. An office manager could also do this.

Better Informed = Better Employees

WHN enables better employees because our system gives them a tool that is organizing their notes and giving them a place to reference all staff meeting notes, systems, updates and other practice information.The employment manual and policy manual is located under “member content” on our web site, so they have a one-stop place for all of their employment needs. They really like the fact that we organized everything for them in one central location.

Patients Benefit From Better Staff Communication

WHN benefits patients because it allows us to change policies and procedures in a shorter time frame since we can immediately share management decisions staff-wide. We used to not be able to make any changes to staff and patient policy until the next staff meeting.

Educate New Employees on Communication System

When a new staff member is hired, their first e-mail has a link to become a “member” of our practice web site. They create a username and password and then wait to be approved by our office IT administrator and then they can log into all of our “member content” pages. We also have a “new staff” page that gives them step-by-step instructions on what they need to do prior to arriving on day one, tells them where to park, what online accounts to setup, tax papers to fill out, where to go to try on scrubs, and what to bring on the first day.

This all works to decrease the amount of time required by the owners/managers and increase the efficiency and communication with new staff. The new staff can then go to the WHN page and catch up on everything regarding staff and procedures. They then feel like they are immediately a part of the team.

Chad Fleming, OD, FAAO, is a partner with Wichita Optometry, P.A. in Wichita, Kan. To contact:optometryceo@gmail.com

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