Managing a dental office is hard work. As we mentioned in our post on dental practice trends, it is becoming more difficult.
You have to deal with nervous patients who have many questions and suppliers who get their shipments to your office too late. You also have to make sure that everyone is paid on time and in the right amount. And you must ensure that the office is fully staffed at all times. These are just of few of the major challenges in running a dental practice.
When one of your staff calls in sick, it can disrupt operations for the entire day. If you are missing a hygienist, it will greatly slow down the amount of time your appointments take. You are likely to have a waiting room full of annoyed clients and will have to reschedule some appointments.
Dental Economics shows that the problem is worsening as there is a growing shortage of dental staff. This increases the need for dental temp employees.
Your clients may be upset about this, hence, it is important to get a dental temporary to your office as soon as possible. You will likely use a dental staffing agency to find a temporary employee, and knowing which agency to trust can be confusing. However, there are five ways to verify if a dental temporary agency is reliable.
1. Read Reviews
One of the best ways to find out if a dental temp agency is reliable is to read reviews of the agency. According to Dental Staffing Reviews, dental offices are always willing to share their positive and negative opinion of staffing agencies.
A good review platform should have a method to verify that the people who leave reviews actually work for dentist offices and have patronized the staffing company.
If you Google, “reviews of dental staffing agencies,” you will get many results. The best of these sites will forbid paid reviews. Many people out there think paying for reviews is a great way to get people to patronize their business. However, fake reviews can result in a lawsuit.
A real review will have plenty of details. If a review just says, “This is a great company to do business with,” it may be fake, or at least insincere.
If a company has only five-star reviews, it is unlikely that all those reviews are real. Read the reviews carefully to make sure that they do not sound similar to one another. If they do, someone from the office may be writing their own reviews.
2. Ask Questions
When you call a dental temporary agency, it is crucial to know how their operations work. So, there are a few questions you should always ask an agency.
- How long have you been in business?
- Have you always focused on the dental industry?
- What kind of requirements do you have for recruiters?
- Do you check licenses and note the expiration date?
- Does your computer system alert you when a license has expired?
- Do you do background checks?
- Do you offer skills tests?
- How often do you update your records?
- Are you a member of any professional organizations?
3. Word of Mouth
One of the best ways to know if a dental agency is any good is to talk to other people in your profession. The dental professionals in your office are certain to know other people who work in the business. Have them ask their friends and professional acquaintances about the temporary agencies with which they have worked. Ask them how often they use the service and if there is a particularly good recruiting agent to work with.
4. Ask for Referrals
You should always get a few referrals from any agency you are thinking of doing business with. There should be a few other office managers that can endorse them. Ask the referrer detailed questions about their experience with the agency.
How quickly did they get a temporary to the office? Did the temporary workout. Were there any surprises on their bill? Was customer service available whenever you needed it? The more you can find out, the more smoothly things will go.
5. Do a Little Internet Research
When you enter into a contract with any business, you should make sure they are registered with the state you are in and that they have never had their license revoked or changed their name.
Find out if the company has ever been sued and what it has been sued for. In many states, this is a matter of public record.
Check if they have ever been in the local news. In some cases, they may simply be involved in community events, but in other cases, they may be the subject of an expose. You would be amazed at what you can find out online.
Finding dental temporary workers is critical to the success of your office. Working with a reliable dental staffing agency is a great way to find the temps you need.
