There are times you have to let go of a staff member. We just let go of one recently. What do you need to do beforehand to make sure that you are covered in the event of a dispute. It is documentation. It means that you document every single infraction including counseling for that infraction. A copy of that document goes to the staff member, and a copy of that document goes into the staff member’s personnel file. You then have reference material regarding the nature of the infraction and whether it is repeated as well as any new infractions that may occur. One of the biggest “thought errors” that we make is thinking that because we retain employees forever that somehow we are good employers. And we might be good employers, but employee retention in the face of employee errors or employee subterfuge is not a good strategy. The chances are that we don’t always select right the first time. We need to be able to let go of bad staff in order to be able to have the staff that we really want. Keep detailed personnel records. If you are recognizing a staff member for great performance, put that in the personnel file as well. An accurate personnel file is good business for you and for the health of your practice.
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