Advice needed....having trouble with an employee

[4nroots]

Hi guys

I am having a bit of a dilemma right now, and an objective set of eyes is exactly what i need, so I am turning to you.

I am a dentist, have been out of school for 5 years now. Almost 3 years ago, I bought a dental practice in a small town. The practice was established many years ago by the guy's father, and the son took it over for about 10 years. The son was 38 and was selling because he was going back to specialty school. To make a long story short, the son was an atrocious dentist both in his attitude towards patients and his obvious lack of care which is refelected in his work. He was also an ass to do business with, and made my life miserable during the transition period. My main concern was to integrate well in the community, which is made harder due to the fact that I am a visible minority in a very Canadian town. I inherited his staff, and the person I am having trouble with is my receptionist.

She has always been resitant to change. The son and his dad did things the old fashioned way (ie old equipment, no computers), and I have completely changed the practice over the last 3 years of ownership to reflect my philosophy (which is to treat the patient with respect and set the bar high in terms of clinical practice). My receptionist has never been on the same page with me, and we recently had a disagreement regarding her paid vacation. Part of her employent agreement states that she has 4 weeks paid vacation every year. Our practice used to be a 5 day a week practice, but is now (and has been for a while) a 4 day a week practice. So, we told her that her vacation pay would be based on a 4 day work week starting NEXT year, and that we would pay it based on 5 years this year just as courtesy. We have also given her a $1/hr raise and fat bonuses each year we have owned the place (the previous owner never gave her a raise for years).

So, she yells and reacts badly to this, calling my wife (office manager) a hot head. This was in April. Since then, things have been getting from bad to worse. She took 'stress' leave in august, and this week announced she needs another month off due to stress. I really want to fire her, but the fact this is a small town and she is from it, has made me hesitant. I have a really good reputation now, and I am afraid she will try to ruin it. I also wouldn't put it past her to sue for wrongful dismissal. All my other staff are on my side, and think she is acting ridiculously and playing the martyr. they all want her gone too. she is definitely causing a lot of tension at work, and I find it stressful to go to work.

I am going to fire her, but I need help with a strategy. My mother in law gave me a good idea, to ask her for a doctor's note in one month stating she is no longer disabled, and then fire her.

Any other ideas? any lawyers on here?

Thanks for any input guys...sorry if this was boring to read

[just4kickz]

haha its kinda funny cause my parents have their own practice. my dad is a pediatrition and has had several employees under him who have come and gone because of this and that. some have been fired because of their lack of dedication to the job--missing too many days... while others have left because the job wasnt paying enough... i mean they were probably getting 17 an hour... for a 8-6... 10 hour job... i mean 17/hour isnt that much in this area but it is probably above the mean... plus you get free health care which is a pretty big benefits with rising health costs. anyways... to make a long story short... there have been many people working for my father... and when the wrong one comes by... sometimes you gotta lay down the law and tell them to leave.

[bavarian19]

You might want to politely tell her that if she is not happy with her position and the way it is going, then she should find a place to work that does make her happy. Tell her that you would be more than willing (unless it will poorly reflect on you) to be a recommendation for another position.

This way two positive things can happen:

1 - You can find a receptionist that has a better attitude, and is more supportive of your business philosophy

2 - You get rid of your current receptionist, but by offering help she is less likely to lash back, and you can expedite her leaving the office.


Its a tough position in a small town. But if you have earned a good reputation within the community, dont let her drag that reputation through the mud...

[NaTuReB0Y]

give her the boot!

[aapriadi]

when the other employees want her gone too then u should fire her

[bimmer4me]

It seems like you are making a sound decision in firing her. I wouldn't worry about her ruining your reputation. One person isn't going to undermine all your efforts. Odds are if you don't like her, there are many others that feel the same way.

[DLJJ3399]

Sorry to hear about your trouble with your employee.

If you're going to replace her, keep a journal of everything that she does to disrupt the work place. That way, if you replace her, and she files a law suit, you have proof of your reasoning for letting her go.

Another idea is to get her the book “Who Moved My Cheese,” and have an open discussion about her behavior and on how it is disruptive to the office and the rest of the employees. Let her come up with ideas on how she can improve her attitude and your work relationship in the office.

If you are committed to letting her go, let her know why and give her a severance package she can't refuse.

My 2 cents.

[bimmer4me]

Originally Posted by DLJJ3399

If you are committed to letting her go, let her know why and give her a severance package she can't refuse.

That's a bad idea, IMO. You can't afford to create a culture where bad behavior wins.

[4nroots]

Originally Posted by bimmer4me

That's a bad idea, IMO. You can't afford to create a culture where bad behavior wins.

wow...thanks for the great responses

I agree with bimmer4me. she has done so much to be so vendictive, that I don't want to reward her bad behaviour

[findtom]

Sounds to me like her having to go is inevitable.

[The Casuist]

Get rid of her. Life is too short for that kind of BS. Besides, it's your business.

[canucklion]

Fire her! Just paid her what's owed to her, nothing more, nothing less. And she can try to ruin your reputation all she wants, it's your work that built/maintained your reputation, if you're good (and I'm sure you are), you'll have nothing to worry about.

[ksfrogman]

I have lived in small Midwestern towns and understand this dynamic.

In my last practice, I employed 11 individuals, and would routinely have staff meetings to discuss immediate, short and long term goals, issues that needed to be addressed, and to offer positive comments. No individual was singled out, so this type of arrangement was not intimidating. I also had quarterly reviews with each and every employee to objectively evaluate performance.

Regardless of where you practice, or who your employee had worked with in the past, she is now a part of a new team that has a different outlook and perspective. The receptionist is an invaluable, if not one of the most important members of your team, because she handles patients, phone calls, emergencies, etc. She is your intermediary and her demeanor will be a direct reflection of you in the public eye.

Any problem with her should be documented in the form of minutes, or written letter to her. There is no reason why she should be "wearing the pants" in your practice. It is your practice! You must be objective about decisions concerning your practice. If you have an office manager, then there should already be a hierarchy of supervision from the top-down, and you can delegate this task to her.

[Asiann]

I wouldn't give her a month to get a doctors excuse. She probably knows all of the doctors and could easily get a fake note. Give her a day or two and see what she comes up with and then fire her. If she wants to complain about stress and wants more time off then give it to her forever! Your other staff members will vouch for you. Just have a backup plan for someone to fill her position until you find a replacement. Good Luck!

[findtom]

Originally Posted by ksfrogman

Any problem with her should be documented in the form of minutes, or written letter to her. There is no reason why she should be "wearing the pants" in your practice. It is your practice! You must be objective about decisions concerning your practice. If you have an office manager, then there should already be a hierarchy of supervision from the top-down, and you can delegate this task to her.

Well said.

[jojogargoles]

hire me im very cheap!

[mpimping]

comfront her and if it doesn;'t change fire her...

[mpimping]

or just fire her depending on the situation. it seems u were too tolerant meaning maybe u were too soft with her. u need to be the boss and lay down the law without being a prick...

[4nroots]

Originally Posted by ksfrogman

Any problem with her should be documented in the form of minutes, or written letter to her. There is no reason why she should be "wearing the pants" in your practice. It is your practice! You must be objective about decisions concerning your practice. If you have an office manager, then there should already be a hierarchy of supervision from the top-down, and you can delegate this task to her.

we have already done this....we have several letters which outline her inefficiencies, and can prove that she loses us money. what i am most concerned about is that now she is on stress leave, how does it look when i fire her?

what i failed to mention was that things did improve, we were getting along well, until april when we informed her about her vacation pay. things went downhill from there as we gave her more responsibility (which she actually asked for), and couldn't handle doing things more efficiently.

i acknowledge i should have fired her weeks ago, but now that she has taken stress leave again ( i had no warning that she would do this), I am unsure of how to handle this.

btw frogman, are you an MD?

great advice btw!!!

[bimmer4me]

Originally Posted by 4nroots

i acknowledge i should have fired her weeks ago, but now that she has taken stress leave again ( i had no warning that she would do this), I am unsure of how to handle this.

Don't worry about it. Ask her to come in to discuss important matters. If she refuses, then tell her over the phone. IMO, have a conversation no longer than 5 minutes with her saying that it's not working out and you believe its best for both parties to move in different directions. If it were me, I won't let the conversation go longer than 5 minutes, because she sounds like the kind of person that would want to debate forever and there really isn't anything productive to discuss matters further.

How is it that she took stress leave without warning? Is that legal in Canada? Here, especially for a small business, that is a fireable offense right there.

[4nroots]

Originally Posted by BadBob

Since you live in Canada, my advice to you would be to retain legal counsel that is versed in Canadian labor law.

i called the lawyer on friday, as soon as she gave me the letter saying she was going to be off for one month. i should hopefully hear back from her today

[MrSilver]

Originally Posted by BadBob

Since you live in Canada, my advice to you would be to retain legal counsel that is versed in Canadian labor law. If you don't, you can bet she will.

QFT