Dear Sharyn,
My front desk coordinator has been at this practice longer than I have and knows all our patients. She has been really helpful and I trust her but there are some things she does that frustrate me. But I might be over-reacting. For example, I will tell her do something like pre-block all our meetings only to find that she schedules patients into those times. And she seems to be on her cell phone a lot or chatting with patients when she has a lot of work to do. We have cameras in the office and sometimes I check in to see what she’s doing when I’m not in the office. I’ve discovered that she has gone grocery shopping while on the clock and has long personal calls. I confronted her and she apologized but she seems easily distracted.
A.D. California
Dear A.D.
You don’t need to question whether you are over-reacting. If it were me, I’d be pissed! A pervasive theme among your complaints is that you can’t really trust her. She doesn’t do what you ask and she does personal tasks while she is on the clock. This is actually wage theft.
So, what can you do? Use the CPR method of giving feedback. The first time something happens, you talk about the CONTENT of what happened. Let’s tackle the scheduling issue first. “Because the meeting times are not being honored, we are not able to have conversations that will improve our practice.”
If the behavior reoccurs, then you talk about the PATTERN. “I’m noticing a pattern in your performance. When I ask you to do something, it isn’t being done consistently. Talk to me about what is getting in the way of being consistent.”
Then if the behavior still doesn’t change, you talk about how this affecting your RELATIONSHIP with the employee. “This situation is putting a strain on me and the other team members. I can also see that the pattern of breaking your agreements with me has affected my level of trust with you. This is not the relationship I want to have with you.”
And it is this issue of trust that needs to be confronted along with the wage theft issue. My personal style is to be direct. “I’ve observed that you do personal tasks while you’re on the clock. When I see that you leave the office to do personal errands, that erodes my trust in you. Your focus needs to be on prioritizing the needs of the practice. What can I expect you to do to change this situation?”
Then, I strongly suggest you document your conversation and give a copy of that documentation to the employee.
