Recently the New York Times posted an article titled Welcome to the YOLO Economy. Several CEOs of restaurant and retail chains have also recently come out explaining that this YOLO lifestyle is making staffing extremely difficult.
Here we will explain what the Yolo Economy is and what it means for dentistry.
What is the YOLO Economy?
YOLO is an acronym for You Only Live Once.
The YOLO Economy is used to explain the phenomenon of Millenials and Gen Zs leaving the work field to either travel or dedicate themselves to their side gig or passion.
Add that to the fact that millions of working moms still haven’t returned to the workforce since schools were shut down last March, has caused many industries to have a severe shortage of workers.
Dental is no exception.
So what does this mean for the Dental Field?
Well… unfortunately, I think most dental offices already know what this means. It means that staffing your job is going to be TOUGH.
As people become more confident to return to some sort of normalcy, we can hope that this shortage comes to an end soon. But if it doesn’t we need to be prepared.
So here are some tips to help you counteract the YOLO economy.
#1 Keep your current employees happy
This is not the time to be losing employees. So if you have great employees that are good at their jobs, communicate with them often to make sure they are happy. If they ask for raises and benefits, try to find a way to make that work. Do whatever you can (within reason) to keep them.
#2 Pay at or above industry average
If you read my articles regularly, I am sorry if I sound like a broken record with this one. But the offices that are getting the applicants are the ones offering the most pay. The dental field is similar the current real estate market. Lack in inventory drives up prices. It’s the same with dental professionals.
#3 Make a dental temp bench
As the gig economy takes off, we are finding that a lot of dental professionals are temping full time. They don’t want to commit to a dental office completely and they can stay plenty busy temping. On DirectDental, we don’t charge daily rates. If you find a temp you love, keep their contact info and have them temp with you as often as you like. Every time you have a temp work for you that you love, mark them as a favorite so you can easily request them in the future. Knowing you have good reliable temps when you need them will put your mind at ease.
#4 Hire part-time employees
A lot of our temps on DirectDental work for an office 4 days a week with a day off and that is the day that they temp on our platform. If you find a Dental Assistant or Hygienist that you love that can only work on Wednesdays, hire them. It lets your team know that they have a day where their load will be lifted and gets you the little extra help that you need.
#5 Keep a job post up, even if you aren’t hiring
Huge companies and recruiters always do this. Even if they aren’t hiring they keep their job posted so that once an opening occurs they have lots of resumes to call through. You should be doing that too! Posting jobs on Indeed and Ziprecruiter can get expensive quickly, but if you sign up for our membership plan, you can post unlimited jobs and keep your candidates saved in the dashboard.
#6 Know your hiring resources
If you are currently looking to hire and struggling these posts are extremely helpful.
5 tips to get more applicants for your dental job post
Post your dental job to major job boards from one central hub
Every dental job template you will ever need
Make your new employee stick
We now service nationwide, so feel free to call us about our staffing services if you want extra help staffing your job.
There you go, this is the world we now live in. I hope this post helps navigate your dental practice through the YOLO economy.
Smiles,
Holli Perez
DirectDental
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