Tips for Improving Your Dental Team’s Onboarding Process

Tips for Improving Your Dental Team’s Onboarding Process

Onboarding processes involve a lot of hoops. From clinic policies and job overviews to compliance training, onboarding covers a lot of information. On top of providing lots of educational and informational sessions, onboarding is also the time to make your new hires feel welcome so that they can assimilate into the clinic’s work culture. To fully prepare your new dental team for all aspects of their new job, here are some tips for improving your dental clinic’s onboarding process.

Ask Them To Fill Out Paperwork During Pre-Boarding

Onboarding covers many topics, especially onboarding for dental clinics. It covers legal compliance training for OSHA and HIPAA, equipment handling, general procedures, and specific job introductions. Asking new hires to fill out paperwork a week before the onboarding period streamlines the entire process and gives you more time to focus on other important topics. Plus, it gives you time to go over any concerns or difficulties some might have filling out the necessary hire forms.

Cater To Your Team’s Training Preferences

Learning styles vary from auditory to kinesthetic. Although it’s not always realistic or doable to cater to all learning styles, giving your team lesson-type options provides them with a program that matches their needs. There are many benefits to online OSHA training, but for some people, in-person training provides a stronger learning experience. Sending out a preference survey or providing training variations allows you to cater the onboarding process to best help your new hires. The more fruitful your training sessions and onboarding become, the more your employees will assimilate into the clinic.

Provide Mentors and Onboarding Support Groups

Joining a new workplace and group can be daunting for many people. Assigning mentors pairs your new team members with veteran workers, giving them a go-to person for any questions and concerns. Plus, it establishes relationships, making the new hires feel less alone during their transition onto the team. Similarly, a designated onboarding support group provides a group of people the new hires can comfortably turn to for any issues.

Establish Open Communication and Encourage Questions

On top of providing specific people and committees to help new hires, dentists should establish open communication to ensure that the hires learn how to use their resources. Open communication means creating a safe and inviting atmosphere, encouraging new hires to feel comfortable enough to open up about questions and concerns. Questions ease them into the clinic culture. It assures that your team members receive the full benefits of the onboarding process and its resources.

Welcome your new hires to your dental team with a beneficial, simple, and inviting onboarding process using these tips for improving orientations sessions. For newbies, the first couple of weeks show them what exactly they are getting into. Creating positive and fruitful first experiences helps new hires transition.