No One is Above the Law: The Things You Need to Know About HR

Episode #351 with Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca

HR is one of the most difficult things you will face as a business owner. And bad HR decisions will cause many headaches. But you're not alone! Today, Kirk Behrendt brings back Dr. Ann Marie Gorczyca to review important things to know about HR so you can run a successful business. She shares examples from her most successful book, Beyond the Morning Huddle, to help you avoid dangerous and costly mistakes. For the best advice on avoiding HR nightmares, listen to Episode 351 of The Best Practices Show!

Main Takeaways:

Understanding HR is as important as maintaining your dental license.

Learn the six functions of HR to avoid costly mistakes.

Be very inquisitive in the interview process and verify given information.

Know and be up to date with laws and their changes.

Enforce and update your team employment policy and procedure handbook.

Hire slow, fire fast.

Quotes:

“It is essential that every dentist know the HR laws. Fortune 500 companies have full-time attorneys to run their HR departments. And dentistry, dentists in their private practice, are held to the same law standards as Fortune 500 companies that have a full-time attorney running their HR. So, that's how important it is. (4:19—4:48)

“HR has six functions. The first function is recruitment of new team members. The second function is the on-boarding process. The third function is the day-to-day HR management. The fourth function is distribution of resources. The fifth function is the laws that you need to follow. And the last function is termination, whether it be by natural retirement, or layoff, or in the worst-case scenario, a dismissal situation. But in those six functions of HR, dentists need to know how to do things right to avoid costly mistakes.” (5:40—6:47)

“[HR] is an essential topic. It’s as important as maintaining your dental license.” (7:16—7:22)

“Let's start with area number one, the on-boarding process, hiring a new team member for the very first time. You are going to collect resumes. You're going to interview people. The thing that you need to look for is the recommendation from the previous employer. You're going to ask the all-important question, ‘Would you rehire this person?’ And you're going to wait to hear if you get an affirmative, enthusiastic yes. But if there's any hesitation, ‘Uh, well . . . Uh, she was good at billing insurance,’ or you don't get a yes, that is a red flag.” (8:19—9:12)

“Step number one, be very inquisitive. When you look at resumes, call for references. Verify employment. Verify the previous position. There are plenty of people, for example, who never were a dental office manager, but they will put on their resume that they are a dental office manager. Now, if you don't call that previous employer and say, ‘What function did she do in the office?’ They say, ‘She was a receptionist,’ well, there's a huge difference between a receptionist and a dental office manager.” (9:18—9:56)

“And also, you need to check on licenses. Someone can put on their resume that they are a registered dental assistant, and you can go on the California website to verify that they are a registered dental assistant. And maybe their license is not active. Or maybe they’ve lost their license. So, you need to verify.” (9:58—10:19)

“Let's say they work at such-and-such dental office. Go online, look up the dental office, call the main number. Because the number that they put on the resume could be their cousin, their mother, their best friend. It might not be the dental office.” (10:49—11:08)

“Also, you need to verify dates of employment. Because there may be holes in the resume where they’ll put down that they worked in one dental office for...