Is It Time To Look Under The Hood?

Most of us routinely look under the hood of our vehicle to make certain fluid levels are where they should be and other engine parts are in good working order. We do this to help prevent problems from occurring which can cost us time and money.

The same should hold true for a medical practice or business. Periodically, we must take the time to look at our human resource (HR) operations to ensure everything is in proper working order. Human resource programs, policies and procedures that are not functioning properly can cause business problems immediately or down the road.

Let’s just take one facet of human resources that normally takes place first in the career life cycle of a staff member. In most cases, that would be recruiting and staffing. One might ask themselves, what are the problems a business could face if recruiting and staffing processes, procedures, and tools are not in good working order?

Here is a partial list of problems that can occur if recruiting and staffing operations are not in good working order.
-High staff turnover
-Performance problems
-High levels of staff dissatisfaction
-Dissatisfied customers
-Compliance issues
-Unfair labor practice lawsuit
-Staff positions left open/unfilled
-Loss of business property or protected health and organizational information

The issues above can be costly to your medical practice or business in terms of time and money! A human resource audit of the recruiting and staffing process can reveal the potential cause(s) for such problems. Trained HR professionals can lift the hood and review current procedures, processes, and tools being utilized or not. He or she can pose a series of pointed questions, which will also uncover a great deal of valuable information. Once the cause(s) of the problem is clearly understood, recommendations to improve or eliminate the problem can be made.