How to run a great dental practice with family members on your staff

As most of us know in the dental industry, family members being a part of the dental practice in some shape or form is pretty common. They could be a part of your hygiene team, your administrative team, billing.... You name it! 

If you’ve ever worked with family, you know things can sometimes get a little complicated in and out of the office. Boundaries can be blurred, professionalism can be murky and favoritism can show up more than others care for. It’s hard to balance your dental practice while also pleasing your family. 

At Dental ClaimSupport, we’ve been in the dental industry for several years and see a lot of different family dynamics within different practices. In fact, two of our 3 owners are brother-in-laws, and they have disagreements occasionally!

In this article, we will help you strategize how to work efficiently with family at a dental practice and explain why it’s important for family practices to try and keep work and family as separate as possible. 

Why do so many dentists hire family members to work at their practice?

Well, dentists typically own their business. When you own your business and start it from the ground up, you look to the people closest to you for help and encouragement, and you want to help those closest to you as well. It's natural to turn to a family member to join your team. 

There’s also an element of trust when you bring a family member onto your dental staff. No one is more loyal than family. They will make sure billing is taken care of because revenue directly affects them (but of course we all know, revenue directly affects everyone!). 

They’re also going to make sure everyone is doing their job correctly because they want their family’s practice to be successful. That person having an eye on everything happening in the office can be really helpful to a dentist. Blood is thicker than water, right? 

What are some problems that arise with hiring spouses or family at your dental practice? 

Let’s start with the obvious. Overexposure! This can vary if it’s a family member you don’t live with or typically spend much time with outside of the practice. However, if you’ve hired your spouse or child to work at your dental practice, there’s a high chance that the time you spend with them at the practice combined with the time you spend together at home will be a little much. 

We’ve all felt this way about someone at some point. It’s perfectly natural to want some space from the people you’re closest with (even if that sounds kind of like an oxymoron!)

Another problem that can arise from hiring a family member is that they might not have proper experience and skills needed to help your dental practice run smoothly. Instead of hiring someone with years of billing or administrative experience, you could hire a family member… but does this really benefit your practice? 

Are they equipped to deal with everything that comes with working in a dental office? Like we said, it’s not easy. Yes, you can learn on-the-job, but it still takes years of experience to become a pro. Bringing in revenue with a smooth and efficient billing process is what pays the bills, and if your family member doesn’t understand the ins and outs of this, it might not be in the best interest of either of you to hire them to work at your practice. 

One more big problem that could arise from working with a family member: boundaries. With no separation from work and home, it can be hard to create boundaries when it comes to leaving work at the office, or bringing your home-life to the office. You see where we’re going with this, right?

One of our billers who was a former practice owner used to work with family. “It’s a balancing act. You have to not only remember to leave work at the office, but also remember they are more than just your coworker. They are a family member who you have a relationship with,” she recalls from experience.  

When you bring your home-life problems to the office, it can create a hostile work environment for your other team members, leaving them in an awkward position. This is never intentional of course, but it can happen. Life happens! It’s hard to let things go sometimes. Even worse, when you bring work home with you, it can create a hostile environment at home. 

How can you build a better family member run dental practice?

If you’ve made it this far in the article, you can probably tell we don’t take working with family lightly, and find it important to discuss the pros and cons. We’re not here to tell you working with a family member is all bad either. However, we do aim to help you realize possible red flags and avoid them. 

When it comes to working with family, there are a few tips we suggest to prevent some disadvantages associated with working with family.. 

1. Don’t ride together to the office - this might seem a little silly, especially if you’re coming from the same location. And maybe this isn’t possible for you both. But it can create a separateness that can help you enjoy your commute more. Plus, you don’t have to depend on another person to be ready on time in the morning, or stay late in the evening. Pop on a podcast and enjoy your morning alone time to prepare for the day! 
   
   
2. Don’t bring work home with you - if you live together, once you get home: leave it at the office. Try not to discuss work matters during your time at home. Work is not everything, you should enjoy your time at home with your family. It can always wait til the morning.
   
   
3. Have an honest conversation about what working together looks like - Communication is key! Between family and coworkers. Express the expectations from one another. Is your family member expecting a lighter workload because they’re family? Do they get to take longer lunches? Do they have authority over other team members? There needs to be clear expectations and boundaries set from one another. 

All in all, you really just need to have conversations about all of these things. Your practice needs to run smoothly and make money, plus your other team members deserve a healthy work environment. 

Family-run dental practices thrive when professionalism is a priority 

Being a family-owned and run business can be a huge selling point for potential patients. When they know you have a family too, it builds a sense of relatability and trust. It’s not a bad thing to work with family, it’s just tricky sometimes. 

Being clear about how important it is that your business runs smoothly and efficiently, and what you expect from your family member/employee is what will make your family dental practice better. It’s hard, but being professional with family members is a priority too, especially in order to create a solid work environment for your other team members.

Your family run practice has all the potential to be amazing, however you need to learn more about what can make your dental practice successful through learning what makes for a highly effective and efficient office manager. Check out our article covering the 6 signs you have an amazing office manager in our Learning Center.