When putting a policy handbook together, or editing an existing one, you are constantly going to be faced with looking at things through the eyes of your employee. What’s fair? What’s reasonable? How does all of this fit into what makes sense for the business as a whole? W2 vs 1099 This arrangement is fundamental to the way you structure your team. 1099 employees (also known as independent contractors) are responsible for paying all of their FICA taxes (social security and Medicare), so the temptation on the employer’s part is to see this as an immediate 9.3% tax savings and use this type of … [Read more...] about Managing Employees 2
Personnel
Managing Employees
Becoming an effective manager of employees is a challenging task for every doctor, no matter the size or age of the practice. And this is not unique to heath care providers; it’s a nearly universal challenge in all businesses. Let’s explore a few simple structural pieces to be sure are in place in your practice and are actually used effectively and consistently. Policy handbook When I start with a new client, the most common response when asked to produce this is either that we don’t have one, or it’s around somewhere, but nobody pays attention to it anyway. This document is essentially the … [Read more...] about Managing Employees
Old School Professionalism
Most of us have had mentors along the way, and sometimes from an unexpected source. There is definitely an element of readiness necessary in order to receive new ways of behaving and of thinking, and this cannot be rushed. Many times the mentor will pop up out of nowhere, and many times you will be surprised by his presence. The trick is to be aware of this phenomenon and to use the wisdom and insight you can gain. The Corporate World One of my early mentors had absolutely nothing to do with chiropractic. I was early in my professional life, where I was seeing the reality of all the things I … [Read more...] about Old School Professionalism
Opportunity Cost
Operating a private practice, or any private business, means that you as the owner are frequently faced with choices about how best to spend your resources, money and time. Most of the time, you will not have a complete set of information about how to best decide. Analyzing the opportunity costs of any decision will help you prioritize and make a wise decision more likely. What is opportunity cost? This concept is rooted in the self-evident and simple idea that you are operating with finite resources. This may be time, money, access to capital, people, etc. But, none of … [Read more...] about Opportunity Cost