Owners

Facing a big change in your role? The resources can help!

Of course, you use keys and locks to keep valuables secure, but you lose some of the benefits if you don't control the keys. Think about these questions to decide whether you need to tighten up security:

Bit & Spur Animal Hospital in Mobile, Ala., was about to begin a senior pet care plan. But hospital manager Kelley Wilbur knew they needed a better system to recognize senior pets.

Every year, practice owners review their employees, telling them what they did well and how they could improve. But have you ever taken time to give yourself a year-end review? Whether you're the boss, an associate, or a support staff member, you can benefit from evaluating your year, says Jinny Ditzler, author of Your Best Year Yet! A Proven Method for Making the Next Twelve Months the Most Successful Ever (Warner Books, 2000).

If you're thinking of pulling up the stakes and moving to another practice in another state, do some number crunching first. Yes, the salary offered looks great, but have you considered how much more you'll have to earn to live the life you want in that city?

Growing up in the South, I quickly learned that there were certain subjects one simply should not talk about in mixed company--religion, politics, and money. There are similar touchy topics in business, such as pay raises and compensation plans, staff disagreements, a desire to make important changes in the practice, and disagreement about management styles. Although we'd like to avoid these topics, they need to be discussed.

I'm thinking of paying my associate based on her production. If I do, how would I handle vacation days and holidays? She wouldn't automatically receive compensation for those days off, would she?

The No. 1 characteristic of companies that move from good to great is finding and keeping the right people, says consultant Jim Collins in Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don't (HarperCollins, 2001). But finding the right people isn't easy. To avoid costly hiring mistakes, take these hard-learned lessons to heart.

Engaged employees are productive, profitable, customer-focused, safer, and more likely to stay with you. The Gallup Organization measures employee engagement levels by asking employees the following 12 questions:

Your staff members devote a third of their waking lives to your practice. Working at your practice isn't just a job for you--don't let it become just a job for them. Share your vision for the practice and then give them the support and tools they need to make your vision a reality.

What's fair compensation one year out of veterinary school? I'm currently working at a two-doctor practice. What do I need to know to make an educated decision about whether to renew my contract?

What do I do with a relief veterinarian who doesn't stick to my fee schedule?

How much am I expected to contribute to my associates' retirement plans? Does this count as part of the compensation my associate earned based on production?

Set a date for your associate's buy-in, then use this timetable for a smooth transition.

Workers covered under the Federal Labor Standards Act are entitled to the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. And, should you be paying that low in your practice, you can't deduct money from wages for such items as cash or merchandise shortages, uniforms, and other tools of the trade if those reductions put the employee's wages below the minimum wage or reduce the amount of overtime pay due.

Recently, a veterinarian in the process of hiring a new practice manager asked me "What are the 10 things a practice manager needs to know to be effective?" What a great question! It took a little thinking to narrow the "must-know" list to just 10 items. But whether you're an owner-veterinarian, a practice manager, or the owner's managing spouse, I think you need to apply these strategies to manage the practice effectively.

How many hours should I schedule for my receptionists in relation to the number of veterinarians on staff?

After we hired an associate, my partner started cutting back on the number of patients he sees without consulting me. How should I handle this?

Speculation, rumor, and stubbornness abound regarding such issues as paying employees for overtime and granting maternity leave.

When you know what goals you really want to accomplish, the path to your dreams becomes clear. Here's how to harness the power of goal setting for your practice.

Surveys show that staff members want you to say thank you more often, delegate more, and offer more benefits. Here's why you should.

If surgery is your game, this may be the year to ante up some cash and go shopping. High-tech advancements for the veterinary profession have merged opportunistically with favorable tax law changes.

Of course, the answer to this rhetorical question that has been, and is, asked primarily by academicians in various forums during the past several years is supposed to be "yes," otherwise the respondent is considered uninformed, conservative, or worse, simply a greedy capitalist with his or her clients and patients comprising the victimized proletariat.

Ms. Sue Schmidt provides you with the tools to build a stronger compliance ratio for your practice.

To show staff members how much they earn each year--not just in salary, but in benefits, too--give them a total compensation statement. (PDF)

Redwood Shores, Calif.-Who knows what the future holds? An ethnofuturist, whose job it is to sleuth out lasting consumer trends, says the animal rights movement is changing the way society views animals, and in the next 20 years its increasing influence will become even more evident.