Orthodontic assistant retention: Which benefit has the best prognosis for maintaining orthodontic staff?

Abstract

Introduction

Dentists are struggling to recruit staff and determine which benefits to provide to their staff. The purpose of this study was to survey orthodontic staff and orthodontists regarding their staff's perception of the most and least desirable benefits and what keeps them working at their current orthodontic office.

Methods

A total of 96 orthodontic staff and 67 orthodontists were surveyed. The 11-question orthodontic staff survey and 12-question orthodontist survey asked participants about office demographics, what staff liked or disliked about the office they currently work for, and overall staff satisfaction.

Results

Orthodontic staff reported they were somewhat satisfied, satisfied, or very satisfied, and most orthodontists reported their staff were satisfied. Orthodontic staff reported they preferred offering full-time employment and positive staff relationships, whereas they disliked their health insurance and the lack of full-time positions the most. Moreover, 85% of orthodontists identified positive staff relationships, and 72% selected offering full-time employment positions as reasons why staff chose to stay at the office. Furthermore, 43% of orthodontists selected “other,” whereas 25% selected poor staff relationships as reasons staff chose to leave the office. Predictors for staff satisfaction include positive staff relationships (8.1% of variance; P = 0.007) and disliking their salaries and bonuses less (5.8% of variance; P = 0.002).

Conclusions

Our findings showed that orthodontic staff prefer full-time employment, a positive work environment, and improved health insurance benefits. Overall, orthodontists are improving their understanding of desirable staff benefits; however, there are still some benefits staff desire but are not receiving.