Are you considering a dental office bonus system to motivate your staff and boost productivity? Staff enthusiasm and motivation will rise and fall naturally throughout the course of the year. However, implementing a bonus system may help push your employees to do better and keep your dental practice thriving.

At Dental Intelligence, we help dental professionals improve their practices, driving growth and production. Below, we explain all about dental bonus systems and how you can use them to benefit your business.

What Is a Bonus System?

A dental office bonus program is a compensation-for-work system that rewards your employees' enthusiasm and hard work. For example, they can earn rewards or incentives if they complete work above and beyond their usual output.

A bonus program keeps employees motivated, engaged, and giving their best performance towards furthering the practice and caring for patients. Furthermore, it gives them a good feeling when they come to work for more than just a paycheck and instills a sense of pride in their work.

How Can a Bonus Plan Benefit Your Dental Practice?

A bonus or incentive plan can offer many different benefits for your dental office, including:

Increasing Work Production

Of course, the intended purpose of a bonus program for your dental team is to increase productivity at work, whether that's scheduling new patients or improving collection numbers. Once you set a monthly goal for your dental staff, you can start increasing dental production using Dental Intelligence by leveraging our cutting-edge software and actionable solutions. You can use Follow Ups to track team member’s calls and their success in different tasks such as getting patients back on the schedule or past due balances paid. The ultimate benefit of increasing productivity is the ROI (return on investment) regarding growth and profits for your dental office.  

Boosting Employee Motivation and Engagement

In addition to increasing dental production, establishing an office incentive program also boosts the motivation and engagement of your employees. It eliminates the "groundhog day" feeling of monotony in a work environment and lets your dental team feel more satisfied, proud, and accomplished. Ultimately, your staff will feel that their work has more meaning besides just helping your business grow and profit.  

Strengthening Staff Relationships and Company Culture

When your dental team can align and work towards a single goal, it has the added benefit of strengthening their work relationships and creating a strong, solid company culture. Everyone working towards a common purpose fosters a sense of camaraderie. Then, when their collective hard work achieves goals, your staff can bond over a mutual admiration.   

Best Practices for a Dental Office Bonus Program

Structuring an effective bonus program with attainable goals is a bit harder than it sounds. Below are some attributes of a good bonus system to keep in mind when creating one for your dental assistants and administrative staff:

• Win-Win: The foundation of your bonus system should be a win-win situation for both you and your staff. It shouldn't cause you a financial loss, and you should give the rewards will full enthusiasm and willingness. 
• Attainable: Create goals for your staff that are realistically achievable yet still provide a challenge.   
• Short-Term: The plan should be relatively short-term. For example, annual bonus rewards can seem impossibly far away, which can result in lagging enthusiasm and motivation. Instead, consider implementing a monthly goal system.
• Measurable: Your system should have easily measurable goals. Of course, you’ll spend time thoroughly explaining and outlining the bonus program. However, your expectations should be very clear, regardless.

Quick Ideas for Bonus Programs

Here are a few ideas for bonus plans:

• Monthly Bonus: Offer team and individual incentives when staff meets a monthly goal.
• Spot Bonus: Reward staff members "on the spot" when they show particular initiative or hard work.
• Competition Bonus: A competition bonus system rewards the first few team members who meet your assigned goal. Use a sliding scale, such as: The top ten get good rewards, the top five get even better rewards, and the top three win grand prizes.
• ‍Profit-Sharing Bonus: If you have room in the budget, you may want to structure a system that rewards your staff with a certain percentage of the month's profits for your practice.
• ‍Referral Bonus: Offer rewards for staff who refer new patients or employees.

Grow Your Practice with a Dental Office Bonus System

A dental office bonus system can reward and motivate your employees and allow your practice to flourish. Interested in learning more about how to enhance your dental practice? Find out how to improve your dental waiting room, streamline scheduling, and increase production per visit on the Dental Intelligence blog. Contact us today to schedule a demo of our innovative products and solutions.