Why Flexibility is Key to Retaining Dental Hygienists | Kari Carter-Cherelus | MME

Jan 13, 2025

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Having trouble hiring and retaining GREAT hygienists?

In this episode, we're exploring how to redefine your approach to attracting and retaining valuable team members like dental hygienists. I'm here today with Kari Carter-Cherelus, who shares transformative advice for creating more welcoming and inclusive work environments. By advocating for flexible work schedules, Kari sheds light on how dental offices can better accommodate the diverse needs of their staff, particularly women navigating caregiving responsibilities. From job sharing to customized shifts, our conversation delves into practical solutions that satisfy both employee and employer needs.

Kari brings a wealth of insights drawn from her interactions in various professional online communities, where she observes the power of communication and fairness in fostering productive workplaces. She emphasizes the importance of respecting cultural diversity and personal commitments, encouraging dental practices to embrace policies that are not only beneficial but also compassionate.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

The impact of flexible work schedules on staff retention.
Practical examples of successful job-sharing arrangements.
The role of open communication in creating a fair workplace.
Strategies for respecting cultural diversity and personal commitments.
How to cultivate an inclusive and supportive office environment.

Unlock strategies for a happier, more cohesive dental office workforce by tuning in today!

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You can reach out to Kari Carter-Cherelus here:

Website: Bit.ly/burnoutdentalhygienist

Email: cherelussmiles@gmail.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kari-carter-cherelus-rdh-da-65094b49

Instagram: instagram.com/kmc.smiles

Facebook: facebook.com/kari.cartercherelus

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Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)

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Michael: Hey Carrie, so talk to us. What's one piece of advice you can give us this Monday morning?

Kari: I'm going to say that if offices can be more flexible with their team members, then they probably will be able to attract more and retain more team members. A lot of dentists complain about not being able to find a dental hygienist.

Where, statistically speaking, most hygienists are women, even though it is a diverse field, so there are different genders in the field as well. However, that's just the fact of the matter, and most women are caregivers, they may have children they have to take care of, or someone in the house that they have to take care of.

So if they can actually make that schedule more flexible, instead of just being straight eight to five or eight to whatever it is, or whatever that time is, and actually maybe job share, then they actually will probably be able to fill that position that they've been trying to fill for a year or two.

Michael: Job share. You mean like sharing the position?

Kari: Basically. Yeah. for example, I'm a mom. My child is three. I have to drop them off to preschool and pick them up within a certain period of time, or I would have to pay for aftercare before here. And so there's many people in the same positions and they would dream of having a schedule from eight to three where somebody else would like to have a schedule where maybe they could work.

12 to five Or seven. So you would be able to have someone who could fill that initial bulk of time that you need. And then if you're trying to accommodate patients by having the office open to a later period of time, then they may be someone who is actually looking for that schedule.

Michael: Hmm. Okay. Gotcha. So can you share examples of flexible work arrangements that have resonated most with team members you've worked with or your team members?

Kari: Online, I have a Facebook group of about almost 10, 000 people, but I'm in a lot of Facebook groups, and a lot of hygienists would love to have that schedule from like 8 to 2 or 8 to 3, whereas other people need more hours, and so they would like to have a longer period of time I've worked All different types of schedules.

And so maybe I've worked full time five days, six days a week sometimes, or I've only worked three days a week. And then there's been times where I had worked from eight o'clock to five. And times when I worked from 11 to seven, sometimes that was broken up throughout the week, and sometimes that was consistent.

So when you have different changes in your life, such as being a Becoming a mom or some are widows or different things, then they may need some variations. So not having that cookie cutter schedule, of course, a dental office is a business and they need those hours filled and patients need to be seen.

However, just finding something that works. For everyone really has helped a number of hygienists that I've spoken with and dentists have been happy that at least they have someone filling their Chairs, and they're not just having to continue to have temps or to not have patients being seen They're not turning away patients because they have no one to see them.

Michael: Got you. sounds awesome would a practice owner or someone be hesitant to do this?

Kari: Probably because they just want someone to feel that time. So they just, you would have to be open minded and sometimes in dentistry, not all dental professionals are open minded.

They want a certain person to fulfill that job, or sometimes it's a certain look, or a certain gender, and so you would have to actually be open minded to be willing to have a schedule that isn't the normal schedule, and then also we're open Sometimes they're afraid of other employees being upset.

Recently I had someone upset in my Facebook group because they had kids and they had to negotiate that schedule. So they felt that the hygienist who had negotiated that schedule, who got off at two 30 to go pick up her kids was a slacker and lazy, so they may not do it because they may feel like other team members may feel jealous.

So why does this person get to get off? I have family too. I have kids too. So they're. Jealousy or just treating everyone the same, but in that sense, then you don't have someone who's filling that chair. Now, some practice owners have seen that if they don't do this, then that loyal employee who's been there for a long time is going to leave.

They're going to find other employment or they're just going to choose the temp. So it really behooves the office to come up with different ways to make everyone happy, which is pretty, pretty important. Difficult to make everyone happy, you know, that's very hard to do, but to think of different ways to be able to attract and retain team members, because that is hard.

People constantly complaining about the dental shortage. instead of just complaining about it. And complaining about maybe having to pay more in wages or not being able to find someone or name calling, actually coming up with different solutions that are going to help the office out as well as the team member and showing that you care that you actually would work with someone allows them to be more loyal to the practice because they see that the office bent over backwards to really help them to maybe have that flexible schedule for whatever the reason is that they've had it.

Michael: Yeah, that's true. That's a good point. What happened in your Facebook group too, because I feel like if that starts happening, you start noticing disunity, right? Like, Oh man, the one person's like angry at another person. Is it just because of this reason?

Or was there an underlying solution there? Did y'all guys really not like each other this whole time? Kind of A thing, right?

Kari: I mean, The whole post got deleted because so many people were like do you just not like the person because of the schedule or are they actually slacking?

Like, What is the actual things? Because some people said that's my exact schedule. That's the schedule I have. My doctor bent over backwards. I do a lot of remote work now. And all the different things that I do. So I temp because of having my child, you know, it's very hard to find that schedule.

It's very difficult to find it. When I do look online like, what will happen if everything falls apart and I need to get a clinical job? The jobs, they want you to work four or five days a week from eight to seven. So how am I going to raise my child? And that's one reason there is a dental shortage among hygienists because of that offset of the work life balance.

Many people feel that they are not actually paying attention. playing an active participant in their child's life or in their own life. So they're wanting to have more balance. So somewhere we got lost in the profession. Quite honestly, I've been in a dental profession for 25 years. One of the reasons I chose it is because it was built to me as a great job for moms.

So if everyone wanted to have a kid, then, it was flexible. I can maybe work three days a week and somewhere, maybe because of the insurance industry, I don't know. We kind of lost sight of that and that we are trying to cater to patients so much that we're not really allowing the team to get what they need out of life as well.

Michael: that's Something we've been seeing a lot too, but I feel like whenever we talk to a lot of practice owners, hygienists, things like that, right? And dads too. Dads too, but like moms specifically there's a lot of that. Have you heard of mom guilt?

Kari: Come on, don't mansplain it. I just gave a course on mommy bird out from mommy dentist and business.

Yes, mom guilt is thing, You they have a special thing for my son Friday at his school, he didn't go to school the other day, but I saw the volunteer thing, and they only had three volunteer slots, and it was already filled, and I was like, I would have wanted to go to that, I wish I had, So yeah, we deal with a lot of guilt and a lot of moms who are dentists or hygienists or assistants or whatever, they're missing out on key things with their kids lives.

So key events that the office is saying they can't go to, or one dentist she wrote in a Facebook group when I was doing some like research she wrote that she missed the kid's first day of school. And so she asked the kid, how was your first day of kindergarten? And then you're like, Oh, I told dad already, ask him.

Michael: no, yeah, you miss out those key moments. You're absolutely right. So then you have to have a team that also wants to support that as well. Not just for the practice owner, but for like the hygienist for even assistant for everybody. Right. Like Understand Hey man, that's, She has to go see her child or something has to happen right, with the child.

So how do you train them to be like leaders, to truly support an inclusive and flexible work environment?

Kari: It's gonna have to be really having that flexibility. Open communication and then making sure that everyone is on board. So having a positive office environment, does have to be fair, so if other people aren't able to leave or they can't have that schedule, then what are you doing for them?

So if they don't have kids, it's not fair that they never get to leave early sometimes too. So how are you allowing them to leave or allowing them to take PTO and things? So that's what's important, making sure that you're there for everyone. Because when I didn't have a trial, sometimes I face like discrimination in a way at the office.

Because maybe I didn't get to see a patient that was as productive and I'm, if I'm being paid base and on bonus structure, I was told well, you have a husband, he's got a good job. It's like, what does that have to do with anything? Or I'm a single mom. So it has to be fair because that coin can go both ways.

So you have to be able to understand how someone can feel that it's unfair that someone gets to leave every day. But at the same time, do they ever get to leave or can they come in later? How are you accommodating everyone in the office, which although difficult to do, with good communication and making sure that the team, feels that they are part of the practice.

They all want the practice to do well. They're invested in the practice almost like an ownership, then they're going to be more inclined to support one another.

Michael: Okay. I like that. So then how do you make sure, I guess your diversity and flexibility policies. Are truly felt by the team and not just formalities.

Kari: That takes time. So it may be having someone like a coach or consultant come in and make sure that you're actually implementing those different policies, because I'm sure we've all worked in places that said that, Everyone has that little federal guideline that they're supposed to acknowledge as far as we don't discriminate against race or religion or everything like that.

But I've been on plenty of interviews where it's not said, but you know, oh, that is actually discrimination going on. So for that to actually not happen or for it to be a diverse environment, then they have to make sure that they're recognizing all the team members. So Think about the holidays.

So not just recognizing one particular religion's holidays, recognizing that other team members may celebrate different holidays. If the office has someone, let's say, who's Muslim and they're, dealing with Ramadan, then are you respecting that and what takes place during that time or Jewish or Christian, whatever.

So making sure that you're respecting everyone in their Particular beliefs making sure that you're giving people grace just constantly learning about it. One thing that the office could do is to take continuing education courses together, and that way it's not just put all on one person and everyone's not.

Awkward and everything, ideally outside of the office, probably, unless you have someone who's training that to come in, you don't want it to be like the office situation with Michael Scott and how it like goes, I love that show, but how it goes contrary to the whole thing. It's like, this is worst uh, example.

So actually making sure that everyone feels supported and included. I know even yesterday. I saw on a Facebook post about is it okay for people to take the day off or a mental day and everything? And so sometimes people need to take a mental day. Sometimes what may be affecting one person isn't affecting the other person.

Or you may not understand what's going on. you know, there was a lot yesterday since it was the day after election. So just seeing that there are so many different, Thought processes. So recognizing that obviously not everyone may feel like you feel. Just giving everyone grace and being kind is important.

So fostering that team is important. Sometimes having team building exercises can definitely help. Going places as a team conferences are the best, making sure that the office is supporting the team. If they're mandatory going somewhere, they should be paid so that you don't have people who are resenting this mandatory.

Event is important as well.

Michael: Interesting. Okay. Yeah. When you were mentioning the example of different, make sure you acknowledge it. I thought of the office to media was like, Oh yeah. And Michael Scott. So that brings me to one of my last questions besides like the holidays and stuff like that, how do you celebrate different cultures while making everyone feel equally important?

Kari: I guess bringing it up, but not bringing it up. I don't know if it's done regularly, then it's not going to be cringe. Because we know it can be cringe around like certain months it's Black History Month. It's like, uh, you know, so why aren't we just doing it all the time?

So why are we just celebrating everybody all the time instead of waiting to a particular month and week and it's like, okay, we got that checked off and everything. We got Asian American month checked off. So it's like, stop just checking boxes and actually just living it. So regularly doing it.

And One cliche way is to do potlucks, but I don't necessarily like potlucks, honestly, because see on Instagram and TikTok, not everyone has the same standards. So one way is to maybe go to different restaurants. Yeah, you know, they're, the Board of Health has to come in and everything like that.

But at least talking about the differences the food and exploring talking about differences and how ones grew up is a way that can be helpful. I think talking about different culture, I've learned from, different colleagues and, talking about different languages, talking about different places that we visited.

So just actually being open to having different conversations where we can talk about things that aren't going to be controversial, but just respecting one another, because when we do that, then we can see things from other's side of the coin or different opinion or perspective.

Michael: Awesome. I appreciate your time.

And if anyone has further questions, you can definitely find her on the dental marketer society, Facebook group, or where can they reach out to you directly?

Kari: Social media is really the easiest thing. So they can follow me on Instagram. KMC dot smiles. My name, Carrie Carter Shirelles is on LinkedIn, Facebook, all those different platforms.

And then my email is shirellessmiles at gmail. com. And my link is Bitly Burnout Dental Hygienist.

Michael: Nice. Okay. So that's going to be in the show notes below. And Kyrie, thank you so much for being with me on this Monday morning episode.

Kari: Thank you for having me.

Why Flexibility is Key to Retaining Dental Hygienists | Kari Carter-Cherelus | MME

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

You can reach out to Kari Carter-Cherelus here:

Other Mentions and Links:

Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)