The roles in a health or dental practice are specialized, but that doesn’t mean it’s a career path dead end. When your best people express an interest in growth and show an aptitude for more advanced work, it’s your cue to invest in a promotion. Watch how fast your practice succeeds when you recognize contributions and create opportunities for advancement. Well-timed, well-executed promotions strengthen morale, employee engagement, and retention. Investing in your team rarely ends badly, and we’re here to help you do it in the most effective way possible.
| Our HR Experts’ Advice – Ask yourself a few key questions to identify who’s ready for a promotion and what you’ll both gain from the opportunity. – Remember, a track record of excellence carries more weight than a single amazing achievement. – The trick is documentation. Document your employee’s successes and interests in growth, use performance review templates to track growth, and update contracts accordingly. |
How to Know When Someone’s Ready for a Promotion
In most cases, we recommend that promotions follow a sustained period of exceeding expectations. This often means an employee has consistently demonstrated high performance for six months, a year, or maybe more. Here’s what you might want to look for:
- Patterns of positive feedback
- Strong performance reviews
- Taking initiative
- Staying accountable for their work
- Collaborating well with others
- Showing a genuine desire for growth and development
Now, a good promotion process is more than just changing the job title or giving someone a raise. This is a reward for consistency and performance, and a promise for growth potential and long-term success. That reward and promise applies to both the employee and your practice.
10 Questions to Ask Before Offering That Promotion
- Are they respected by their peers and viewed as a positive influence within the workplace?
- Do they consistently set the standard for performance, accountability, and professionalism? Consistency, in this case, means six months or more.
- Do they take initiative without needing constant direction?
- Have they demonstrated reliability through strong attendance and dependability?
- Have there been any previous performance, conduct, or attendance concerns that should be considered before elevating responsibilities?
- Do they respond well to feedback and show a willingness to grow?
- Are they already informally leading others through mentorship, guidance, or collaboration?
- Is retention crucial for this employee, and could a promotion support long-term engagement and commitment?
- Are they seeking growth opportunities, or would the promotion align more with the company’s needs than the employee’s goals?
- Will this promotion set a positive example and standard for the rest of the team?
Don’t Make These Promotion Mistakes
It’s a particular kick in the career when someone has worked hard, remained loyal, and then missed out on a growth opportunity they were ready for. Or worse, they were given an opportunity, but it wasn’t the one they wanted.
Promoting the Work, Not the Person
Approach the conversation directly. It’s exciting, but in a way, it’s kind of awkward. What if they’re not ready for the responsibility? What if they push back or want a huge raise? What if it shakes up the team dynamics? Don’t be afraid to actually open the door.
Some employers make the mistake of adding responsibility and increasing pay, but never formally acknowledging a promotion. When you reward work with more work, you unintentionally diminish an employee’s accomplishments. It creates confusion around expectations, advancement opportunities, and career paths.
Offering the Wrong Kind of Promotion
Not every promotion means people leadership. Your receptionist might be an operational wizard, but they might not want to be on a manager track. Maybe they love billing, and would prefer a more advanced back office role. On the other hand, you might have a tech who’s been training for a dental assistant role and wants to lead.
One of the biggest mistakes employers can make is promoting an incredible employee into leadership because they’re good at the job they do now. Technical skill and leadership are two very different skill sets, and promoting someone out of a job they love can backfire. Play to your peoples’ strengths and interests.
Thinking There Are No Career Paths in Your Practice
Yes, you’ll often need credentials to level up within a patient care setting, but you might be surprised what options are already open.
Employees are almost always seeking growth and development in some form. That can look like increased compensation, expanded responsibility, people leadership, title upgrades, or just a clearer path forward within the practice. Let your people show you what their ideal definition of growth looks like.
Our HR specialists can help you develop new career paths or brainstorm the best next step for your people. We’ll help you identify and reward your employees’ strengths so that they support your business needs. Sometimes it’s literally as simple as asking the employee what they want.
How the Promotion Process Works with HR for Health
You knew compliance would come up at some point! From a compliance and documentation standpoint, you should always handle promotions formally. Be intentional and keep records well. That’s what HR for Health does best. Here’s what we’d recommend:
- Documentation isn’t just for poor performance! Positive documentation and glowing performance reviews help you make the case for a promotion. It’s also a safe way to demonstrate fairness and consistency in your process.
- Include a new job description that clearly outlines the updated responsibilities, expectations, and duties.
- Reissue an offer letter with the updated title, compensation, and effective start date for the new position. Employees should always have the opportunity to formally accept, reject, or negotiate the terms of a promotion before beginning the role.
- If the employee has been doing the role before you started the formal promotion process, it’s best to backdate the letter’s start date. Backpay to that date to acknowledge their work and pay them appropriately to sew up your compliance.
- Keep a signed copy of the letter in your employee’s file. If the new job changes anything about access to patient health information, get them up to speed on HIPAA training.
| How To Complete the Process in HR for Health To create and send a job description to a promoted employee, you’ll add the job description, then assign it to that employee. Steps: 1. Go to Management → Documents → Job Descriptions. 2. Click Add, enter the description, then Submit. 3. Back in Job Descriptions, click the Assign icon, select the promoted employee, then Submit. After you assign it, the employee can review and confirm it in their own Job Descriptions area. To re-send an updated offer letter using the template HR for Health provides in the new hire checklist, go to Employee → Documents → New Hire Checklist. Navigate to Notice of Employment → Offer Letter. Under Actions, select the three dots, then click Re-send. To use a different document you created, go to Management → Documents → All Documents. Select Add File. Choose the file from your computer, add a title, then select the employee under Send to. Or, navigate to Employee → Documents → Documents and select Add File. Choose the file from your computer, add the title, then check the Signature Confirmation button. |
If you’ve identified a top performer who’s ready for the next move, you have documentation that supports your decision, you’ve got the tools in HR for Health… It’s time.
Talk to one of our HR specialists for tips on what comes next. And congratulations!
