Retention 101: Effective Strategies for Keeping Your Best Team Members

Let’s set the stage, shall we? [TW: Every practice owner’s worst nightmare.]

It’s a typical Tuesday morning. You’re sitting at your desk or on your comfy couch, typing away at your computer (because lawd knows you've got about 1000 emails to catch up on), and you hear someone knock on your door. You look up and see one of you best employees, let’s call her Jane, walk into your office with a sheet of paper. She sets it on your desk and drops the bombshell. Almost in slow motion, you see her mouth start to form the words and you start to shake your head no (too late) and she confidently asserts, “I’m resigning.”

Panic sets in.

Jane was a bedrock employee, a key member of your practice helping to hold things together, and now you feel in a tizzy and left scrambling to fill her shoes.

Sound familiar?

Maybe you’ve had way worse stories, but a resignation can hurt, period. And it hurts like hell when it’s a stellar employee.

Good people are hard to find and even harder to keep.

“What went wrong,” you might have asked yourself. “How can I avoid this scenario in the future,” you contemplate?

And there’s my cue. Let’s talk about some strategies for retaining your top talent and, ideally, ensuring that you’re not caught off guard by sudden turnover.

Why Employees Leave: Common Reasons for Turnover in Group Practices

Understanding why employees leave is crucial for creating a retention strategy that truly works. Take a second to dive a little deeper into some of the most common reasons employees might decide to move on from your group practice:

1. Lack of Career Growth Opportunities
   One of the biggest reasons employees leave is the feeling of stagnation. If your team members don’t see a clear path for career advancement, they might start looking elsewhere. Opportunities for professional development, such as training, workshops, and mentorship programs, are essential. Employees want to know that their skills and efforts are leading to growth, both for themselves and for the practice.
   *PracticeHack: You can help to create these and have your employees help create them, as well. You don’t need to figure this out for your entire practice all on your own.

2. Feeling Undervalued and Unappreciated
   Recognition is a powerful motivator. When employees feel that their hard work goes unnoticed, it can lead to disengagement and eventually resignation. Regularly acknowledging achievements, both big and small, can help employees feel valued. Implementing a system of rewards and public recognition can make a significant difference in how appreciated your team members feel. You can even up this ante by seeking out how each person likes to be recognized from them directly. Any point at which you want to give praise or recognition, reference the information you have before moving forward. This added little step can have an even more impactful difference.

3. Poor Work-Life Balance
   If you have employees who struggle to balance their professional and personal lives, they’re inevitably going to be more likely to seek opportunities that offer better flexibility and support. Some ways to mitigate this includes offering flexible working hours, remote work options, and ample vacation time to help your team maintain a healthy work-life balance.

4. Inadequate Compensation and Benefits
   While compensation isn’t the sole reason employees leave, it’s a significant factor. Competitive wages and benefits are essential for attracting and retaining top talent - it’s not everything (reiterating this point), but it’s important. Regularly review industry standards to ensure your compensation packages are in line with or exceed market expectations. Benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, professional development funds, and performance bonuses can play a crucial role in employee satisfaction.

5. Toxic Work Environment
   Ughhhh, the worrrrrst! A negative work environment can drive employees away faster than anything else. You could have the best people ever…and then enters somebody who slipped through the cracks of your hiring process and slowly (but ever-so-surely) started subtly wreaking havoc. You start seeing some Issues like gossip-y behavior, an onslaught of office politics, lack of teamwork, and poor communication - all of which can be condensed down to two words: toxic atmosphere. It’s so damn important to cultivate a healthy, meaningful work culture where open communication, mutual respect, and collaboration are encouraged.

6. Misalignment with Company Values
   Employees want to work for organizations whose values align with their own. If there’s a disconnect between your practice’s core values and the day-to-day experiences of your team, it can lead to dissonance and, ultimately, dissatisfaction. Ensure that your practice’s mission and values are clearly communicated and integrated into the work culture. Regularly revisit these values with your team to ensure alignment and address any discrepancies. If you’re not even at that point yet, then you need to at least start curating your core values and ensuring that folks a) know them, and b) attempt to live them out.

7. Lack of Autonomy and Empowerment
   I think it goes without saying, but the opposite of autonomy is micromanagement. And bruh, micromanagement sucks. It can stifle creativity and job satisfaction, first of all. Secondly, employees who feel they have no control over their work or are constantly being monitored may start to look for roles where they have more autonomy and trust. Empower your team by giving them ownership of (appropriate) projects and involving them in (appropriate level) decision-making processes. Providing a sense of control and responsibility can absolutely enhance job satisfaction and retention.

By addressing these common reasons for turnover, you can better understand the challenges your team may be facing and implement strategies to keep them engaged and satisfied. Regular check-ins and feedback mechanisms can help you stay ahead of potential issues and make adjustments before they lead to resignations.

How to Create a Successful Employee Retention Plan

So, how do you create a retention plan that actually works? Here are some key elements:

1. Offer Growth Opportunities
   Employees want to feel like they’re moving forward. Implement professional development programs, offer mentorship, and create clear career paths within your practice. If you can’t develop these on your own, you can connect directly with your employees and ask them. You might give a simple prompt like the following, “What would you want to see built out at (practice) and what role would you want to play in that?” I’d break that up into two questions, but you get the gist.

2. Provide Regular Recognition
   A little recognition goes a long way. Regularly acknowledge and reward your team’s hard work. Whether it’s a shoutout during a meeting, a small token of appreciation, a handwritten note, or a “thank you” directly to the person (or people) - make sure your team knows their efforts are valued.

3. Promote Work-Life Balance
   Ensure that your employees are not burning out. Flexible schedules, remote work options, and adequate time off can help maintain a healthy balance. You can keep your finger on the pulse of this by speaking to it directly during any regular practice engagement (i.e., monthly email, meetings) or by including this in regular performance reviews or practice culture reviews.

4. Ensure Competitive Compensation
   While it’s not the only factor, competitive pay and benefits are crucial. Regularly review and adjust compensation to stay in line with industry standards. Additionally, make sure that your compensation is all-encompassing (as much as possible for your practice), including competitive benefits and not strictly competitive wages. Both are important.

Implementing these elements doesn’t have to be complicated and it shouldn’t be one and done. All you need to do is start small. For example, introduce a monthly ‘appreciation day’ where team members can acknowledge each other’s contributions. Over time, build out more comprehensive programs as you see what works best for your team.

The Role of Leadership in Employee Retention

I think this is obvious, but leadership plays a crucial role in retention. It’s not just about having the right strategies but also about how you lead your team and how your leadership team leads their direct reports. I’d argue that the culture, at its core, starts with the owner and trickles down from there. It’s absolutely imperative that we seek to foster a supportive and engaging environment by being approachable, listening actively, and addressing concerns promptly.

Reflect on your leadership style.

Are you empowering your team? Or are micromanaging them? Are you clear on your vision and values? Do you recognize and praise people? Do you seek out ways to help your employees develop within your practice? Leaders who build trust and show genuine care for their employees often see higher retention rates. Take time to evaluate and adjust your approach, if needed. Also, take heart if you do see some issues with your current approach. No sense in wallowing -

Take Action to Improve Retention Now

Retention isn’t a one-time fix; it’s an ongoing commitment.

By understanding why people leave, creating a thoughtful retention plan, and leading with empathy and support, you’ll be well on your way to keeping your best people around.

Ready to dive deeper into retention strategies? Join our Practice Culture First Membership for more insights and actionable advice. Let’s build a team that’s not just great but stays great.

About the Author

Dr. Tara Vossenkemper is a candid (and kind) consultant who’s been in the trenches of group practice ownership for over five years. With a hearty blend of depth, irreverence, and a solid dash of humor (or so she hopes), Tara helps practice owners navigate the can-be-messy process of hiring, culture-building, vision generating, people-y issues, and all the other things that keep you up at night. When she’s not consulting, she’s probably wrangling her farm animals or homeschooling her kids—because why not add more chaos to the mix?

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