Your employees will be an integral part of your dental practice. Your trusted team will be the ones that make sure the patient experience remains positive, proper procedures are followed, and much more. Your relationship with your employees is very important and laying the foundation for a positive working relationship involves a number of things, including clearly setting the expectations for the employment relationship. This is where employment agreements come in.
Considerations for Dental Practice Employment Agreements
Establishing a comprehensive employment agreement is an important part of setting up any business, including a dental practice. It will be the guidepost of the employment relationship and should, thus, set out those critical terms that you and your employees will look to when questions arise. Here are some things that should be addressed in your dental practice employment agreements:
- Work schedule: What will the office schedule be like? What will the specific hours of the employee be like? Will the employee work at one office location or multiple office location? Is any remote work allowed?
- Job duties: What are the specific job duties, both clinical and administrative, of the employee?
- Restrictions on outside activities: What restrictions, if any, are there on the employee’s activities outside of work? Are the limits on the employees ability to work part-time as a consultant or engaging in other dental work?
- Restrictive covenants: Will the employee be subject to any restrictive covenants, such as a non-compete agreement?
- Compensation: What is the employee’s salary structure? Will there be an incentive-based compensation plan? Will compensation be guaranteed or performance-based? If there will be an inventive compensation plan, what are the productivity targets?
- Benefits: What employment benefits will be offered? This may include everything from health insurance, retirement benefits, 401k match programs, and vacation time. For dental professionals, it may also include things like continuing education opportunities and malpractice insurance coverage.
- Termination: Is this an employment at will relationship or can the employment relationship only be severed for cause? Is advance notice of termination required? Must such notice be in writing? Is the employment relationship for a fixed term or indefinite?
There are a number of other things that should be addressed in an employment agreement and may vary depending on the employee and the job they will be filling within the dental practice. For dental professionals, for instance, you may want to base their start date on the completion of a training program. If they are transitioning from another dental practice, you may also want to consider how soon they can start and base the start date on that. For dentists, you may want to include a partnership provision in the employment agreement which details what, if any, the future partnership prospects may be.
Dental Law Attorneys
Make sure the foundation of your dental practice remains strong. Things like comprehensive employment agreements are part of this. For assistance putting trusted employment agreements in place for your dental practice, you can count on the team at Mahan Dental Law. Contact us today.
