3 Proactive Ways to Attract and Retain Dental Hygienists

The role of a registered dental hygienist is vital to preventative oral care and promoting patients’ oral health. Despite the value they add, dentists have, in more recent years, struggled to attract, hire, and retain them. 

3 Proactive Approaches to Fill RDH Vacancies & Promote Retention

Although the current labor situation seems dire, there are proactive measures you can put in place that can assist you in filling RDH vacancies and retaining your current dental hygiene team. 

1. Review compensation packages

According to our recent Dental Job Satisfaction Survey findings, the top reason for RDHs seeking new work opportunities was wanting higher pay. 

Are you offering RDH candidates a competitive salary? Review the Dental Hygienist 2023 Salary Survey Report to see how your practice compares. The report shows the average and median income ranges for dental hygienists by state. Matching or bettering wages can help prevent ideal candidates from going elsewhere.

With the high demand for dental professionals, wages have been rising, making it challenging for dental practices to remain competitive. The upside of rising wages is that more people will view a dental career positively. As soon as Dental Hygiene, Dental Assisting, and Dental Practice Administration programs can accommodate them, we predict more dental professionals will be in training.

2. Know your dental team’s work satisfaction score

Multiple factors contribute to job happiness like adequate compensation, effective patient care, paid leave, and exciting professional growth opportunities. These (and more) can energize and motivate dental team members to stay and do their best work. 

RDHs desire more appreciation in the workplace, according to our research. Showing regular appreciation to staff may not come naturally to you, but it’s well worth the effort. 

• Stay interviews. To gauge the satisfaction levels of your existing team, consider doing regular “stay interviews” to find out what they enjoy about their jobs and what would increase their satisfaction levels.
• Staff retention bonuses. If you’ve never thought about it before, now may also be the time to offer your staff retention bonuses. Especially if you have a sought-after RDH on your team who you don’t wish to lose. Bonuses (whether big or small) are one way to show your staff that their contribution to your dental practice does not go unnoticed and that you consider them a valuable asset to your team.

3. Allow for more flexibility

Increased workplace flexibility can increase staff satisfaction while maintaining work effectiveness. Offering less rigid work hours to an RDH struggling to juggle childcare support with a full-time job could be the carrot on the end of the stick needed for them to consider working for you.

Job-sharing is another incentive that may entice hygienists to come out of the woodwork. Two part-timers can share the responsibilities of a full-time RDH to allow for more flexibility.

Sign Up With DentalPost

Another proactive approach is registering with DentalPost to get your RDH job posting in front of dental hygienists nationwide. A Nationwide Job Post on the DentalPost job board will do just that for you. Reach top dental candidates and find a better fit faster with DentalPost’s extensive candidate data and assessments.