Becker’s Dental + DSO Review recently spoke with two experts from Effingham, Ill.-based Heartland Dental about stress in the dental industry, the importance of mental health benefits for dental professionals, and Heartland Dental’s work to support wellness research for dentists:
- Tyler Micenheimer, Senior Vice President of Human Resources
- Erin Duncan, Wellness Program Manager
COVID-19 underscored the need to help employees manage new and existing forms of stress
Even before the pandemic, many dentists faced persistent stress. The role of a dentist is physically demanding as many procedures lead to repetitive stress on the shoulders and elbows. Managing a small business can also be overwhelming. “If you’re running a private practice, dentistry is only one aspect of your job—and it might not be the biggest part of it,” Micenheimer said. “There are many additional demands of running a business, like hiring staff, employee development, accounting, legal and more.”
On top of these issues, COVID-19 introduced new concerns for dentists. During this difficult time, Heartland Dental took a multi-pronged approach to help supported practices and team members weather the storm. “One of the first things we decided was that we wouldn’t let the pandemic jeopardize our ability to support doctors and their teams,” Micenheimer said. “We wanted to provide an enhanced level of support for team members during a period of intense uncertainty.”
COVID shutdowns forced Heartland Dental to furlough team members and to think differently in terms of moving forward to keep every single teammate protected, connected, and engaged so they knew the company cared for their health and well-being.
As part of this support, the organization heavily publicized access to healthcare benefits and other programs, like the employee assistance program. “We currently work with Blue Cross Blue Shield, and members can sign up for stress management programs through their Well onTarget® portal,” Duncan said. “Team members can also work with a health coach on stress-related issues, whether those are financial or related to personal relationships. All of these programs are accessible to our employees and we wanted to ensure that they could utilize them as needed, both during and post-pandemic.”
Although many people think that EAPs simply provide counseling, these programs often offer many additional free, professional, confidential services for employees and families. “Our EAP includes referrals to childcare and elder care, which were really needed during the pandemic,” Duncan said. “It also offers assistance with college planning, financial guidance, and even legal information and referrals.”
As employees struggled with new roles outside of work, like managing remote learning for children, Heartland Dental’s leadership team challenged itself to think outside the box to identify innovative solutions.
“We asked ourselves, ‘What is Heartland good at and how can we apply those strengths to the issues that our employees are facing?’ Shepherding kids through a new remote learning environment was something no one had done before,” Micenheimer said. “We realized that we could turn our world-class education team toward that challenge.”
In response, Heartland Dental built a training module focused on how to be an effective parent educator. This includes multiple resources to help team members educate their children, while balancing work and personal commitments.
Heartland Dental also devoted a significant amount of time to developing great leaders through training, on-the job experience, and mentorships. “We firmly believe that a job with good leaders is much less stressful than a job with poor leaders,” Micenheimer said. “Effective leadership creates a stable, less stressful work environment.”
The executive team modeled strong leadership behavior throughout the COVID-19 emergency by committing to transparent, open, and honest communications with all Heartland Dental supported offices and employees. The early stages of the pandemic were characterized by considerable uncertainty. For several months, Heartland’s senior leaders communicated with supported doctors and team members on a weekly basis.
“We explained what we were working on, how we were helping to support teams and the company, and the questions we were still working on,” Micenheimer said. “We committed to finding answers and providing resources and guidance during the pandemic. This approach landed well with employees and as a result, their trust in the leadership team grew.”
Heartland Dental is working proactively to break down stigma associated with mental health
Across all industries and professions, the importance of mental healthcare is often underemphasized. “There’s a stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues and we know that’s misguided,” Micenheimer said. “No one feels that way when people seek help for physical illnesses. We need to assure people that it’s important to take care of their mental health and that it’s not a sign of weakness. This is something for which we want all team members to feel comfortable seeking help.”
To promote mental health and wellness among its workforce, as well as in the dental industry as a whole, Heartland Dental has partnered with MedEd Solutions to offer the Well-Being Index, a brief online self-assessment, which provides team members with immediate individualized feedback including tools and local and national resources to address their well-being.
“We’re excited to be a part of the Well-Being Index, which will help to assess burnout among dentists and to identify the appropriate interventions,” Duncan said. “It’s a great example of how Heartland Dental is helping its supported doctors and team members take better care of themselves, while positively impacting the entire dental industry.”
With the Well-Being Index, Heartland Dental’s supported doctors and teams take a brief survey and then receive an estimate of their well-being level and how it compares to peers nationwide. “Since we both support and also employ a large workforce, this program has allowed us to personalize solutions based on each employee’s unique circumstances and how he or she completes the survey,” Micenheimer said. “We can direct people to company resources that they may not have known about or we can direct them to other national or local resources.”
Through this partnership with MedEd, Heartland Dental is helping to create an indicator that can be used for benchmarking throughout the industry. “Our data is compared to national norms by role, such as dentists, physicians, and other healthcare workers,” Duncan said. It’s a great way to support the dental industry by helping other dentists manage their stress and improve their well-being.”
The Well-Being Index has also prompted a lot of conversations within Heartland Dental about mental health. This dialogue has given the organization the opportunity to break down one of the major barriers to overall health.
Wellness is the key to workplace satisfaction and outstanding patient care
Leading organizations like Heartland Dental recognize that taking a holistic view of health and wellness is essential. When one aspect of an employee’s life is out of balance, it can be difficult to focus on work. That was abundantly clear with the stresses created by the pandemic.
“We spend a lot of time at work,” Duncan said. “It’s important that we stay as healthy and well as possible, so we can bring our best self to work every day. If we help to keep supported dentists and their teams healthy, well and happy, that will extend to their patients. It’s a trickle-down effect.”
Heartland Dental also recognizes the importance of wellness with regard to career development and personal satisfaction. The company understands the profound loss that occurs when a supported dentist or team member has to quit doing something they love, retire early, or leave the workforce due to a physical or mental health issue that could have been addressed with the right intervention.
The leadership team at Heartland Dental talks about the organization’s core values every day: achieve, honor, execute, balance, collaborate and celebrate. Those are the driving forces behind how thoughtfully the company supports its team members.
“We’re committed to helping people have the best career through great development paths and job options, but also by keeping them healthy and helping them create thriving careers for as many years as they desire” Micenheimer said. “That’s incredibly important to us at the supported office level and across the entire workforce.”
Heartland Dental is the nation’s largest dental support organization providing non-clinical, administrative support services. What started from the entrepreneurial spirit of Rick Workman, DMD, with his single dental practice, has evolved into supporting over 2,300 dentists in over 1,400 locations across 38 states. The company is majority owned by KKR, a leading global investment firm. For additional information, please visit the company online at heartland.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
This article was sponsored by Heartland Dental.
