Every doctor has to make the determination whether they feel comfortable having a spouse or other family member work in the office.
Sometimes this can be a tremendous benefit and other times it doesn’t work out so well.
You never want to gain an employee and lose your sister, as an example.
So many things need to be considered before hiring anybody who is a family member or even a close friend.
How will they get paid, how do benefits work, if there are other employees, will everybody be treated fairly?
Is there a risk of bringing personal things into the office?
Many chiropractors I know have never had a family member work in their office and others are husband and wife teams that are outstanding.
You have to look at your situation and make the best play.
This is where coaching comes in handy. I can be an objective source to visit with people and determine the best approach.
There are times when a spouse can run the front desk while the chiropractor is working away.
There are even situations where a spouse only comes in to water the plants but gets a paycheck in an effort to reduce the doctors taxable income and still keep the money in the household in a legal and fair way.
Sometimes a spouse or a family member has a home office and they do the billing from that location.
There are many scenarios, and they can all work as long as we begin with the end in mind.
How does this relationship start? Are there any upcoming events that might change how it works along the way? And, at what point in the future might this working relationship end?
We don’t want to hire a person just because it is easy or convenient. Every person we hire is there to take the best care of the patients as possible!
