Let’s get straight to the point. Yes, a dental hygienist can be an independent contractor, but if only he/she appropriately follows the rules.
Dear Dental Professionals,
Did you know that signing up to work through a placement agency can actually reduce your earnings and limit your work opportunities, especially full-time work? It’s true.
While placement agencies might not directly charge you for their services, the truth is you are paying for their services just the same. It’s a hidden, pernicious sort of trick. Here’s how it works.
Placement agencies get you to join them by promising free help. Then they turn around and charge a markup on your hourly rate to offices. This is money that, at least in part, could have gone to you.
This markup also makes you less competitive for temp assignments. Other temps, working through an online matching site like Cloud Dentistry, don’t come saddled with these extra costs, and are therefore more attractive options to dental offices.
And here’s the worst part of all. In the event an office wants to hire you full time, placement agencies charge a markup of around 15% on your annual salary. An office that wants to pay you a $50,000 salary, for example, may first have to pay $7,500 in tribute to the agency.
Many offices aren’t willing to pay this. So, as much as the office may have loved working with you, they’re going to fill this full-time position with another candidate—one that doesn’t come burdened by placement-agency baggage.
And so the cycle starts over. You missed out on a full-time position and are back to temping. Keep using a placement agency, and the cycle continues.
If you find yourself in this situation, or are considering working with an agency, I’d urge you to view the relationship with a critical eye. I’d also urge you to remove yourself from their roster. Otherwise, placement agencies may try to argue, wrongly, that your inclusion in their roster is enough to prevent you from working for an office (even if the agency did not help connect you to that office).
Restrictions on labor of this sort are of questionable legality. More importantly, anyone that would obstruct your gainful employment in this way does not have your interest at heart.
The good news is we are here to help. Please share this email with any friends whom you think could benefit from it. My goal is to empower dental professionals to take control of their careers and professional brands, unshackled by placement agencies.
If there’s anything I can do to support you, please do not hesitate to contact us. I’m at your disposal.
Sincerely,
Trey Tepichin
Co-Founder & CEO
info@clouddentistry.com
www.clouddentistry.com
Please do not send us any agreements that are subject to a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. Nothing herein should be construed as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is created by this email. We encourage you to consult an attorney if you have any legal questions.
Remember rides before Uber and Lyft? Rooms before Vrbo and Airbnb? Food delivery before DoorDash and GrubHub? There’s no denying that these tech-centered platforms have touched many industries, assisting us in several aspects of our lives. Connecting resources with those who need them is an old concept (think job placement agencies and classified ads). But in recent years, cloud-based technology has made it possible to form those connections in real time.
We’re serious about your smile! As every dental professional knows, your mouth is an excellent indicator of your overall health. You’d be surprised how much it reveals about your well-being. But there are plenty of myths about dental health and dentistry research, as well.
Can
dental offices classify dental hygienists as independent contractors, instead of as employees? There’s no shortage of people willing to offer opinions on the matter—practice owners, hygienists, teachers, consultants. Often, they all fall into one of two camps.
Some will tell you that a dental office is completely within its rights to treat you as an independent contractor, if that’s what you agreed to. Others will tell you that it’s straight up illegal for a dental office to classify you as an independent contractor.
So, which is it?
Here are some videos to help dental offices maximize the value of the Cloud Dentistry platform. Check back periodically as we add more videos.
Here are some videos to help dental professionals maximize the value of the Cloud Dentistry platform. Check back periodically as we add more videos.
Here’s a quick primer on the ways you can earn points with Cloud Dentistry, and what those points mean.
Every week we send emails to dental offices highlighting the best dental professionals on our platform. If you would like to be considered for these promotions, click the “Feature Me” button at the bottom of your profile. You can opt back out at any time. To be eligible, your profile must be 100% complete.
Employers have a tendency to hire new talent and assume that the hard work is done. The truth is that onboarding a new dentist or dental hygienist is often just the beginning - the beginning of a long adjustment period, the beginning of training and assessment, and the beginning of all the paperwork, especially if you’ve made the mistake of relying on a turn-and-burn temp agency that has its bottom line in mind rather than your own long-term needs. After the placement agency fills your job opening, who has to deal with the results, whether good or bad? You, of course.