In most medical offices each associate is only trained to do one set of tasks. They are either trained to do the front office tasks, back office tasks and selling products. They are very good at their specific job but have no idea of what the other departments do. If an emergency arises and someone is unable to come to work none of the other associates can take her place.
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For example if someone calls in sick or is on vacation there is someone in the office that can easily fill in for that person rather than having to hire a temporary person or to hire an extra associate for vacations. “You can shift people in and out of jobs as needed.”(3) Another advantage of cross training is it “breaks up the monotony of the week, giving workers more challenges and variety” which is great for the millennial generation. Cross training also “gives workers a sense of how the practice works together as a team” and helps to find which workers are best for certain positions. It can give the associate the feeling of worth because the business is willing to take time and money to train them to do an additional job. “An employee who believes her employer is genuinely concerned about her career development is likely to exhibit an increased level of job satisfaction and ultimately, better performance as a team player.”(4) A bonus of cross training is that stealing may be caught quicker if more than one person is doing the …show more content…
Another disadvantage is that the associates know a little bit about everything and not a lot about one specific thing, you can “lose specialized knowledge.”(5) It may also result in “resentment among employees who already feel overwhelmed in their current jobs” (3) and could cause unhealthy competition that could create conflicts within a company (5). It may also cause confusion of what each associates’ responsibilities are and make the associate think that since they have more duties they should get more pay for the additional work they have learned.
Customer Service/ Front desk:
Billing Department/ Insurance:
Sales Department/ Glasses and Contact lenses:
Conclusion and Recommendations:
As you can see there are both positives and negatives for cross training in a medical office. I think that this information will prove that the advantages of cross training will outweigh the negatives. For our size company it is better to “assign workers to subgroups comprised of similar jobs” (3) rather than have all associates knowing how to do all