Compensation Strategies | Pay Your Team Smarter from an Orthodontic Consultant

By Michelle Shimmin, Founding Partner, Shimmin Consulting, an Orthodontic Consultant

Attracting and retaining top-tier talent in your orthodontic practice is crucial — but in today’s economic climate, blindly increasing salaries just isn’t sustainable. So how do you pay your team well without blowing your budget? The answer lies in intentional compensation strategies that align with performance, culture, and your bottom line.

Here’s how smart practices are winning the compensation game without losing control of their overhead:

1. Pay for Performance, Not Just Presence

Throwing raises at underperforming team members is a fast track to financial fatigue. Instead, structure compensation around measurable outcomes.

• Key Strategy: Tie bonus structures to KPIs such as collections, new patient conversions, or start rates.

• Result: Staff are motivated to drive the practice forward — and they’re rewarded when they do.

• Example: A TC earns a $100 bonus for every 10 same-day starts above their monthly goal.

2. Offer Benefits That Matter (And That Don’t Drain You)

A paycheck isn’t the only form of compensation your team values. Many employees today prioritize work-life balance, purpose, and stability just as much as pay. With this consideration, it IS important that you hit the mark with the language of currency for your team. A team survey would support this.

Consider low-cost, high-impact perks:

• 4-day workweeks or flexible scheduling

• Continuing education stipends

• Profit-sharing or retirement match (capped at sustainable levels)

• Paid volunteer days or mental health support

• Extra vacation hours for a team member that never calls out or misses work; celebrate your team’s commitment to work

These benefits can increase loyalty and reduce turnover — both of which protect your bottom line, long term.

3. Get Lean With Your Labor Model

When practices are overstaffed or underproductive, they’re often overpaying — not just in wages, but in lost efficiency and oftentimes supporting your team’s comfort in calling out; they know there’s coverage.

• Evaluate team-to-doctor ratios regularly. Are two assistants really needed on every day? Can non-doctor days run with just one admin and one clinical?

• Use technology and streamlined systems to reduce redundant tasks and elevate your most capable team members.

Remember: Compensating fewer high-performing team members well is more cost-effective than keeping a bloated payroll of underperformers.

4. Communicate the Full Value of Their Compensation

Many team members don’t realize how much their total package is worth. If you're providing healthcare, CE, bonuses, meals, or PTO — show them.

• Consider issuing an annual “Total Compensation Summary” to each employee.

• Reinforce that you are investing in them — not just employing them.

• Remember: Retention Is the New Recruitment

You don’t need to outbid corporate DSOs to compete for talent. You need to out lead them.

When your team feels seen, challenged, supported, and rewarded, they stay. And when they stay, you win — not just financially, but culturally. Your team simply wants an environment that is enjoyable to spend all day in.

If you’re unsure whether your current compensation model is helping or hurting your practice’s profitability, let’s evaluate it together. At Shimmin Consulting, we help orthodontic practices create win-win compensation structures that retain excellence without sacrificing margins.

Need a compensation and productivity audit?

Let’s talk → www.orthoconsulting.com