2017 – #1 Best Place to Work

Avenue Dental was awarded the #1 Best Place to Work in Australia (under 100 employees) in 2017, the first time a dental practice has ever won this prestigious award.

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If you are a motivated, enthusiastic, hard-working, performance orientated, team player dentist, hygienist, oral health therapist, dental assistant or dental receptionist please apply now! At Avenue Dental we are always looking for the best and brightest to join our ever growing network of dental practices.

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Transforming Workplace Cultures

In 2017 Avenue Dental won the Best Place To Work in Australia (under 100 employees). This was the first time a dental practice has ever won this award making us the best group of dental practices to work for in Australia. We understand that a dentist is unlikely to be the first place that someone thinks about when they think about great workplaces. This is exactly what makes this award so outstanding. At Avenue Dental our purpose is “positively transforming dentistry” and by winning this award we feel we are working towards this purpose as we are positively transforming workplace cultures in dentistry.

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2017 – #1 Best Place to Work

In The Media

Exert from Great Place to Work © 2017 Edition

The dental industry in Australia has undergone an immense change in recent years. There is an increase in the number of dentists graduating; in the next few years we are heading towards an over supply of dentists in Australia. Further, an increase in corporate entities and health fund ownership of dental practices result in increased competition.

The net result of these changes in the dental industry has led to a decrease in wages, increase cost pressures on dental practices and often in poorer workplace cultures and conditions.

“At Avenue Dental, we believe in a better way” said Dr Stephen Dudgeon, Principal Dentist at Avenue Dental. “There are two fundamental forces that drive our organisation to be a great workplace, a continuous focus on purpose and values, and its all about people” adds Dudgeon.

The Avenue Dental purpose is to positively transform dentistry in Australia. This purpose drives them to be a great employer and to create an outstanding workplace culture so that they can attract, mentor, train and develop the most talented people. In turn, these talented team members provide their patients with the best dentistry possible and give their patients a great dental experience every time they visit.

At Avenue Dental HR is called BOB – Bringing Out their Best. Avenue Dental believe the only way that anything is achieved is through people – so great people are essential to deliver on strategy and goal.

BOB is responsible for recruiting people with the right talent and who align with purpose and values, recognising and developing their unique individual strengths and tailoring their roles to Bring Out their Best – BOB!

Each role and stage of development Avenue Dental have developed individual OKR’s to help people manage their career growth and have documented processes and checklists for team members to progress through this development. For dentists they have developed an in-depth clinical training and mentoring program.

One of the quirky things that occur at Avenue Dental is how they welcome new team members. They want a new employee to feel like their first day is like a birthday. On their first day, they organise a cake with candles while the team sings ‘Happy Welcoming Day’.

“We have won numerous awards over the years, however one of these awards quite captured the hearts and souls of our team like Great Place to Work. To be recognised as a Best Place to Work means that every member of the team has contributed and the recognition directly reflects their own involvement in making Avenue Dental a great workplace. This has meant that every team member has taken a more active ownership in creating an awesome workplace” says Dudgeon.

To find out more information about Great Place to Work ©  click the link below!
Great Place to Work

Excerpt from Newcastle Herald

Avenue Dental was named “Best Place to Work” for a company with less than 100 staff by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2017.

Reward: “Every team member is incentivised through their individual coaching plans which outlines their key performance metrics,” says Avenue Dental’s Stephen Dudgeon.

Queensland-based Avenue Dental  was named the “Best Place to Work” category for a company with less than 100 staff by the Great Place to Work Institute in 2017.  Why do you think you took the honour? 

It may seem really simple, but we realised that our business was all about people.  My business partner, Eli Burger, and I both feel the greatest fulfilment in work when we help others succeed.  This has meant that our main focus in business is growing and coaching others to reach their potential and creating a great workplace culture.  Put simply, “Culture is the Strategy.”

What incentives do you have for staff?  

We believe that if we look after our team they will look after our patients.  Every month in each practice we review the top three performers and decide on ways to recognise and reward them.  This may include pay rises, continuing education, thank you gifts or development opportunities.

What incentives do you have that are top shelf?  

We have a $10,000 referral bonus for any existing team member that refers a dentist that comes to work with us.  The first recipient of this bonus was one of our receptionists, Jodie, who has been with us 10 years and is about to have her first baby.

Why do you put so much emphasis on this area of the business?

Our biggest emphasis is on continuing to grow and develop great people and to give them opportunities as well as focusing on creating an awesome workplace culture.  External incentives are helpful for recognising and rewarding great performance, but we believe the key is having the right people, culture and alignment with our purpose and values.

How much of your bottom line is spent on incentivising staff? 

Every team member is incentivised through their individual coaching plans which outlines their key performance metrics.  This is tracked through an online app and everyone takes part in weekly coaching conversations to help drive success.  We have created a position at each practice called BOB (Bring Out the Best) whose sole function is to BOB in the team.

How did you meet Eli?  

Eli and I met on the first day of dentistry back in 2002.  Since then we have lived together, I spent six months living with him and his parents and we were both groomsmen at each other’s weddings.  When I bought Avenue Dental I asked Eli to buy half the practice and it has been the best decision of my life.

What was your business model and what were your aspirations at the start? 

At the start we did not have a business model and were unsure of our aspirations other than wanting to give our patients the best quality dental care.  We were searching for something more but did not know what that looked like.  After much soul searching we clarified our purpose of “positively transforming dentistry in Australia.”

You quickly grew the company from one to three practices. What drove that demand? 

The key to our growth was defining our purpose and core values, and then hiring the best people that were the right fit culturally.  These talented members of the team have been the main catalyst for growth.

How has your business model changed? 

Our business model now is all about attracting the most talented people that align with our purpose and values, then training them to be the best in their role, and finally retaining them by giving them an amazing workplace culture and creating opportunities for their future growth and development.

Dentistry entails not just necessary procedures but also more cosmetic procedures today. How important is innovation to your company?

Eli and I graduated 12 years ago and already much of what we learnt at dental school is obsolete.  To continue to deliver our patients the best quality dentistry and to give them their best dental experience every time they come to visit we need to continue to innovate, learn and challenge ourselves.

The biggest challenges for your business? 

At present the challenges are increasing numbers of dentists graduating, increasing corporate ownership of dental practices and increasing health fund involvement and ownership of dental practices.  We believe this has resulted in increased competition on price leading to a decreasing quality of dentistry for the general public, a decrease in customer service and poorer workplace cultures and conditions.  We do not agree with this direction for the profession so have made it our purpose to “positively transform dentistry in Australia.”

What will you discuss at the Top Shots breakfast in Newcastle on April 17?

We will be sharing our story of how we built an amazing workplace culture and the changes we needed to make to build this culture.  The presentation is called, “It’s All About People – Culture Is The Strategy!”

Voted the Sunshine Coast's No. 1 Dental Practice

Established on the Sunshine Coast for over 26 years, Avenue dental was voted the number one dental practice on the Sunshine Coast by readers of the Sunshine Coast daily

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