'Half of my office's staff is quitting today': Dental hygienists quit en masse after employer cuts their benefits

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Dec 26, 2025 11:00 AM EST

Benefits are very, very important to workers, so it's best that their bosses keep that in mind when making big changes that'll impact their employees! 

Having benefits is truly one of the best parts of working in a salaried job. When you start working, you probably put in some years in the hourly sector, where you get paid and go home, that's it. No more, no less. 

But when you get to a job that offers benefits, a whole world opens up to you. Suddenly, you can go to the doctor every single year, and you can go more than once if issues come up. You can go to the dentist and get those teeth de-cavitied, whitened, and straightened, so you have a beautiful smile. Your benefits might pay for a gym plan, a nutritionist, specialists, medication, and more. When you feel and look great, your work improves — what a no-brainer for an employer who prioritizes employee retention! Oh, and if you have kids, this is a lifesaver, because we all know that those germy little critters get sick all the time, and being on your employer's health plan will save you big money over the years. It just makes sense, right? If your workers are tending to their health instead of letting issues compound over time, they'll feel better, take fewer sick days, and be more inclined to continue working at your company. 

It's therefore baffling that this employer seemed proud to take away benefits from employees in an honestly insulting fashion. As this dental hygienist shared, the boss held an all-hands meeting to tell his workers that they'd only get one day off per 3 months of working, which sounds to me like a bunch of workers who are getting 4 days off per year. Oh, you thought that was 4 PTO days? Wrong, pal. This person's boss shared that there was to be "no PTO, no medical, no holidays, nothing." Holy moly! That's totally insane, and shows a great disrespect towards the employees. No benefits allowed, and barely any days off permitted. 

Some bosses simply don't consider their employees to be human beings, instead thinking of them as automatons. They think about them only when they're working, and the moment the employee is gone from their sight, they just view them as a number on a spreadsheet. Who cares if they have family, hobbies, friends, a life outside of work? Giving your workers a measly 4 days off per year is a huge red flag, and it's no wonder that all of these workers immediately headed to the door. Why work for a person like that when you could find a way better job that probably pays more and does offer benefits and PTO? 

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    'Half of my offices’ staff is quitting today'

    Woman with long brown hair wearing blue scrubs and rubber gloves checks phone while looking stressed
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    Last Thursday my office ( a dental practice in a very wealthy area of CA) had a meeting and we were informed that we would only be approved for one day off per quarter. So 1 day off every 3 months.
    via u/Legacy0904
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    None of us in the office get ANY benefits. No PTO, no medical, no holidays, nothing. We were also told that because we (the hygienists) are booked out so far that when we take our day off we will
    via u/Legacy0904
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    have to come in early or work late to make up for the patients we didn't see that day. Me and the other hygienists all put in our letters of resignation today. We all typed letters
    via u/Legacy0904
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    and laid them on his desk. So he got back from lunch and had to read through all the letters. My coworker told me that she saw him throw our stack of letters at the office manager while saying "look at this."
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    Fortunately hygienists are in crazy high demand in CA right now and all of us already have other job offers.
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    Tl;dr boss tries to - control our unpaid time off and vastly overestimates his worth. Winds up losing his whole clinical staff.
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    Update since this blew up: for everyone that's calling BS, I posted my resignation letter and screen shots of texts in the comments. I had one prepared already but I made another one at lunch and printed it out
    via u/Legacy0904
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    because I felt like I needed to specify that I was quitting because of the policy on unpaid overtime. And yes I did print it out at work lol.
    via u/Legacy0904
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    Update 2: my boss decided to act like nothing happened. He didn't mention anything. or even say a word about it to me and the other staff members that were quitting. My coworker did see him toss the resignation letters at our
    via u/Legacy0904
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    office manager and say "look at this..." The doctor and my office manager were also in a meeting by themselves at 5pm. He always leaves at around. 330 so it was satisfying to see him staying late to sort this out. They both gave me a death stare
    via u/Legacy0904
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    when I walked by the little window to the room they were in though. Update 3: for those asking, yes I have another job already. I decided to quit Sunday night and by Monday afternoon I had
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    another job that's 30 mins closer, higher pay and I get off 2.5 hours earlier
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    anothero... Oddly enough, the thing that stuck out the most to me here was no medical benefits, while working in a medical (dental) practice. That's some dystopian shit.
    via u/Legacy0904
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    Child with red hair smiles and gives thumbs up next to dental hygienist in blue scrubs who gives thumbs up and smiles
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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