My wife is an OR Nurse, and has been one for 16 years.  She wakes up every morning and works harder than anyone I know providing the best care for her patients.  We also live in a major metropolitan area and as such she has been rewarded with more job offers at more hospitals (new and old) than I could ever imagine. I often joke with her that in the world of nursing there is no Monster or Indeed.com, the recruiters are out 24/7 looking for her.  My wife is not entertaining new opportunities at the time but it has been estimated that 70% of a Hospital Staff is currently seeking, or will be seeking in the next 12 months, a new opportunity … by choice.  A high rate of employee turnover costs businesses time, productivity and money. But in the healthcare industry, employee turnover is especially costly: as the rate of turnover increases, the quality of patient care significantly declines. Furthermore, when employees leave, their duties are shifted to the remaining personnel resulting in undue stress and burnout. This lingering anxiety among employees can cripple an organization because turnover becomes the norm and thus the cycle gets repeated:

Healthcare professionals deal with enough daily stressors and demands without adding to their workloads the routine departures of co-workers. If your organization is suffering from high turnover there are simple steps you need to take now.

4 Key Employee Retention Strategies in Healthcare:

#1: If you have a high turnover rate, find out why.

Before you can begin to create successful retention strategies, you must first troubleshoot for unresolved issues in your organization. Identifying and then addressing employees’ concerns is a critical step to increase your retention rate. Once the problems are remedied, you can implement the next steps to build solid foundation of employee satisfaction and growth.

#2. Make training and re-training a priority.

Ask any employee: there’s nothing worse than being expected to do a job you don’t know how to do. One reason your employees may feel overwhelmed and eventually leave your facility is they are not properly equipped to perform their jobs. If your managers do not have time to train or re-train your employees adequately, consider implementing an employee training system that does not drain your managers’ time.

#3. Communicate!

If you want to increase employee job satisfaction, you need to have effective communication throughout your organization. If information is not disseminated clearly and in a timely manner, company-wide frustration will ensue. Managers should consistently and clearly communicate job expectations, company policies, mission statements, goals, plans, and upcoming events. There are several methods of communication, and it may be a case of experimenting with different approaches until you find what works best for your company: emails, bulletins, meetings, videos, etc.

Managers should also communicate recognition and rewards to those employees who go above and beyond fulfilling their job duties. This will generate a positive work environment for all staff, boosting morale and encouraging hard work and effort.

Finally, staff should be allowed to communicate open and honest feedback without fear of repercussion. If employees are afraid to speak, they are unlikely to put much effort into their jobs and they will probably want to leave as soon as possible. Therefore, your employees should feel they can raise concerns in a non-threatening environment. Encouraging employee feedback can be the first step you take to foster open communication in your organization.

#4. Provide educational opportunities.

Offer your employees unique opportunities for career growth and development. This type of investment shows your employees you care about their future, making it hard for them to leave your company. With the push for staff to hold advanced degrees by 2020 offering continuing education reimbursement options is a cost-effective approach to cultivate career development among healthcare professionals.

If you are interested in establishing a Workforce Retention Analytics platform visit us @ www.peakemployee.com to learn more about our industry leading employee engagement and retention solutions. Keep in mind that investing in your employees now will save your organization money in the future.

Thanks for Reading,

Lino