Most healthcare organizations have a plan to incentivize new hires like sign-on bonuses and competitive wages, but what is being done to keep your current staff on board? Organizations need to have a strategy in place to help increase staff retention rates. Formulate a plan to build a great place to work where employees feel valued, like they are part of a team, and have a strong sense of company culture and community. Staff members feel compelled to stay longer with organizations that commit to them in return by providing opportunities for growth, support, and mentorship.

Improve Recruiting and Onboarding Processes

Recruitment can be one of the biggest challenges for any business, especially in the healthcare industry. Organizations face competition for qualified candidates and it’s vital to convey that your company is the best choice for those candidates. Sign-on bonuses are a common practice but only help employees in the short term. By offering longer-term incentives like competitive pay, substantial benefits, continuing education and professional development opportunities, and a mentoring program, organizations can provide reasons for employees to join the company—and stay. 

Consider adding an assessment during your screening or candidate selection process to determine if the candidate fits your company culture. If a new hire shares the same values and morals as the rest of the team and the organization, they are more likely to feel the job is a good fit and stay in the organization longer. 

After the interview and selection process is complete, the first glimpse your new hires have into your business is the onboarding process. Providing efficient hiring and onboarding processes helps ease the transition for new recruits joining your organization while making it easier for your company internally (from the recruiting team to the managers and employees whose departments are hiring). Checklists or apps can help you stay organized and keep things moving in a timely manner with new hires. A simple, well-organized onboarding program demonstrates the efficiency of the company and clear communication throughout the process helps set expectations.

Consider collecting feedback from new hires through a new hire–specific survey 30, 60, and/or 90 days after their start date to analyze your onboarding process and gather suggestions for improvement. If you do conduct a new hire survey, make sure to review the feedback you receive and implement suggestions from previously hired employees to improve your recruitment and onboarding processes.

Keep Employees Engaged

When staff members do not feel engaged with a company, they don’t feel a sense of connection to their job or the organization, which leads to high turnover. Clearly communicate your company’s mission and values, and provide events and activities to demonstrate or encourage these within your team and the community. This shows employees the strength of your company’s culture and what it values most. 

Sending out employee surveys on a regular basis can help keep the lines of communication open, and having survey responses be anonymous lets employees be more honest than they might be in a discussion among teammates or management. It’s crucial if you do collect feedback that you analyze the survey results and make a plan to implement changes to meet employees’ needs. This will improve employee engagement and, subsequently, staff retention. On the other hand, conducting employee engagement surveys and then ignoring the feedback you receive can cause frustration or hostility among your staff. 

It’s important to recognize employees’ achievements to foster a positive work environment for your team. Recognition programs have been known to positively affect staff retention rates. Consider using a team communication board or app for employees to give shoutouts to their teammates for going above and beyond for their patients or the team. This helps recognize employees’ efforts while also building team camaraderie and emphasizing the organization’s positive culture.

Promote healthy habits and wellness by offering relaxation or de-stressing opportunities at work or implementing an employee wellness program. An effective wellness program can increase staff retention and productivity while reducing healthcare costs and absenteeism.

Foster a Team Environment

Creating a team environment helps staff members feel a sense of pride and belonging. There is some amount of inherent team building that occurs when employees work together closely on a regular basis. Still, you can encourage further teamwork through group projects, team activities, or company events. Many healthcare organizations find value in providing resources for staff to volunteer or participate as a team in local fundraisers or other community events. A team environment provides staff the opportunity to become comfortable with each other and socialize within the company, which helps employees become immersed in the organization and often makes them feel more compelled to stay.

Provide Support and Mentorship

In addition to encouraging teamwork, it’s also important to provide individual support and attention to employees. Ensure managers communicate with employees and work to make a daily habit of checking in with their team members.  Clear, honest communication with employees on a regular basis can demonstrate management support and foster a positive working relationship. 

Offering a supportive work environment with an open-door communication policy lets staff feel valued and heard. Management teams showing genuine interest in employees’ success often see increased retention rates, while strained or poor relationships with managers typically lead to high staff turnover. To help contribute to staff members’ success, a mentorship program can provide growth and professional development opportunities, encouraging them to stay and grow with the organization.

Contact us today for support in improving your recruiting processes and creating a retention strategy.