The health care industry is faced by job hopping as the employees move from one health facility to the next. This denies the field the consistency as well as the much needed teamwork which is so important in healthcare. The industry is also faced by a high rate of turnover especially due to poor leadership, lack of professional development. This paper will address the main reasons why health care organization retention records are so poor and what can be done to improve the employee retention rates. The principal reasons why HCO retention records are so poor
The amount of money paid to the employees is directly related to retention rate. The discussion regarding the clinical healthcare professions revolves around the budget. It is important to realize that better salaries will not necessarily retain good staff from walking away from hospitals. This implies that a company should give its employees more benefits apart from wages, (John R. Griffith et. al. 2007). This indicates that the employers move about very frequently which makes consistency almost non-existent and consequently eroding the teamwork on which healthcare largely depends on.
The high turnover at majority of healthcare manpower is due to poor leadership, the inability of staff to perform meaningful work and inadequate opportunities for employees to grow professionally. These are all cost-related factors which comprise of financial cost which directly affects the hospital duties, psychological cost due reduced morale and the productivity cost which arises from patients’ care. If a company loses an individual from the healthcare staff, the cost of replacement is too high.
This is because the process involves advertising costs, recruiting, employing workers on temporary basis and even paying other healthcare individuals overtime to fill the existing gaps. In healthcare industry is seen as a team-based knowledge-transfer type of profession which implies that the patient is attended to by a group. The nurses, physicians, housekeepers and technicians usually work collaboratively to ensure the patient is well attended to. The best employees are not usually retained in healthcare industry due to poor leadership.
Productivity, efficiency as well as job satisfaction is achieved in an environment where there is good leadership. However, is disheartening to note that the more the healthcare staffs work in the field the more they become dispirited due to lack of team work, (John R. Griffith et. al. 2007). This is mainly due to the organizational politics which deviate from what the healthcare team is supposed to do as concerns the patient. Apart from taking care of people, hospitals also need to be concerned about the welfare of the employees which motivates them to do meaningful work.
Notably, in healthcare field most of the employees lack trust in their leaders especially the first-line and therefore have no one to help them do their work well. Most of the employees quit the healthcare industry because of the abusive supervisors or managers. Lack of continuous training in management contributes to poor leadership. “Best” practices to utilize to improve employee retention rates Retention need to be culture that is cultivated by the leaders in an organization.
This has to start with approaches which will look into the skill needed by the leaders at the first-line, second-line and even the executives in organization. This involves an examination of competency of leaders in terms of their ability to cultivate teamwork and employee morale as well as their overall performance at work. This calls for one to be objective in judging the workers behavioral, professional, interactive and clinical skills which gives guidelines on how the leadership strategy will be implemented.
The fact that healthcare staff work as a team, it is therefore important to hold the entire managers accountable for turnover as well as retention. It is therefore the responsibility of a manager to nurture and take good care of the talents so that they do not go elsewhere. This calls for commitment from top leadership who are called upon not only for financial and motivational support but also for them to serve as role models. This means that leadership skills cut across board when an organization decides to cut across board by rewarding good leaders and correcting those who do not serve to the expectations, (John R.
Griffith et. al. 2007). It is also important to note that employers need to listen and communicate in any given organization and especially healthcare industry. It has been established that those employers who listen and communicate retain their employees. This implies that employers need to talk to the workers from time to time to seek their opinion on what should be done to retain them. Employers need to be aware of what else matters apart from money because the solutions to these matters may be very simple.
The simple solutions to problems affecting the healthcare workers such as recognition programs or even birthday card may deter them from looking for better places. Conclusion The above discussion has pointed out the main factors leading to high turnover rate is due to poor leadership and lack of continuous professional records. The poor leadership mainly affects the productivity, efficiency as well as job satisfaction in the healthcare industry. Employers need to listen and communicate in any given organization and especially healthcare industry if they have to reduce turnover rates.
It has been established that those employers who listen and communicate to their employees retain their works. Nevertheless, the retention process needs to flow down from the top leadership to the other components of the healthcare industry. This often calls for cooperation among all the elements in a given organization. REFERENCE John R. Griffith et. al. (2007). The Well Managed Health Care Organization (6th edition) Chicago: Health Administration Press