What’s Inside 1 The Costs of Employee Turnover The Problem How It Costs You: The Three C’s Cost Coverage Compliance 2 The keys to employee retention Open Up Communication Create Choice Make Scheduling Flexible Optimize Onboarding 3 Take the next step 4 Recommended resources 1 The Costs of Employee Turnover The Problem The long-term care industry provides crucial services to millions of patients at skilled nursing facilities across the United States. But the field also faces a critical challenge: high employee turnover. Estimates of the current turnover rate in long-term care range from 45% to 66% That’s nearly one half to two-thirds of direct care workers leaving their positions — which creates a host of serious problems for providers, including: > The expense of replacing and training employees > Lack of adequate staff to care for patients > Risk of falling short of compliance requirements These and other associated issues can stretch facilities to the breaking point — but fortunately, there are a range of tactics you can utilize to combat turnover. With higher employee retention, your operation can function smoothly and successfully, offering patients the care they need while saving both time and money. But before we get to those strategies, let’s look at some of the top reasons why turnover is so prevalent. Why It Happens Front-line care workers perform essential work day in and day out, and they need optimal conditions to thrive. Without proper support, they can easily burn out. Research shows several major factors linked to turnover, including: Staff Shortages When not enough staff are on-site, that means the employees who are available must pick up the slack and do the heavy lifting — which can result in a stressful, exhausting workload, especially when patients’ health hangs in the balance. Scheduling Problems Employees have strong preferences for when, where, and how much they work. If scheduling is done without taking these into account, workers may feel their expectations aren’t being met and look for positions that better suit their needs. Lack of Control Over Work When staff feel they don’t have any agency over workplace procedures — and are merely part of a top-down system — they may quickly become alienated. Not playing a role in the decision-making process leads to a sense of frustration. Turnover isn’t just about employees, though; it’s a huge burden on employers. How It Costs You: The Three C’s Employee turnover comes at a steep cost to long-term care providers, in both direct and indirect ways. Chief among them are what we’ll call the Three Cs: cost (meaning direct financial cost and time cost), coverage, and compliance. Cost In any U.S. industry, the direct monetary cost of turnover is high: Turover costs American business over The per-worker cost of turnover is estimated at about $ 25 20 % BILLION on an annual basis of the worker’s salary And the long-term care sector is no exception: The cost of replacing a nursing assistant or home care worker is estimated at over $ 2,000 If one-half to two-thirds of your staff are regularly leaving, and you’re spending more than $2,000 in replacing each of them, that’s enough to put a dangerous dent in any facility’s budget. In addition to the financial cost, there’s the taxing time cost. Hiring, onboarding, training, and tracking new employees is an extremely time-consuming process. And all the time spent on those obligations could instead be devoted to patients’ well-being and other core responsibilities of your operation. Coverage Coverage may be the single most decisive factor at any skilled nursing facility. Ensuring that there are enough staff members to fill shifts and address residents’ needs is vital to proper patient care. High turnover creates massive coverage issues. When employees leave on short notice, the remaining workers are stretched thin to cover the gaps — and some patients may not receive the full support they require. The resulting stress and fatigue can then lead to further turnover. It’s a vicious cycle. According to one study: Increasing the number of aides per resident from 33 to 41 per 100 reduced Certified Nursing Assistant turnover from 65% to 41% That stat just goes to show how much of a difference adequate coverage can make. When you have a healthy number of employees at your facility, staff morale improves and patients benefit, but when turnover escalates, overwork sets in and both parties suffer the consequences. Compliance Coverage may be the single most decisive factor at any skilled nursing facility. Ensuring that there are enough staff members to fill shifts and address residents’ needs is vital to proper patient care. High turnover creates massive coverage issues. When employees leave on short notice, the remaining workers are stretched thin to cover the gaps — and some patients may not receive the full support they require. The resulting stress and fatigue can then lead to further turnover. It’s a vicious cycle. In 2019, CMS announced that it was “setting higher thresholds and evidence-based standards for nursing homes’ staffing levels.” Why? Because “nurse staffing has the greatest impact on the quality of care nursing homes deliver.” One prominent example of these enhanced measures: CMS now assigns an automatic one-star rating when a nursing facility reports “no registered nurse is on-site” Especially in light of this heightened scrutiny, employee turnover — and subsequent staff shortages or lack of qualified staff — can put your facility at serious risk of falling out of compliance with CMS standards. And a lowered Star Rating can affect your reputation and revenue far into the future. For all these reasons, high turnover is a pressing obstacle that must be overcome. The good news is that there are a variety of approaches you can put into action to retain your care workers and enable them to flourish. So what are they? 2 The keys to employee retention Engage and Empower When it comes to retaining a robust, committed workforce — in long-term care or any field — there are two key words to keep in mind: ENGAGEMENT & empowerment These are big ideas that can transform how your facility operates by enhancing the employee experience. But what do they mean? ENGAGEMENT, quite simply, means treating your care workers as more than workers — as people. In other words: > Create a workplace environment that’s warm and human, even under demanding circumstances > Allow for an ongoing dialogue between managers and staff, so that problems can be heard and resolved > Recognize and reward hard work and accomplishments EMPOWERMENT, though, is what we’re really going to focus on here. And it means what it sounds like: giving your employees power. > The power to express their work preferences and have them addressed > The power to influence and adjust their own schedules > The power to take advantage of convenient, streamlined processes Engaged and empowered employees are less likely to leave their positions and more likely to remain dedicated members of your team. Let’s explore some top empowerment tactics in depth. 1 oPEN uP cOMMUNICATION When it comes to retaining a robust, committed workforce — in long-term care or any field — there are two key words to keep in mind: > The worker must call up their manager to let them know they’re not coming in > The manager must manually log the absence and scramble to find a replacement, which means more calls and more headache > Or, if the worker doesn’t call in, you wind up with a last-minute, unexpected absence, which is an even bigger problem What we’ve just described is a classic example of cumbersome communication. And it’s not good for employers or employees. How to avoid it? By moving beyond old-fashioned manual methods and opening up your approach to communication. Thankfully, there’s a readily available solution to your facility’s communication issues, and it fits right in your staff’s pockets. That solution? Mobile technology. Go Mobile The workforce of the future is a mobile workforce. Establishing a mobile communication system at your facility puts the power in your employees’ hands — literally, in the form of their smartphones — and offers them an array of advantages, including: The ability to quickly send and receive urgent notifications (regarding shifts, absences, etc.) among managers and each other The capacity to respond immediately to changing circumstances Easy access to information on scheduling, benefits, pay, and other important assets without the need to go through an intermediary When a care worker has a mobile tool at their fingertips, they never feel in the dark; rather, they’re part of an agile, transparent team connected by up-to-the-minute technology. This is a virtue in any industry, but particularly in the long-term care space, where the health and well-being of patients is always at stake. Embracing the far-reaching possibilities of mobile can usher in a new day for your facility and for your staff. 2 Create choice Your employees are people with complex, busy lives both in and out of the workplace — which means they have preferences about their work. These can include:. Availability Care staff may only be available to work on certain days or at certain times; they may have family obligations or even second jobs. This directly impacts the shifts they can take on. Travel Employees may have a substantial commute from their homes to your facility, which can also affect when they’re able to work. Picking up a last-minute shift could be a burden when lots of travel is involved. Type of Work Based on their training and certifications, staff may be partial to covering certain types of shifts in certain areas of your facility. Or they may be interested in exploring training options for different kinds of care work. So what can you do with all these employee preferences? Create a system that acknowledges them and gives staff a sense of choice about their work. Instead of just receiving top-down orders, they’ll now feel part of the process. The Right Person for the Job Empowering employees with choice isn’t only a boon to workers; it makes managers’ lives much easier too. When you have a busy facility to run, knowing about — and having easy access to — your staff’s availability, travel limitations, and work preferences saves you time and trouble in planning and scheduling. THE GOAL HERE: TO ALWAYS PICK THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB That doesn’t mean the person who’s qualified for the job, because of course all your care staff should be properly qualified. It means the person whose various preference factors — availability, travel, area of work, etc. — make them the perfect fit for a given shift in a given time and location. When you have a system in place that consistently achieves this, employees feel heard and satisfied, and managers benefit as well. 3 make scheduling flexible Scheduling is at the very heart of employee empowerment. There are a number of meaningful ways you can make scheduling more flexible for your care workers: > Adopt an interactive system in which both managers and employees have scheduling abilities > Enable employees to easily trade shifts with one another if necessary > Leave a certain percentage of shifts open for employees to schedule themselves, based on avail ability and preference Self-scheduling allows your staff to craft schedules that work for them, which can boost their job satisfaction and be a significant factor in reducing turnover. For managers, employee self-scheduling brings the added advantage of lessening workload and avoiding issues with workers who can’t cover specified shifts. A seamless, streamlined scheduling experience that offers greater agency to staff can have an enormous impact on your facility. Employees who can conveniently sign up for, or trade, preferred shifts have a strong incentive to remain in their positions 4 Optimize onboarding The onboarding process is crucial to employee empowerment. Even if you’ve implemented systems that benefit your staff, they won’t make an impact if your workers aren’t aware of them or don’t know how to take advantage of them. Successful onboarding: > Makes employees aware of the systems and processes (for attendance, scheduling, payroll, etc.) available to them > Trains them in how to easily and effectively utilize those processes > Sets a precedent in which employees feel comfortable asking for help, so they can optimize their experience When your staff has been smoothly onboarded, they understand the resources at their disposal and feel empowered to make the most of them. Whether that means efficient attendance procedures or flexible self-scheduling, your workers can move forward in their new positions with confidence. Work With Your Provider Whatever workforce management systems you have in place, you’re most likely getting them from a software provider. It’s important to remember that your provider isn’t just there to equip you with software; they’re also there to help. To create an optimal onboarding process for your staff, reach out to collaborate with your software provider. After all, they know their systems inside and out. They can: > Advise you on how best to train your employees to use the software > Help you troubleshoot any problems new workers may be having > Listen to you if there are any recurring issues with onboarding, and address them Working with your software provider, you can make sure that new staff will be able to get up to speed quickly and have an onboarding experience that prepares them for success. To sum up: Employee turnover in the long-term care industry may be an immense challenge, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take concrete steps to combat it. Empowering the staff at your facility — in the vital areas of communication, choice, scheduling, and onboarding — will help you maintain a strong, dedicated workforce now and into the future. 3 next steps Download Our Employee Empowerment Checklist This useful checklist is here to help you ensure that your facility is taking the key steps toward empowering your employees — and retaining a robust workforce. This useful checklist is here to help you ensure that your facility is taking the key steps toward empowering your employees — and retaining a robust workforce. 4 Recommended resources Here’s a brief list of the articles and studies we cited in this guide. If you’re interested in learning more about employee retention in long-term care, we encourage you to continue to explore the resources currently available on the subject. “CMS Improving Nursing Home Compare in April 2019.” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-improving-nursing-home-compare-april-2019 “The costs of turnover in nursing homes.” Medical Care. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2761533/ “Employee Turnover in the Long-Term Care Industry.” Walden University. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4492&context=dissertations “Growing a Strong Direct Care Workforce: A Recruitment and Retention Guide for Employers.” PHI. https://phinational.org/resource/growing-strong-direct-care-workforce-recruitment-retention-guide-employers/ “The keys to reducing turnover in long-term care.” McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. https://www.mcknights.com/blogs/the-world-according-to-dr-el/the-keys-to-reducing-turnover-in-long-term-care/
Enter the password to open this PDF file:
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-