Let’s say you have a job you like, but you’re feeling underappreciated for the work you do. Maybe you’re starting to think your paycheck no longer reflects your full range of responsibilities. Maybe it has become such an issue that you’ve (gasp!) taken on the full-time job of finding a new fulltime job while still doing your full-time job.
You get an offer from another company in the same role, but with a pay bump. You feel validated — they want you and will pay you what you believe you’re worth. So, you go back to your current job to deliver the news. Suddenly, they’re ready to match the offer.
While it’s much easier to stay in your current job, most people will take the new job. Why? Of course, the money matters. But ultimately, it was also because you felt wanted and not just needed: “You didn’t think I was worth it until someone else told you I was.”
At a time when staffing issues threaten the quality and safety of care in our industry, expectations for HR professionals are changing. In cooperation with their leadership teams, they have needed to become experts on how to give their organizations a fighting chance at retaining key employees. But with all the responsibilities bestowed (or foisted) on the modern healthcare human resources department, it’s no surprise that certain retention techniques may be ignored or simply slip through the cracks.
The Department of Health and Human Services reports that about 20% of hospitals are currently facing critical staffing shortages — the most since last winter’s COVID surge. This comes on the heels of a survey from the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living that said 96% of assisted living communities and 99% of skilled nursing facilities are facing shortages.
Given the need for qualified workers in all job roles, it’s clear that healthcare organizations need new and effective strategies to build employee resilience and promote retention…
Originally appeared in HR Pulse, published by the American Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administrators (ASSHRA). Read the full piece.