Workforce Insights – Learn to Achieve Stability on Your Team in 3 Key Steps

Retention is a critical pain point for providers right now. You are lucky to keep them for 30 days – if they even show up for orientation. There are 3 proven strategies that can help you change your retention trajectory. If you take a poll of past employees who didn’t make it to the 90-day mark, they will likely tell you that weren’t properly oriented to their job, they didn’t get along with their supervisor, and they didn’t understand what was expected of them.

1 – A solid orientation program – providers who spend time on developing an orientation program based on your company mission, values and culture are more likely to get an employee past the 90-day mark. The orientation should provide a macro level understanding of the organization, why it exists and who it serves. A proper welcome to the new employee, making them feel appreciated and part of the team. It needs to be personal to the individual and understanding what motivates them. Significant time needs to be focused on helping them learn their specific job, who to go to for questions/advice, and assuring that existing employees are not devouring the individual with unrealistic expectations.

2 – Investment in ongoing supervisory/leadership training – You have heard the statement that employees don’t leave a company, they leave their direct supervisors. This is a powerful message that indicates we are not appropriately preparing individuals to be good bosses. This is true for front-line supervisors all the way up to the CEO. Training and mentorship for all employees who have a supervisory role should be automatic and built into operations at regular intervals. The secret sauce here is it needs to be tailored to the individual.

3 – Commit to really hearing what your employees say – “We are constantly short staffed”. If you have heard that statement once, you have heard it a million times. In today’s climate, it is truer than ever. It’s also easy to dismiss it because you have heard it so many times, however there is a real message there. They truly do feel like they are working short. This work can be physically, mentally, and spiritually taxing for individuals. Ask them these questions individually and as a group: What does working short mean to you? How does it affect the people we serve? What does fully staffed look like to you? What solutions do you have to help? Do this with other commonly heard issues as well. This will help you get to the root of the problems your employees are facing and gives them autonomy to be part of the solution.

All of the above solutions are not small endeavors. They take focus, planning and implementation – but they do work. Let me help you break these down into bite sized achievable goals to change your culture and improve your retention with my specialized consulting program. Hint – it will significantly improve recruitment as well. Let’s talk.