Recruiting, Retaining Qualified Employees a Formidable Challenge for South Florida’s Hospitals

As the competition for employees continues to intensify among South Florida’s hospitals, the recruitment and retention of top talent is becoming increasingly challenging for hospital administrators. In addition to a significant shortage of nurses, the pickings are slim for a myriad of positions, including pharmacists, physical therapists, imaging specialists and laboratory technicians. Today, hospital operators are struggling to find new ways to attract and retain the best-qualified staff.

Hospitals need adequate staffing to meet the demands of Florida’s rapidly growing and aging population. The longer hospitals retain employees, the greater the quality of the services they provide and the stronger the emotional glue keeping employees loyal to their organizations. High retention rates also keep down turnover costs, such as advertising and training. The fact is, nurses and other skilled health care workers know they’re in high demand and can pick and choose where they wish to work. Hospital work is demanding, and services must be provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Florida’s supply of nurses is aging, many are leaving the profession and others are not choosing to work in these careers. According to a 2002 report from the Florida Hospital Association, one in eight nursing positions in Florida hospitals are vacant and, by 2020, Florida will need 61,000 more nurses than what’s projected to be available. At the same time, hospital admissions and ER visits are at record highs.

Administrators of leading hospitals know recruitment and retention go hand in hand. One cannot be done without the other. Recruitment of the right employees – those who possess the necessary technical skills and experience and mesh well within an organization’s culture – will support retention. At the same time, good employees who are leaders in an organization will drive recruitment by referring qualified candidates.

Effective recruitment and retention efforts require detailed research and planning. First, hospital administrators should evaluate their markets and understand their competitors. Just as important, they must look inside and understand the internal barriers to retention. Next, they should develop effective communications programs designed to increase their visibility among target audiences through a variety of tactics, including placing advertisements, securing positive media coverage of hospital services and activities, sponsoring community events and providing job fairs and other events. While there’s no magic bullet to cure every hospital’s staffing dilemmas, here are some general guidelines to consider:

• Establish a culture of recognizing and rewarding employees. First, it’s critical to routinely evaluate pay scales and provide competitive compensation and benefits packages, including bonuses and other perks for top performers. But the rewards shouldn’t just be monetary. Appreciation should also be demonstrated through other meaningful recognition means, such as providing hand-written thank-you notes, “Employee of the Month” and other awards, and special events. Administrators should routinely round their facilities and spend one-on-one time thanking, listening to, and recognizing employees.
• Establish a culture of education. The benefits of providing employees with educational opportunities are clear: Advanced training enhances job skills, improves the quality of services provided, and enables employees to move forward with their careers and find greater reward in their work. Training also sends a signal that the organization cares about developing its people. Employers should routinely provide reviews and participate in frank discussions about how they may help support their employees’ long-term career goals. Training and cross-training should be provided for new and existing employees and those who are promoted. Hospitals may also provide tuition reimbursement and continuing education courses. They might also tailor courses to fit their employees’ interests, such as by providing experts to discuss everything from personal finances to physical fitness.
• Establish a culture of family. Employees who feel emotionally attached to their colleagues and loyalty to their hospitals are more likely to stay for the long haul and resist tempting job offers from competitors. They will also provide a higher quality of work. Establishing a family culture requires sincere support from the top levels of management down to every employee. A special focus should be placed on the front-line managers, as they can be the biggest influencers of employee satisfaction. To be successful, hospitals must have a culture of openness, effective communication (top to bottom and bottom to top), team-building activities and concerted efforts to accommodate scheduling needs and other preferences. Employees must feel good about going to work and good about the people with whom they work.

As South Florida’s health care needs continue to grow, hospital operators should develop effective plans to ensure their facilities are properly staffed to meet the increasing demand. They should create work environments where people want to do their best and feel good about the meaningful jobs they perform. Competitive compensation and benefits packages are certainly imperative, but employers should also seek better ways to make their hospitals more enriching, rewarding places for their employees to work in the long term. Those who do will be positioned for continued leadership and success.