The effort to build and retain talent in your hospital or medical facility is crucial. Not only for the success of your business but also for the care of those who count on you: your patients. In such a competitive and unpredictable marketplace as healthcare it can be difficult to recruit new talent, let alone ensure they’re a good fit. Much time is devoted to training new staff in protocols and procedures, precepting, mentoring, and coaching along the way.
Time equals money and when a good deal of your time is be spent on efforts to build and retain talent for your medical facility you may find it necessary to investigate other ways in which to build and retain talent. Recruiting quality staff isn’t a technique learned overnight. Those who are successful at finding the ideal medical staff for the job have practiced and honed their skills. Many facilities can’t afford to recruit haphazardly. To do so is a colossal waste of money and time.
Steps to Build and Retain Talent
Once you’ve found the right candidate to add to your staff, you need to ensure the arrangement is mutually beneficial, or risk losing that employee to another hospital. Certainly, there are no guarantees, however there are steps you can take to help you reliably build and retain talent for your healthcare facility.
Source
In order to build a pool of qualified candidates who are a good fit for your hospital it’s necessary that you fully understand company culture. Be clear on the type of care provider you want. What are your patient demographics? How are you represented within the community? You need to keep all of this in mind as you source possible candidates to fill specific spots.
Part of any HR department is to maintain a pool of qualified candidates. The search for the right patient care staff member simply doesn’t end when the position is filled. The need will come up again as current employees are promoted, move on, or retire. Being prepared isn’t just for boy scouts, it applies to HR managers as well!
Hire
A successful manager possesses a skill to get the right person into the right job. This involves, once again, having a solid idea of the type of individual you need. Obviously you want someone who has the proper credentials and certification. But in order for the new hire to be an asset to your team they need to possess qualities particular to your hospital’s needs, a good fit who will work with existing staff members with ease.
Use the interview process to go beyond the resumé. What makes this candidate special? Do they offer a fresh perspective and new ideas? Will they add or detract from the team already in place? Do they bring a new ideas, approaches, skills and background? Not only does that hire fill a gap but they refresh the team. Make sure it’s in a positive way.
Never forget that you, too are being interviewed by the candidate. Allow them to determine whether they see themselves as fitting in. Express your concerns and listen to their replies.
Onboarding
The next pivotal step in assuring that you build and retain talent for your medical facility is in the process known as onboarding. This process brings the new hire up-to-speed in training and familiarizing them with policies and procedures, yet onboarding goes much deeper than orientation.
When you bring a new hire to the team your responsibility is to ensure they are welcomed and that their skills and knowledge are both appreciated and utilized. Begin by alerting team members that the new hire is joining them. Task the nurse manager with assigning a mentor. Assemble a specific agenda for the first day and present that to the new hire. Personally introduce the new hire to team members and those with whom they will interact regularly (administration, for instance).
Retaining
According to recent statistics, approximately 1 in 5 healthcare employees leave their job every year. This 20% statistic is quite troubling-and costly-to management. Savvy managers will proactively take steps to make sure their employees are relatively happy.
Engage your employees on a regular basis. Make sure they are aware of how their involvement is essential to the organization’s success. Tell them regularly that the job their doing is excellent and keep the lines of communication open and active.
Of course, financial compensation plays a role in how eager your employees are to stay, but probably not as much as you think. Recognition and compensation can be provided in many ways. Maybe an afternoon off to have lunch at their child’s school, a significant pat-on-the-back for a job well done in the form of a gift card for dinner out or any similar token of appreciation will set the tone that they are, in fact, valued for the excellent work they do.
From the beginning it’s vital to the success of your recent hire that you stay involved. This is likely your practice throughout the sourcing, hiring and onboarding process, however you need to develop a plan to keep your new hire engaged in order to build and retain talent for your healthcare facility. Begin by incorporating these 4 steps and you’ll see some positive results.
