The Importance of Keeping Good Staff

Holding onto good staff is an important concern for any business. But it’s ESPECIALLY important for health care facilities. That’s because the health and well-being of patients in a facility are directly impacted by consistency in their environment – including the familiar faces of nurses and other caregivers who work with them each day.

The reasons for this are many:

·?The longer a staff member has been part of a team, the easier it is for them to build rapport with the people they’re caring for.

·?When staff is more connected to their patients (or – in the case of facilities like Daycation – participants), studies have shown that the number of medical errors is drastically reduced.

·?Families of the loved ones who regularly visit a facility (including one that’s only used for daytime visits, like Daycation), feel more comfortable when they see the same people each time they come. (The comfort level is higher for their loved ones, too!)

4 Ways to Increase Staff Engagement

RECOGNIZE EACH STAFF MEMBER FOR GOOD PERFORMANCE. This goes for front desk staff as well as nurses, nurses’ aides, and other medical professionals.

OFFER FEEDBACK FREQUENTLY. Closely tied to “recognizing each staff member for good performance,” this is more of a reminder to provide feedback OFTEN, not just during annual reviews.

PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR FURTHER EDUCATION. Doing this will allow staff the chance to further their education in order to stay current with new skills.

CLARIFY YOUR ORGANIZATION’S “MISSION” WITH STAFF. Doing this will help your employees to examine their OWN goals. When a staff member feels like their goals are closely aligned with your organization’s mission, the passion they have for their job is likely to grow stronger.

When a healthcare organization or facility follows all four of these methods of encouraging engagement among staff members, the likelihood of those employees remaining with the same organization rises sharply.

A supportive work environment, good relationships with coworkers, and a positive work culture are common reasons that employees of different health organizations have shared when explaining why they’ve chosen to stay in the same job for years (not months – YEARS).

Two other reasons (often closely tied together) are: opportunities for advancement which are then rewarded by better salaries and benefits.

8 Causes of High Turnover

High levels of stress and long work hours combine to create a very demanding work environment and an unhealthy balance between an employee’s job and their personal life.

Limited opportunities for career advancement and inadequate pay are two other reasons employees sometimes give for moving on to new positions.

Another factor in high turnover in the health care field is the attractive career opportunities that are often available to qualified staff.

Three other things – often leading to burnout – are all tied to emotional factors: stress caused by dealing with patients’ medical issues, not getting enough support on the job (or from management), and lack of recognition.

In-Home Care vs. Adult Day Care

There really is no comparison between levels of staff turnover in-home care and well-run adult day care facilities (like Daycation). The reasons are many, but some of the primary ones are:

·?TRAVEL COSTS.? Workers are not compensated for time spent traveling from one client to another, which can result in long workdays that include hours for which workers are not compensated.

·?LACK OF TRAINING.? Home care workers who have access to training opportunities are more likely to stay, but training isn’t always offered by companies.

·?ISOLATION.? Not being able to interact with other staff members is another factor in home care workers not sticking with positions longer.

·?IN-HOME CARE JOBS SEEN AS TEMPORARY.? Turnover rates among workers younger than 20 is over 50%. Even with older workers, though, turnover rate is much higher when an employee has been working in this field for less than a year (43.5%). Turnover rate among home care workers with over 10 years of experience is only 15.5%.

In June 2023, the Home Care Association of America (HCAOA) released a study that said the turnover rate for home care workers had jumped from 65% in 2021 to 77% in 2022.

Daycation – a Senior Daycare Facility Role Model

Those who have visited Daycation – a Senior Activity Center located in Rocklin – all agree on one thing. The staff there is excellent. Not one of the 8 factors mentioned above (as causes of high turnover) is true of Daycation and their staff.

Yvonne Mitchell, one of Daycation’s co-owners (who had a long career as a nurse’s aide and understands the ins and outs of this type of facility very well), says they don’t ever have to worry about staff turnover. Even during COVID, she said staff members hung in there until it was safe to return to work.

Most of the 8-person staff at Daycation have been working there for at least close to 5 years. Two (Helene and Erin) have been there almost 6 years, while four (Debbie, Eva, Brooke, and Lina) are nearing their 5-year anniversary. Beverly has been there over a year – one year less than Jutta. But based on Daycation’s experience with the rest of their staff over the past several years, Yvonne is confident that Beverly and Jutta won’t be leaving anytime soon.

“Recently, during the participants’ lunch at Daycation,” says Debbie, a CNA (certified nursing assistant),“I was sitting at the table with the ladies, getting conversations started.?One of them remarked how happy I always am. My reply was: ‘What a great job I have! My job is to come in and do my best to make EVERYONE happy, and that makes me happy too!’

“I dearly love the participants. They’re like extended family to me.?Yvonne and Paul are wonderful people to work for. We’re treated like family, not just paid employees. It's also wonderful to have coworkers I know I can count on whenever I need help.

“We all enjoy working at Daycation, where the goal is to help people make new friends, have fun, laugh, use their brains and bodies, and want to come back!? Who WOULDN'T want that job?”

Beverly, an RN/Activity Aide, loves the way she can make a difference in people’s lives at Daycation. “I witness the ‘art of human caring’ by our great team of caregivers every day,” she says. “There is nothing more rewarding than seeing participants smile, laugh, have fun, and start to trust and connect with us.

“Our biggest challenge is to ‘wiggle into their mind’ and communicate with them the best way we can. That’s when trust is established.”