How to Improve Employee Retention at Your Medical Practice

There are more than enough reasons to go pursue a career in the healthcare industry; where most industries are susceptible to downsizing, pay cuts, and increasing competition, healthcare remains a stable and promising job market for new workers. Despite the benefits of working in this industry, individual healthcare practices around the country struggle to retain their current employees. According to a CompData 2017 survey, the total turnover rate for healthcare was 20.6% in 2017.

So, where’s the disconnect?

The healthcare industry requires a bit of resilience on the side of the employees; dealing with extensive paperwork, constant changes in regulation, difficult patient situations, all while trying to maintain their personal lives is not a life everyone can live.

Simply put, your medical staff needs some R&R.

But we’re not talking about the “rest and relaxation,” think of it more as recognition and replenishment.

Recognize Hardships

A job that requires listening to patients should warrant a workplace that encourages the same relationship between management and their staff. People want to be heard, they need to feel as if their frustrations are valid. You’ll find that many of them are, but just listening to them is the first step to ensuring you do your part to address them accordingly.

Recognize Hard Work

We know that there are members of your staff who receive praise daily from the patients they help, but they wouldn’t mind hearing the same from management.

Even better, plan small events that offer you a chance to thank them for their hard work in front of their fellow employees. Realistically, your practice should have some sort of yearly event that says a collective “thank you” to your whole staff.

Provide Replenishment 

Depending on the practice, the day-to-day operations can be physically and emotionally draining on your staff. No one expects you to be the sole reason your employee has a good life; their quality of life also depends on the choices they make in and out of the workplace. But their job can be an area of their life that they view in an overall positive light. You can alleviate some of the fatigue and frustration felt among your staff by:

• Awarding time off to exceptional or long-time staff feeling burnt out
• Letting workers know how they can move up into a new role
• Offering training opportunities in areas that may interest the employee
• Planning fun events outside of work – you’ll get an idea of an employee’s situation this way

Turnover can have a serious effect on the bottom line at the end of the year, and in hospitals this can mean millions of dollars. Keeping a high retention rate ensures that your hospital not only avoids these costs, but also demonstrates the workplace culture you’ve helped to create.