When I hear faceless internet recruiting behemoths Indeed and Zip Recruiter advertise on terrestrial radio, my blood pressure rises with  multiple thoughts running through my head.

First, as a competitor without their marketing budget, I am jealous and silently hope they cannibalize each other. That’s an emotional response.

Second, from my experience working in healthcare facilities, I know the healthcare facilities’ role is complex.  Smugly I think, the candidates who fill these roles aren’t hanging out on the internet reading job profiles. Most candidates are hunkered down in a job, waiting passively for their next role. That’s a pragmatic response.

Third and final, and it’s ironic coming from Gosselin/Martin Associates, a recruiting firm with 14 years of national experience, I say to myself there has to be a better way other than a constant state of recruiting. The cost of replacing employees is simply too high, sometimes up to 9 months of an employee’s salary, to be stuck in an endless recruiting cycle. That’s a frustration response.

Statistically* and anecdotally, healthcare employees are leaving jobs more quickly than they have in the past. The constant churn and cycle of recruit-hire-train-repeat impacts department productivity and taxes human resources. Add voluntary turnover to aging and retiring baby boomers, and you have a recipe for management retention turbulence.

If you are constantly recruiting in 2019, you may have yourself an employee engagement issue.

What to make of work-life balance?

A colleague asked me recently, “is this work/life balance thing really a thing with employees?”  Yes, this work/life balance thing really is a thing. If you don’t respect this thing, you may be out recruiting soon. In 2019, work/life balance matters.

Engaging employees, or providing them a proper balance between their work and their life, does not mean coddling them, and it does not mean accountability becomes a relic of the past. To engage employees does mean working with and communicating with them to better utilize their skills for the benefit of the organization and the employee. Invest in their success with you while communicating frequently and honestly to understand them. Communication helps to avoid constant turnover.

Ask yourself, do I engage with my employees to look beyond what they can provide the organization technically? Am I aware of their goals and aspirations, their strengths as well as you know their weaknesses? Do I look to see if department goals can be aligned with my employee’s goals?

Finding time to ask these questions is difficult. We work with organizations on their management retention issues and we know most employees already have more on their plate than they can digest in a single day. Which is where Gosselin/Martin Associates can assist. If you find yourself in a constant churn to recruit or develop your existing employees, call us.  We can help you with recruiting or management retention!

For more employee retention content, please see https://gosselin-associates.com/coin-flip-managers-and-employee-retention/

* In 2017 the average turnover rate reported for healthcare employers was 20.6%, according to Compdata Surveys’ national survey, Compensation Data Healthcare. That’s up from 15.6% in 2010. Please see https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/will-2018-be-the-year-healthcare-addresses-its-turnover-problem.html for more information.

 

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