Introduction
Since my teaching hospital experiences high turnover, I need to implement targeted interventions to improve outcomes. Exit interviews indicate that multiple healthcare professionals are dissatisfied with the employee experience and are likely to leave for another hospital, highlighting the numerous advantages of a comprehensive work-life-career-investment program. That is why it is essential to take appropriate steps to retain skillful and talented individuals and improve their workplace experience.
Developing an Improvement Intervention
A comprehensive, multifaceted improvement plan should be implemented. First, the organization should remember that employee experience begins during the recruitment stage (Miller, 2018). This statement denotes that a company should rely on an effective approach to finding and employing people. A suitable option is targeted recruitment, which enables employers to reach qualified candidates in the labor market (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2021).
This term implies that an organization uses predetermined resources to identify candidates with specific skills and values that align with its organizational environment. This intervention is appropriate in this context because when individuals fully adopt an organization’s culture, they are less likely to leave the company if working conditions deteriorate. Trained and experienced human resource professionals should be available to identify suitable individuals and orient them to the organizational culture.
Second, employees have better, more productive experiences when they are provided with multiple advantages across various dimensions. A productive solution is to provide professionals with mentorship and regular assessment feedback because these steps contribute to their growth and development (van Zyl et al., 2017). In this context, mentorship is the practice of encouraging new employees to seek support, guidance, and advice from more experienced and skilled workers.
Fisher et al. (2022) support this suggestion and highlight the role of mentorship in building a positive employee experience, as this practice contributes to knowledge transfer, skill development, improved inter-professional communication, and career guidance. This intervention establishes links between various employees and promotes experience sharing (Fisher et al., 2022).
Furthermore, people are more satisfied when their workplace provides an appropriate work-life balance. That is why employees appreciate competitive remuneration, non-monetary benefits (family assistance and recognition), external activities (sports opportunities), and increased employer brand (Rodríguez-Sánchez et al., 2020). It is rational to believe that these straightforward but important steps can significantly improve employee perspective in the teaching hospital.
Analyzing the Recommendations
The next step will be to determine if the suggested course of action is helpful to the organization. The scenario states that employees lack career guidance and feel undervalued. On the contrary, the competing hospital provides its staff members with such opportunities. Hence, a significant step is to deliver this finding to supervisors and our hospital director.
Executive alignment should be achieved to ensure that corporate culture is modified and reaches the desired state (PR Newswire Association LLC, 2017). Emulating the competitor’s program can be challenging due to potential opposition from the director. That is why it will be necessary to prepare an effective PowerPoint presentation to emphasize the importance of the proposed actions and their potential advantages.
Research Stage
The analysis of the scientific literature demonstrates that these recommendations are appropriate and effective. Multiple experts state that when employees are provided with favorable working conditions that address various dimensions, they are more satisfied, productive, and engaged (van Zyl et al., 2017; Fisher et al., 2022). In this case, they do not want to leave an organization; instead, they want to make valuable contributions to achieving shared goals.
The emulating process can additionally bring a few notable challenges. The lack of sufficient resources, managers’ resistance to change, and fear of failure are the leading barriers to this endeavor. It is additionally reasonable to comment on the financial impacts of the proposed changes. A positive aspect is that no extensive resources are needed, as the recommendations rely on what is already available.
Recruitment professionals and experienced employees should participate in appropriate training sessions to understand their new requirements and expectations. This intervention does not require significant expenses, as it only requires hiring experts to train personnel. On the contrary, promoting a better work-life balance is more resource-intensive, but reduced turnover rates will inevitably lead to 70% lower expenses and better return on investment (Bae, 2022). Thus, the organization should do its best to overcome these issues. If nothing improves, our hospital will be left without skilled and talented employees, which will worsen our performance.
Mitigating Turnover Cost
The presented scenario makes it clear that the problem results in the loss of financial resources and institutional knowledge, as employees are dissatisfied with their working conditions. As some experts state, the difference between a good and a bad workplace lies in employee engagement (SyndiGate Media Inc., 2017). When people see that they can receive better benefits for the same effort in a different place, they are likely to leave the current company.
That is why it is critical to satisfy individuals’ multiple needs when they are members of our hospital. Suitable actions would be to modify the organizational culture and make it more beneficial for the workforce. As mentioned above, employees should be recognized through better work-life balance, multiple bonuses, and enhanced development opportunities.
It is reasonable to include a detailed analysis of each suggestion. A better work-life balance is achieved when employees have sufficient time during the day to spend on non-work activities (Rodríguez-Sánchez et al., 2020). This outcome is achieved when flexible scheduling with 10-hour shifts and remote working opportunities are provided.
Bonuses should provide workers with decent financial rewards, including enhanced leave programs and paid holidays. To improve development opportunities, a mentorship program can help by providing new employees with the guidance and support they need (Fisher et al., 2022). These interventions can reduce turnover rates and prevent the loss of institutional knowledge.
Offering New Programs
The expected result can be achieved if the hospital transforms its culture and introduces targeted programs to address it. Thus, the proposed intervention should consist of two notable parts. First, it is necessary to promote collaboration in the workplace (NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, Inc., 2019). This element is needed because inter-professional cooperation can promote employee satisfaction and better patient health outcomes in the medical sphere. The suggested mentorship program addresses this by ensuring that new and experienced employees collaborate regularly and productively.
Second, it is necessary to introduce a digital workplace experience, as a significant portion of work is performed online (NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, Inc., 2019). This solution is necessary because it enables remote work, which improves work-life balance. This comprehensive approach is expected to improve employee experience in the hospital.
Conclusion
The report presented indicates several challenges faced by our teaching hospital. A critical task is to overcome the competitor’s hospital by offering better working conditions to employees. An overarching strategy is needed to provide the workforce with benefits, recognition, and diverse growth opportunities that enhance engagement. It is reasonable to expect that these interventions will help the hospital gain a competitive edge.
References
Bae, S. H. (2022). Noneconomic and economic impacts of nurse turnover in hospitals: A systematic review. International Nursing Review, 69(3), 392-404.
Fisher, N., Bramley, L., Cooper, J., Field-Richards, S. E., Lymn, J., & Timmons, S. (2022). A qualitative study exploring the influence of a talent management initiative on registered nurses’ retention intentions. Journal of Nursing Management, 30(8), 4472-4479.
Judge, T. A., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. D. (2021). Staffing organizations (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Miller, B. (2018). Tips to improve employee experience. Newstex, 1-2.
NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, Inc. (2019). Nexthink launches digital employee experience scoring system: First-of-its-kind scoring system gives organizations a way to quantify the success of their employee experience initiatives.
PR Newswire Association LLC. (2017). Qualtrics simplifies closing the employee experience gap with powerful new technology: Methodology helps companies create winning employee experience (EX™) programs by driving engagement, culture, and productivity.
Rodríguez-Sánchez, J. L., González-Torres, T., Montero-Navarro, A., & Gallego-Losada, R. (2020). Investing time and resources for work-life balance: The effect on talent retention. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(6).
SyndiGate Media Inc. (2017). An employee engagement software, Epic, powered by Clarity Wave, rebrands itself as the employee experience company.
van Zyl, E. S., Mathafena, R. B., & Ras, J. (2017). The development of a talent management framework for the private sector. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(0), 1-19.