Executive Housekeeping Today - February 2008 - (Page 3) Take My Advice: Orientation and Education are Smart Ways to Retain Housekeeping Staff Members As many housekeeping managers already know, retaining staff is often a major issue when it comes to housekeeping departments. However, help is on the way— there are ways to improve your department’s turnover rate! One way to retain your staff members is to start out their employment within your department the right way—you need to orientate staff to the ways you take care of processes and procedures in your facility. Luckily, this can be done with several methods, which are outlined below using examples from my a by Kent Miller, CHESP/CLLM facility and my experience. to assign a preceptor to the new staff member. A preceptor is an expert or a specialist who gives practical experience and training to the student (in our case, another housekeeping staff member). A preceptor is typically a term used for nursing departments at Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, IA, (where I work) but, as the Director of Environmental and Linen Services, I like to use it for our department to help create a professional “feel” for our staff. The preceptor works with the (continued on next page) Preceptors As managers, we need to tell new employees at the get-go that we will work with them for up to three weeks, orientating and training them in regards to our department’s expectations. Obviously, some new staff members will pick up on what is to be done quicker than others; however, we need to ensure that new staff is successful in their employment with us. In the beginning, it is typical February 2008/Executive Housekeeping Today 3 http://www.facilitycareforum.com http://www.facilitycareforum.com
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