HR Pulse - Fall 2008 - (Page 39)

Importance of Scarce/Critical Talent “It is much less expensive and more effective to retain the scarce/critical talent you have than to hire, orient, and deploy new talent,” said one HR leader. An operations vice president said, “We changed our HR systems so the skill jobs, such as nurses, medical technologists, and physicians, get preference for most of the available money, development, and training.” The emphasis is on retaining skilled talent close to the core of health care delivery and essential to creating a high-performance health care organization. Only two of the medical centers had an objective of social justice as it relates to pay and rewards. The other 19 base retention, pay and rewards strategies and programs on talent scarcity/criticality. How do they gain understanding by employees not in scarce/critical talent areas? They strongly communicate that the organization needs scarce/ critical talent to accomplish its patient care or research mission, and without this talent, patient health and lives, as well as the organization’s future, are in jeopardy. They also communicate that, to attract and retain people, the organization’s pay practices must reﬂect differences in the labor market’s rates of change for different jobs and skills, and the labor market for scarce/critical talent moves faster than for other jobs. Retaining Scarce/Critical Talent One CEO said, “Don’t be stingy with our critical talent, or our patients pay for it with their health.” Another said, “We can’t quit growing talent.” Universally the strong emphasis is on making people feel valued and appreciated and an essential part of the reason for the medical centers’ excellence. Beyond this, the medical centers were proactive in programs for retention of scarce/critical talent. Examples of successful programs and actions mentioned by more than half of the study participants are: • Communicate messages about the medical center’s reputation for excellence because people generally want to be associated with “winners” • Encourage scarce/critical talent near retirement age to continue to work or to work beyond normal retirement age with some combination of base pay adjustment, bonuses, ensuring competitive pay, enhancing retirement beneﬁts for each additional year of employment, providing part-time work, and accommodating the individual’s preferences for work hours • Provide childcare and eldercare beneﬁts, with onsite centers being the strongest and most preferred beneﬁt. While some readers may be working at hospitals that cannot use their organization’s reputation as a differential advantage, they can develop approaches to retain their aging workforce longer or beyond the normal retirement age. Depending on the organization’s resources, onsite eldercare and childcare may not be feasible, but consideration should be given to some level of beneﬁt or support to acknowledge the life needs of scarce/ critical talent. What Does Not Retain Scarce/Critical People? An HR leader said, “Gimmicks don’t work. Buying recognition items like movie tickets and the like have not worked for professionals.” They were successful for hourly employees, however. Three types of unsuccessful retention solutions for scarce/critical talent were mentioned by medical centers: • Recognition programs that had gimmicks or games were most frequently mentioned as unsuccessful for professionals. Some mentioned having overused tangible recognition and now use it sparingly • Pay programs that were administered inﬂexibly, paid everyone in the same job the same wage, or did not acknowledge an individual’s skills • Any program that was more “slogan” than substance. Fundamentally, these approaches failed because professionals with scarce/critical skills did not view them as valuing their professionalism or skills. One HR leader said, “The proof is in the ‘staying or going.’ If it works, they stay; and if not, someone takes the best people from us.” Translating the Elements of Retention The study participants viewed a number of elements as playing the following roles in retaining scarce/critical talent: • Employee engagement: Critical when focused on adding value to patient outcomes and clinical metrics. The best people want to add value in meaningful terms • Employee satisfaction: Necessary, but not a differential advantage. Increasing the level of employee satisfaction beyond a certain level is not viewed as key to retention • Supervisory/manager role: Not “bosses” but redeﬁned as role models, facilitators, advisors, coaches, enablers, and “interference blockers” • Organization culture: Essential to retention with a culture of professionalism • Work environment: Designed to enable performance, skill and competency growth but not entitlement • Communications: Frequent, honest, and straightforward, with two-way dialog using many mediums, especially face-to-face contact • Training and development: Employee’s responsibility supported by the organization and “The proof is in the ‘staying or going.’ If it works, they stay; and if not, someone takes the best people from us.” 39 HR Pulse Fall 2008 >>

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Fall 2008

HR Pulse - Fall 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Irma Pye Sammy’s House: Making a Difference in Austin Working Mother Magazine’s 100 Best Companies Increasing CEO Engagement Pastoral Care Retaining Scarce, Critical Talent The Engagement Dilemma Diversity Considerations…More than AAP & EEO Quashing the Workplace Bullying Bug How to Become a Strong Human Resources Partner Citizen Lobbyists Descend Upon Capitol Hill Conference Highlights Schedule at a Glance Sponsors Exhibitors Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Fall 2008

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