HR Pulse - Winter 2008 - (Page 42)

>> COMBAT WORKFORCE CHANGES Approximately 70 percent of health care organizations reported having trouble retaining critical-skill employees, as compared to approximately 40 percent across all industries. beneﬁt aging RNs, but also their employers, as the RNs could also then be used to serve as mentors to newer hires. This would provide the human capital required to implement one of the most effective strategies for the retention of ﬁrst-year hires—extended, formal on-boarding and mentoring programs. Address Generational Differences Some organizations are recognizing generational differences in the workforce and making distinctions between the expectations of each group in a move to keep the industry attractive for workers and reduce the unusually high turnover rate. Some of the differences found were: • Silent Generation: want to stay engaged at work until later in life; will only do so with greater overall ﬂexibility. Implication: Work schedules need to be more ﬂexible. • Baby Boomers: highly ambitious with a strong need for success; want to keep working until later in life but also interested in striking a work-life balance. Implication: Roles and responsibilities will need to be modiﬁed. • Generation X: want freedom and independence; less loyal to organization and more to their team or supervisor. Implication: Organizational culture should promote teamwork and building supervisory skills. • Echo Boomers: positive, technology-savvy, productive workers who want to work smarter, not harder, and have high demands in terms of the sophistication of their work environment. Implication: An increased emphasis should be placed on offering workers the latest technology/ automation Embrace Diversity Many health care organizations are tapping into cultures and nationalities that have been under-represented in the workforce. There also is an increasing reliance on foreign-trained health workers, although work visas are becoming more restricted and harder to obtain. While an emphasis on diversity ultimately will be beneﬁcial for workers as well as employers, managing a diverse workforce will require stronger leadership and managerial skills to address educational and cultural differences that might arise and have implications on, for instance, individual expectations. The dwindling availability of talented managers and the declining interest on the part of allied health employees in assuming managerial roles limits the ability of organizations to take advantage of diversity potential in their workforces. To overcome this barrier to leadership, organizations need to design and implement more effective supervisory training and stronger outreach programs. 42 HR Pulse Winter 2008 industries—currently only about half of the total number of Registered Nurses (RNs) work in a hospital setting; RN stafﬁng has grown by 93 percent in ambulatory care settings versus 10 percent in hospital settings • Degree requirements are generally high for health care workers and are becoming even more stringent • Qualiﬁed applicants are being turned away in large numbers from existing health care training programs due to a shortage of faculty. Moreover, the population of health care workers, like the general population, is aging. The average age of RNs nationally is 43 years old, and new graduates in the profession are often in their thirties. Pharmacists and clinical lab technicians have an even higher aging proﬁle. These professions in particular face a diminishing supply due to the lack of training programs and the high degree requirements mentioned previously. Physicians also are in diminishing supply at a time when there is increasing demand. There is not only a need for newer, younger workers, but more highly qualiﬁed workers as well, thanks to advancements in the profession, such as more sophisticated equipment and procedures, automation, and complex information systems. The employee value proposition is shifting dramatically. How Are Health Care Organizations Responding? As the talent pool shrinks, health care organizations are re-examining their attraction and retention approaches and implementing different strategies to combat the problem. Retain Older Workers Retaining older workers for longer periods is an increasingly common strategy to help mitigate shortages created by unwanted turnover and the lack of newly trained personnel. Organizations are looking at ways to keep workers in the labor force longer, including redesigning existing retirement plans to entice critical-skill employees to continue working and delay their retirement. Improving retention may also involve redesigning jobs to accommodate the older worker. For instance, a reduction in hours of bedside work would not only

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

HR Pulse - Winter 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Karmen Reid Advocacy is for Everyone A Case Study in Raising Voices Diversity Management Measuring What Matters Bullying as Gender Harassment Combat Workforce Changes Hardwiring Accountability Immigration Frustration HR and Education Making Exit Interviews Count Management Styles that Enhance Intrinsic Motivation Backup Care Fact or Fiction 10 Ways to Lose Your Best People Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Winter 2008

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