Page 22 - BusinessWest June 10, 2024

Emily Davis says it’s important for employees to feel they are appreciated — and to feel the impact they have on patient care.
vacancies at the height of COVID.
Meanwhile, more than 600 individuals are currently in the
onboarding process at Baystate, including more than 200 nurses, many of them recent graduates of area colleges, he said, adding that these numbers are one indication of the system’s ability to bring more individuals into postitions, an improvement over a few years ago.
“We are making significant progress in terms of bringing people in,” he said. “For example, we’ve implemented a number of new training programs — we’re training medical assistants, patient care technicians, and our newest one is a sterile process technician; we’re teaching folks how to clean and work with surgical instru- mentation. However, all of that requires a significant investment in orienting people.”
Meanwhile, when it comes to retention, while there has been some progress in bringing those vacancy numbers down, “we have not yet returned to a normal place, like what we experiencing pre- pandemic, for turnover levels,” said Pacheco, adding that the system is averaging roughly 19% turnover, with much of it coming in the first year of employment.
“So, are we making headway in terms of bringing people into healthcare? Absolutely,” he went on. “Do we still have a long way to go? You bet.”
Roose agreed, adding that, at both Mercy and Johnson Memorial, there has been recorded progress in both hiring and retention, with a roughly 40% reduction in turnover the past two years — 50% at Johnson Memorial and 35% at Mercy.
“Reducing those that are leaving the organization to levels that are under 20% has been very stabilizing,” he said. “And while reduc- ing turnover, we’ve also, over the past several months, seen that the number of people coming into Mercy and Johnson Memorial has outpaced the number of those leaving, so the balance has shifted.”
This is true across many professions, especially nursing, where there has been reduced turnover and improved recruitment, he said, adding that other realms, such as transport, food and nutrition, and others, have recorded less progress.
Indeed, while things have stabilized somewhat, building and maintaining a workforce remains quite challenging for most health- care providers.
Michele Anstett, president of the West Springfield-based home- care provider Visiting Angels, said conditions have improved some- what since the height of COVID, when people were afraid to enter others’ homes. But competition for workers is intense, and the big- gest problem is retention.
Indeed, there is comparatively little loyalty to employers, she said, adding that workers will often chase an additional dollar an hour in wages or some other benefit. She stays ahead of the game, if can be called that, first by “hiring, hiring, hiring,” as she put it, and then taking steps to try to hang on to some of those she brings in.
“People tend to fly more; because of the economy, because of society and everything being on the move, and people being really
“We’re looking
at how we better redesign work to attend to the ways that healthcare delivery has changed and will continue to be changing, and looking at ways to reinforce what matters to people to retain them
in our hospitals and healthcare systems, while recruiting more individuals.”
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22 JUNE 10, 2024
MONTHLY FEATURE
BusinessWest