Page 24 - BusinessWest June 10, 2024

“We find that most people who are going to leave the organization leave within
the first year,
and a lot of that has to do with expectations around work and whether they’re able to connect with what brought them there.”
on their journey.”
Elaborating, she said this strategy was recently deployed
for the successful hiring of several environmental-services personnel, but it can be used — and has been — for other positions as well, including nurses.
Another key element in the equation is compensation, said all those we spoke with, adding that systems and indi- vidual providers must continue making the investments needed to remain competitive — to the extent they can, given the hard reality that reimbursement rates for care provided by those facilities continue to lag far behind the cost of pro- viding that care.
Davis agreed, but said providers who want to retain talent have to go beyond compensation. And this brings her back to that notion of making employees at all levels feel valued.
“Compensation matters,” she said. “But what matters when you get your foot in the door is ... how do I feel about the place that I work at? Am I valued? Am I making a differ- ence? Am I treated well? Do I feel like I belong?”
There are many factors that go into how employees will answer those questions, she went on, listing everything from wages and benefits to flexibility in schedules to the willing- ness of leadership to listen to employees and repond to what they are hearing.
At Cooley Dickinson, there are surveys, said Davis, but the more important strategy is the rounding conducted by mem- bers of the leadership team and the visbility of those leaders.
“The staff needs to understand that there is someone there that they can check in with, someone that will get back to me, whether it’s an answer I want or an answer that I wish was different,” she said, adding that rounding, an ever-evolv- ing practice that takes place on many different levels, is key to all-important visbility as well as the listening process.
Roose agreed, noting that Mercy and Johnson Memorial have placed additional emphasis on listening and responding to what is heard through initiatives such as a ‘new-colleague culture experience,’ to start later this month.
“We’ll provide every new colleague that enters our orga- nization with an opportunity to really focus on what about the culture they do identify with and how we can best attend to that during the early period of their orientation and work with us,” he explained. “We find that most people who are going to leave the organization leave within the first year, and a lot of that has to do with expectations around work and whether they’re able to connect with what brought them there.”
Bottom Line
But there are other strategies as well, including educa- tional assistance that will help existing employees seize other career opportunities.
At Baystate, the system has essentially doubled the amount allowable per year for tuition assistance, said Pache- co, adding that the new ceilings went into effect in January, and the investment (probably an additional $300,000 to $400,000) is already showing signs of paying off.
“We have people studying to become nurses, we have folks working on various lab occupations ... it varies,” he said. “As long as there is a connection to the healthcare system, we’ll support them with educational assistance.”
Returning to the subject of pay-to-train initiatives, Pacheco said that, in addition to the program for medical assistants, there are others for patient-care technicians (another part- nership with Holyoke Community College) and other posi- tions, as well as apprenticeship programs, including one that trains individuals to read heart monitors.
All these initiatives are part of a broad response to a new reality — yes, a new normal — one that should prevail, and test healthcare providers across the board, for the foresee- able future. BW
2024
SENIOR PLANNING GUIDE
Preparing for Life After 65
Feature Sections and Articles:
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Estate and Financial Planning
• Paying for Care
• Preparing to Retire
• Including Philanthropy in Your Plan • Creating an Estate Plan
• Creating and Updating a Will
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Caregivers & Adult Children
• Having The Talk About Assisted Living • The Benefits of Home Care
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24 JUNE 10, 2024
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