Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Combat Your Healthcare Staffing Shortages

You thought you’d done everything right. You lost a few employees, so you began the recruitment process again. You posted engaging job listings for caretaker shifts, received several applications, contacted potential candidates, and conducted promising interviews. You picked your ideal candidates and sent your offer email, only for many of them to decline.

You may wonder where you went wrong. Sadly, this situation is happening to plenty of healthcare businesses. Healthcare staffing shortages are one of the most prevalent and potentially devastating issues in the healthcare industry today. The Homecare Pulse Benchmarking Report states that 97.8% of agencies are negatively affected by caregiver shortages.

So what can you do to combat this crucial problem? Let’s take a look at several ways that you can boost your healthcare labor lows.

3 Unique Ways to Boost Your Healthcare Labor Lows

You don’t need to feel like you can’t overcome the challenge of healthcare staffing shortages. Here are three methods you can implement to begin improving your employee recruitment and retention rates:

1. Beef up Your Benefits Packages

Benefits are an effective marketing tool that can attract prospective employees to your company — and make them want to stay for years. So how can you make your benefits package more appealing?

Expand Your Healthcare Benefits

Healthcare benefits are an excellent way to boost employee recruitment and retention rates. A survey conducted by Willis Towers Watson in April 2022 shows that 48% of employees join their employer because of healthcare benefits, and 60% stay at their job for the same reason.

Of course, you should provide standard benefits at reasonable prices and flexible options such as health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs). But you can take it a step further.

For example, you can offer onsite health services. If you have a central office, consider creating an onsite well-being hub where your employees can make appointments with a registered nurse or a massage therapist. 

Another excellent option is establishing an employee assistance program (EAP) — a program that gives your employees free access to mental health assessments, short-term counseling, and referrals to outside services for emotional or mental issues. Since 73% of employees and 81% of managers state they would stay at a company that offers high-quality mental health resources, the impact on your employee retention rates will be substantial.

Consider Childcare Reimbursement

Many caregivers have children, and childcare is an ongoing barrier to employment in the post-covid work environment. In fact, 58% of working mothers state they have considered quitting their jobs due to mental stress and the financial burden of childcare after the pandemic. 

So consider providing childcare for employees with young children. For example, you can set a childcare budget and allow your employees to choose the ideal daycare for their situation.

Offer Assistance with Student Loans

Many jobs in the healthcare industry require a college degree, so most applicants are likely to have debt from student loans. You may be able to assist them with their payments to reduce some of their financial strain. For example, you can offer to make a $100 or $200 monthly school loan payment for employees who can prove they are actively paying their loans back.

Bolstering your benefits in these unique ways will help you stand out among the crowd to attract and retain ideal employees.

2. Invest in Robust Employee Onboarding Programs

Do you know that 69% of employees state they are more likely to stay in a role for three years if they have a great onboarding experience? With caregiver turnover costing agencies an average of about $2,600 per replacement, you can see the colossal impact this can have on your healthcare business’ financial success.

So invest in your onboarding programs. Instead of giving employees a short one-week introduction and throwing them into the workforce, allow them to spend their first 90 days in a robust extended onboarding program with enticing features like mentors, video courses, and more.

A more robust orientation will make them feel much more equipped to carry out their duties, and they will appreciate your investment in their success.

3. Provide Ways for Employees to Have Fun at Work

Your caregivers have a stressful job that impacts their mental health. Often, they get into the routine of working and eventually get bored or even burned out. So try to provide some enjoyable activities to liven up their work life.

There are many ways you can create a fun work environment and improve your company culture, including:

• Host work lunches for staff that have to work through lunch.
• Establish a “casual” day where employees can wear regular pants and a company T-shirt or patterned scrubs if they are typically required to wear solid scrubs.
• Allow employees to play music while working.
• Host nonthreatening challenges to spark healthy competition and excitement for job-related goals. For example, see who can successfully bathe their clients the most in a month or get their client to take all their medicine on schedule.
• Have a weekly or monthly drawing for a prize chosen by employees. 
• Recognize employees for their hard work by naming an employee of the week or month. Make the criteria clear and achievable for every employee in the office.

These are some ways to provide a more enjoyable work atmosphere for your employees while simultaneously boosting their productivity.

You Can Successfully Boost Your Employee Recruitment and Retention

As you can see, employee recruitment and retention are both grave issues that need addressing in the healthcare industry. With high turnover rates and a shortage of healthcare workers in the red-hot labor market, businesses need to do all they can to attract and maintain ideal employees, as well as consider developing processes for re-recuitment.

Thankfully, by implementing changes to improve employee recruitment and retention rates, you can avoid the common pitfalls of healthcare businesses. You will want to start by assessing your current practices and implementing changes that benefit your employees. Diversifying your benefits packages, establishing an in-depth onboarding program, and finding ways to make the workplace fun for your employees will allow your company to thrive for years to come.

Integrating technology into your company processes is another excellent way to combat healthcare labor shortages. Empeon provides comprehensive HRM and payroll software that automates every stage of the employee journey from recruitment, onboarding, management, and even retirement. Contact us today to begin your journey toward simpler, streamlined employee management.