A positive company culture affects the bottom line and improves training, recruitment and retention, according to presenters at a Tuesday webinar hosted by Health Dimensions Group.
“It is important for us to have a thriving and productive workforce that really focuses on ways we engage our staff,” said Julia Eiland, the consulting firm’s vice president of consulting, people and culture.
Providers with a positive culture within the community, Eiland said, experience a recruitment fee reduction of 22% and cost-per-hire savings of 50%. Additionally, she said, 94% of prospective employees are likely to apply when they witness a positive company culture.
“Increasing employee engagement by 10% can increase your profits by $2,400 per employee,” Eiland said. “We all know that if you have a great culture, your retention is going to be dramatically increased.”
Revenues can increase up to four times faster with a positive culture, she said.
“You’re 28% more profitable,” Eiland said, “and then you have 36% more increase in employee engagement.”
According to Senior Vice President of Recruitment Services Sarah Friede, a strong recruitment plan is essential to recruiting and retaining workers in senior living and care.
She noted that more than 244,000 workers have left the nursing home industry since the start of the pandemic. Luring healthcare workers into the care space, she said, means the focus for employers needs to be on organizational culture.
The population of older adults is expected to double by 2030, which isn’t far into the future. And for the same year, the International Council of Nurses has predicted a global shortage of 13 million nurses.
“So we’re going to continue to feel the workforce shortage that we’re in and the strain to find these caregivers and these nurses,” Friede said. “As a result, we’re going to have to find more new and effective ways of recruiting new and retaining existing staff to meet the care demands. And this means increasing salaries, improving benefits, finding new ways to recruit workers and embracing innovative technology to aid in patient care.”
Effective strategies in addition to establishing a positive work culture, she said, include employee engagement programs, building strong leadership teams, fostering teamwork, strong communication, allowing for work-life balance, providing recognition and rewards for jobs well done, and offering development opportunities.
“Company culture is priceless, and it’s going to work to help not only attract and hire applicants but retain them once you have them in the door. You have to market this culture and brand on social media and use avenues such as reliable applicant tracking systems, and you can easily organize and track all of your open positions and your recruitment efforts,” Friede said.
“Use LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Share stories about your communities, and make sure to get followers to promote your brand,” she added.
Companies that are recruiting, Friede said, should follow what she calls the 80/20 rule: spend 80% of the time finding and recruiting applicants and building a pipeline and 20% of your time interviewing potential candidates.
