In 2018, Presbyterian Homes Inc. of North Carolina (PHI) started looking more seriously and strategically at its workforce.
Armed with information from a LeadingAge Center for Workforce Solutions survey, along with noticing increasing turnover in its own communities, Vice President of Human Resources Mark Collins said the senior living provider decided it needed a full-time person leading its recruitment and retention initiatives.
Kelli Underhill, a former community mentor and nursing home administrator for one of PHI’s communities, took on the role of director of workforce recruitment and retention in 2019. She talked about the evolution of her role and PHI’s workforce initiatives during a Wednesday LeadingAge membership call.
“Before the pandemic, our thought process was probably ‘Help!’ ” Underhill said. “During the pandemic it was ‘HELP!’”
Although hiring continued during the pandemic, albeit at a lower level due to lower occupancy, Underhill said that PHI now is experiencing recruitment pressures as society begins to reopen. As are other providers, PHI is competing for workers with Amazon, Target, McDonald’s and other businesses.
Working with Magnet Culture, the senior living provider shifted its whole focus on hiring with this realization: use retention as your No. 1 recruiting tool.
“Retention is the target,” Underhill said, adding that the focus for the past year and a half has been on employee development through its PHI University and its Leadership Academy.
The idea behind PHI University, she said, is to provide development to employees at all levels. “We really need to focus on what they need and what’s beneficial to them,” she said.
Although the pandemic pulled resources and attention away from workforce development, Underhill said the organization made a conscious effort to continue development offerings. The initiative, she said, reinforced the ideas “you need that” and “you’re worth it.”
“We don’t have any magic answers, but I do think the pandemic really, in a positive way, shone a light on things we knew were important, but really made us aware in a different way,” Underhill said. “Caring for employees, not just related to wages and traditional benefits, but how we can care for them in ways that are really necessary and important to them.”
One employee initiative evolved from residents. Underhill said when some residents received stimulus checks, they came forward and said, “We don’t need this. How can we help?”
PHI used the donated funds to build up an employee assistance fund, targeted during the “more desperate times” of the pandemic.
“We were able to assist because of the residents and their focus and care for the staff,” Underhill said. “We were able to help a lot of our team members. It turned into something today that is really significant and will continue past the pandemic to assist employees.”
Another way PHI supported staff members was through a mobile communication tool, the Red e App, which 98% of employees use. Underhill said the tool feels similar to social media and text messaging and allows employees to access important resources at home.
The Leadership Academy, according to Underhill and Collins, was an idea borrowed from other providers and organizations.
“During the pandemic, it really helped us brainstorm with each other, with different organizations, with folks within our communities, and talk about things in a different way,” Underhill said.
