The healthcare industry continues to grow because patient needs are expanding as individuals are taking more of a vested interest in their health. To support patients, hospitals and other healthcare facilities hire nurses who can provide high-quality care to their patient population. Because nurses are in such high demand, organizations are developing ways to retain them. In this article, we explain the importance of retaining nurses and provide some steps you can take to keep nurses in your organization.
Why is it important to retain nurses?
It’s important to retain nurses because when you’re able to fulfill staffing needs, patients are often healthier and happier and the organization can meet business goals. If you’re able to retain your staff, it’s also likely that they have high job satisfaction and therefore, may be more open to collaboration, communication, creative problem solving and skill-building. Organizationally, retaining nurses typically lowers the cost of training and recruiting, as there may not be an ongoing need to secure quality nurses.
How to retain nurses
Review these nine strategies so you can retain your best nurses, reduce turnover and improve the workplace:
1. Be strategic during the hiring process
The hiring process is usually a nurse’s first impression of the organization, so it’s important to develop a hiring plan that’s helpful, thorough and accurately reflect’s the organization’s values. To do this, you may consider performing these actions:
- Write a complete job description.
- Communicate well and keep candidates updated on the status of their application.
- Perform a comprehensive review of each candidate’s application.
- Read reviews from employees and candidates to gather feedback.
- Stay engaged with candidates during the interview.
2. Create a recognition program
Most employees, no matter what their job is, appreciate recognition in the workplace. Recognition can help employees feel like a valuable part of the organization, increase their confidence and motivate them to stay loyal to the company. Explore ways you can show employees you care about the work they do and appreciate their efforts each day. Your recognition program can include the ability for peers to nominate their coworkers, a mention in the company newsletter or gift cards to the individual’s favorite local restaurant.
3. Develop the right company culture
The right company culture can both attract new candidates for your open positions and retain the ones you hire. The culture of a workplace often has a direct impact on employee productivity, collaboration, creativity, problem-solving abilities and behavior. As a manager or human resources professional, you may be able to help develop a culture that makes all employees feel supported and able to perform their job duties to the best of their abilities, with the resources they need to do so.
When your current employees appreciate the company culture, they are more likely to refer other professionals in their network to opportunities at your organization, which can increase the number of quality nurses you employ.
4. Allow for peer interviews
By inviting other nurses to be part of the hiring process, you can gather feedback from these individuals that can influence your hiring decision. Since other nurses are the ones who will more than likely work alongside the candidate you extend a job offer to, it’s important that they feel comfortable with that person’s abilities, experience, skills and personality.
The more their peers approve of the candidate as a great addition to the team, the better chance the new hire has of succeeding in the position and enjoying their work too.
5. Listen to feedback
It’s important to gather and be open to feedback from your employees so you can understand more about the workplace from their perspective. This can help you cater to their needs and recognize where you can help the organization improve for the betterment of your staff. To gather feedback, you may conduct employee surveys, host sessions where everyone can participate in an open conversation about their motivations and ideas or ask exiting employees more about the reason for their decision. Consider requesting feedback regularly to ensure that you’re able to address any issues right away.
6. Encourage professional development
Another way to retain your nursing staff is by offering opportunities for professional development and advancement. Simply extending this option can help nurses feel confident in their ability to progress in their career. To support their desire to earn promotions and gain skills that can help them provide exceptional patient care, you can create training programs in the form of webinars or workshops. You can also allow your nursing staff to attend conferences where they collaborate with like-minded professionals and learn new topics and trends in nursing.
Rather than using their new professional development to look for a position elsewhere, many nurses appreciate the opportunities their employer provides and may become even more loyal to the organization.
7. Provide adequate resources
One responsibility nurses have is providing high-quality care to their patients. They are best able to do this when they have the tools, resources and supplies they need to complete their work. With these items, nurses can feel supported by their employer and able to be efficient and effective when performing their job duties. For example, a new technology that helps nurses chart their patients’ progress faster can give them more time to spend at the bedside.
Another way to provide nurses with the resources they need is by hiring a suitable number of additional nurses to support the needs of the floor or specific departments. Because nurses often work closely together and help provide care to each other’s patients when necessary, your current nursing staff may really benefit from having enough coworkers. Then, they are better able to allot the proper amount of time with each patient and have the opportunity to take breaks that will help them remain focused at work.
8. Create collaboration opportunities
Nurses typically work closely with their nursing peers and physicians, along with other healthcare professionals who may be present depending on a patient’s needs. These individuals can include physical therapists, social workers, medical technicians and surgeons. However, there are other individuals who nurses can work with to solve patient issues or enhance the effectiveness of the workplace and overall patient care. These collaboration opportunities may not be as obvious as the nurse-doctor one, but they can still be an important factor in enhancing communication, awareness, skill development and quality of care.
As an example, a nurse may benefit from working closely with the food service department so they can be sure to create a menu for a patient that fulfills their needs. Both employees can learn from each other and form a closer professional relationship that allows either one to approach the other with ideas and questions. Managers and human resources professionals can support a learning environment among coworkers.
9. Offer a competitive salary
Because nurses are usually in high demand, many organizations offer a competitive salary, sign-on bonus and an intriguing compensation package that may include extra paid time off, tuition reimbursement and company perks. Although your current staff members may enjoy working at your facility, it’s important to pay annual earnings that rival those of competing organizations. If salary is a major deciding factor for an employee, and they’re a nurse who greatly benefits the organization, you may be able to retain them by paying them a wage they’re happy with.
