Retention and Recruitment Commitee

OC_An Khe · Jul 16, 2004

You need to be economically competitive with other areas of Nursing. This includes not only salary but retirement and other benefits. If you don't at least do this then nurses won't even begin to explore working in LTC. Then look for value added perks and employer paid perks like self scheduling, repetitive schedules, no mandatory OT, maid service, laundry pick up, day care reimbursements, no weekends or weekends only, no shift rotation.

Remember it is always cheaper to retain your existing staff, even at a significant increase in cost, then to pay for recruitment on top of increased costs.

jschut, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2004

We already have the no mandatory OT and the week work or weekends only in place. I'm trying to work on the day care thing, also to have a "sort of" day care in house....

KacyLynnRN · Jul 16, 2004

As someone who worked a very short time in LTC, I know what drove me out of it...staffing levels! Often I was expected to have 50+ patients with 4 CNA's and maybe 1 QMA if I was lucky and that was too much for me. So adequate staffing levels are crucial.

Also...you might want to consider quarterly or bi-annual bonuses if this is possible...and make them tied into attendance levels as well...this might not only help with absenteeism, but motivate people to stay.

Doing occasional special things for the staff...such as parties, outings, etc. really helps to increase staff happiness and make the staff into more of a close 'family.'

Last but not least, it is great to work somewhere where your boss really supports you...hopefully your ADON and DON are supportive of staff.

I know in my own experience, my coworkers and the atmosphere at work can make or break me. If it is bad, I will probably leave. Yes, money's important too, but maybe not as important as being happy when I go into work. JMO! :)