ATLANTA: Care companies could improve worker retention — and significantly improve their bottom lines — by enhancing communication with staff, industry experts say.
The financial stakes are high for keeping employees on the payroll in assisted living, care environments and continuing care retirement communities.
Senior living providers face a variety of obstacles in recruiting and retaining workers, including increased competition from retailers, fast-food restaurants and other employers. While wages and benefits do need to be competitive, they do not need to be unreasonably high; in fact focusing too much on pay will not solve the turnover challenges with which many providers are currently grappling with.
1. Be honest and address rumors
Workers are attuned to challenges facing an organization, and keeping information from them only closes down communication, gives rise to rumors, eliminates a potential source of good ideas for how to improve the business, and makes employees feel that they do not have a voice.
One effective way to quash rumors and build open lines of communication is to play “Fact or Fiction” during staff meetings. Fact or Fiction is an open forum in which workers can pose any question and get an honest response. It enables leaders of a company to dispel rumors that might be undermining morale or causing unrest, such as that a building is being shut down or that the company is going to be sold. It also provides an opportunity to have conversations about important questions…