May 17, 2016 | Jim Rubadue
It’s conference season and I recently had the opportunity to attend the Ohio Health Care Association’s (OHCA) annual conference. And even though my travel schedule has me ingratiating myself with the family, I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to meet face-to-face with our clients and other industry leaders to discuss their workforce challenges.
Two main issues were on the top of providers’ mind:
This years’ OHCA theme was “Building a better tomorrow for long term care.” I thought it was very timely as many long-term care providers are struggling to build and maintain a workforce that will bring them successfully into the future.
Our booth was swarmed with providers looking for knowledge, best practices and help getting prepared for PBJ. OnShift has been working closely with CMS, industry associations and providers to develop our Payroll-Based Journal Reporting software. And I’m proud to say numerous clients have already successfully submitted their payroll-based journal reports with OnShift.
We have also presented at numerous state and national associations on the ins and outs of the PBJ requirement. You can register to view the playback of one of those PBJ presentations here.
Workforce challenges are multiplied by the difficulty of attracting and retaining millennial talent. Many providers have yet to change their tactics to attract millennials to their organization.
At the conference I was able to present an educational session on this topic, along with Shelly Szarek-Skodny who is the CEO of Diversified Health Partners. We had over 200 people attend our session, which was titled “Winning the Millennial Market: How to Attract and Engage Millennials in Senior Care.”
It’s well established that millennials have some preferences that differ from the generations that came before, but what does that mean in a practical sense as you try to recruit and engage these individuals? We offered some background on millennials and how they think, the best ways to recruit them, and how to engage and keep your top talent. I’ll share the full slide show below, but here are some of the highlights.
You probably already knew that millennials are kind of obsessed with their smartphones, but are you using technology to recruit them? Social media like Facebook or Instagram can be a great place to post sponsored job ads. Shelley also suggested using social media to recognize staff for doing a good job, which can help retain existing employees and attract new staff to your community.
Offer millennials the chance to share their opinion and they’ll feel more engaged. Conduct regular staff surveys and then make changes according to results. Based on a poll of the session attendees, about half of the room were never doing surveys or were only doing them once a year. If that sounds like your organization, try to conduct surveys on a more regular basis. Start with quarterly surveys and go from there.
Work-life balance is of particular importance to millennials. They want time outside of work for personal priorities and they like to have input on their schedule and availability. Scheduling software that allows for easy schedule viewing, requesting open shifts and time off helps staff feel they have more control over their own schedule.
Changing your recruiting and engagement tactics is critical as senior care will continue to face staffing challenges. It’s important to review your current practices and take inventory of where you can improve your appeal to this important segment of the modern senior care workforce.
See for yourself why thousands of providers rely on OnShift’s innovative software for recruitment, hiring, workforce management, pay and engagement. Request your personalized demo today.
