3 Tips for Happier Senior Care Employees in the New Year

Happy is a word we hear used a lot during the holidays. I started to think about the meaning of “happy,” and found myself singing the Pharrell Williams song, “Happy,” and then thought of a smiley face icon and the dictionary definition of “happy - being delighted or pleased”.

As these thoughts began to fade, my daughter called and mentioned that she’s unhappy at work and looking for a new job. It occurred to me that we, in the long-term post-acute (LTPAC) profession, would benefit from focusing on happiness as a retention strategy. 

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, wrote a book entitled Delivering Happiness. In it, Tony outlines his vision of how a very different kind of corporate culture can be a powerful way to build success. He describes how Zappos applies research from the science of happiness to running its business. This may sound a little weird and out of the box, but Tony Hsieh built a company with over $1 billion in gross revenue (in 2009 when Amazon acquired the company) by focusing on building a strong corporate culture of happiness, and “by taking care of the needs of his employees, so they’re inspired to take care of the needs of their customers”.

What creates happiness? In general, most humans need to feel appreciated, whether it’s in personal relationships or in the workplace. As leaders, we need to constantly identify ways to demonstrate appreciation; anything from a simple thank you to more formal recognition programs can go a long way toward building happiness in our workforce.

However, happiness is subjective. In other words, what makes one individual happy may not make another. This gets to my second point which is the need to know your staff. Meet with them on a regular basis and find out what makes them “tick.” The understanding you gain from really knowing your staff will enable you to work with them to design strategies to meet their needs. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy toward building a happy workplace; however the following are a few ideas for you to consider.

1. Flexible schedules that allow for work life balance: Baby boomers that are getting toward the end of their careers as well as staff with children at home may be looking for flexible schedules and assignments. On the other hand, staff with children in college may be looking for more hours to help pay for tuition.
2. Professional growth opportunities through career ladders: Most staff would like to be in a job or career that has growth opportunity. They don’t want to feel that they’re in a dead end job. It’s possible to build in career ladders for all staff. For example, CNAs can start as generalists and go on to specialize in areas such as dementia care, rehab or mentoring new CNAs. Add a change in title and a pay increase and you have the beginnings of a CNA career ladder program.
3. Onboarding strategies that help create a sense of belonging: We all want to feel connected in our workplace. Studies have shown that the number of good friends an employee has at work is correlated with how engaged the employee is and how willing they are to stay in their job. Evaluate your onboarding process to determine how well it works toward getting your new employees together with their peers. Is your process all about policy manuals and regulations or do you incorporate group activities and peer-to-peer interaction and learning? A well-designed onboarding program is vital to improving retention because many employees leave during their first 90 days of employment.