Joanne Kaldy

On December 27, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that it intends to continue work on issuing a final standard that will protect healthcare workers from COVID-19 hazards. However, in a statement the agency said that it is withdrawing the non-recordkeeping portions of the healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS). At the same time, the COVID-19 log and reporting provisions remain in effect. These provisions were adopted under a separate provision of the OSH Act, section 8, and OSHA found "good cause" to forgo notice and comment in light of the grave danger presented by the pandemic. With the rise of the omicron variant, the agency is prioritizing the safety of healthcare workers and efforts to prevent the spread of the virus. OSHA strongly encourages all healthcare employers to continue to implement the ETS’s requirements to protect employees from a hazard that too often causes death or serious physical harm to employees. [Read more...] about (12/30) OSHA Withdraws Part of COVID-19 Healthcare Emergency Temporary Standard But Will ‘Vigorously Enforce’ Other Parts

With a new year come new goals, hopes, and opportunities. Many of your workers are thinking about their future and wondering what you have to offer them. You can show them that you care about them and support their ambitions with these steps:

• Take a personal interest in employee career goals. Talk to your team members about their goals and how you can help them fulfill them. Create a list of 2-3 deliverables that you will work together to achieve.
• Promote training and development. Alert team members to opportunities for online training and education programs, including webinars, podcasts, and virtual conferences.
• Encourage mentoring and job shadowing. Start by establishing a formal mentorship program if you don’t already have one. Engage employees who would be great mentors and give them the skills and training to be effective in this role.
• Rotate employee roles. Variety is the spice of life, and job rotation is an easy way to shake … [Read more...] about (12/29) 7 Ways to Support Employee Career Advancement

Strategize now for how you will be a great leader in 2022. Start with this checklist:

1. Focus on purpose. A good leader helps employees see and embrace a sense of purpose in their jobs. Consider how you will help people envision a higher reason or the efforts. Clarify goals and help people see how they can reach these.
2. Lead with a coaching mindset. We’re asking people to do more and take on new challenges in turbulent times. It is important for leaders to build workers’ self-belief and confidence in their ability to thrive.
3. Build a customer-focused culture. Now is a good time to rethink how your mission and goals create value for your customers. Realize that their needs likely are different today than they were two years ago.
4. Excel in the virtual world. Determine where your strengths are and where you need additional skills or training. You will need to be agile and comfortable communicating with team members, family members, residents and … [Read more...] about (12/28) Five Leadership Strategies For Thriving in 2022

The pandemic has taken a toll on workers, especially in healthcare settings. It is important to continually focus on burnout and fatigue and proactively seek ways to help your employees. Start by recognizing the signs of burnout:

• Detached, isolated, and distant behavior
• Moodiness, irritability, sarcasm, easy to anger, tearfulness
• Lack of empathy for others
• Lack of pride in work or sudden or increasingly poor work ethic
• Complaints of headaches, backaches, upset stomach, and/or muscle tension
• Increased alcohol or drug use
• Forgetfulness or loss of interest in work/life

• Burnout in someone else isn’t your problem. In truth, there is much you can do to help someone experiencing burnout. As isolation and feeling alone is a significant part of burnout, you can help by ensuring your teams feel supported and connected and have a true sense of … [Read more...] about (12/27) Beating Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in the New Year

Stress and anxiety among healthcare workers is back with a vengeance, according to survey data. Both nurses and physicians say burnout is higher than ever and continuing to take its toll:

• While burnout among healthcare workers was common before the pandemic, more workers say COVID-19 is behind their exhaustion and anxieties.
• Besides COVID, survey respondents cite other burnout drivers, including chaotic workplaces, after-hours workload, lack of teamwork, no personal workload control, lack of autonomy, overload of bureaucratic tasks, lack of training and/or shared values, and staffing shortages.
• Physicians most commonly say chaotic work environments are responsible for their burnout; nurse say the biggest contributor is after-hours workloads.
• Nearly a fourth (20%) of nurses say they’re likely to leave their jobs in the next two years.

Working on Christmas Eve/Day can be a morale buster for employees. But you can make it tolerable or even fun with a few creative ideas:

1. Decorate the workplace. Lights, tinsel, Christmas stockings, and other decorations can remind people of happy memories and make the office feel more festive and fun.
2. Be Secret Santa. Arrange for everyone working on Christmas to get a special gift such as a day off, a gift card for something they love to do, a book they’ll enjoy, movie tickets, etc.
3. Encourage ugly sweaters or silly holiday attire such as crazy hats or scarves.
4. Have an awards ceremony. Give a special shout-out to people who are working over the holidays. Hand out ribbons or sashes with a gift card.
5. Have special holiday goodies, such as gourmet treats from a local store.
6. Play different Christmas-themed games. Trivia games, treasure hunts, and other group activities can encourage teamwork and camaraderie.
… [Read more...] about (12/23) 10 Ideas for Christmas Fun at Work

Some provisions that benefited both employers and employees will be ending at year's end. These include:

• CARES’ safe harbor provision. This allowed high-deductible health plans to cover telehealth and other remote care services.
• CARES’ flexibility for Flexible Spending Accounts. This allowed workers to change their elections any time for pretty much any reason.
• ARPA’s higher dependent care contributions. The American Rescue Plan Act upped the maximum dollar amount employees could set aside for dependent care from $5000 to 10,500.
• ARPA’s six-month COBRA subsidy. This enabled workers to get unemployment if they couldn’t risk exposing family members or other cohabitants to the virus by working.
• Consolidated Appropriations Act’s unlimited carryovers. This enabled employees to carry over contributions made to DCRAs and FSAs for 2020 and 2021 plan years. Moving forward, carryovers will be limited to 20% of the statutory … [Read more...] about (12/22) 5 ‘Common-Sense’ Pandemic Provisions Workers Lose at Year’s End

This is a time of year to reflect and plan ahead, and employees and managers alike can take advantage of this to prepare for a bright future. For employees:

• Review your performance for the last year, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Prepare to discuss your achievements and contributions with your supervisor. Have specific examples.
• Solicit feedback from your colleagues about what you do well, what contributions you’ve made that have impacted them and what you might contribute in the coming year, and where you might make improvements.
• Identify any changes that have had a significant impact on you over the last year. How can you use this information to improve your work-life balance, enhance your working conditions, and upskill moving forward?

• Look for ways to give back to your community and identify specific actions you can take.
• Plan fun virtual team events – New Year’s … [Read more...] about (12/21) ‘Tis the Season – How Will You Make the Most of It?

We’ve learned from the pandemic that the future can change on a dime. Yet, we are always looking ahead in an effort to proactively anticipate what we will face. For the senior living industry, there are some knowns and unknowns worth considering as we look ahead:

• Occupancy hasn’t bounced back as much as we hoped. In the third quarter of this year, occupancy was almost 80.1%, compared with nearly 82.1% during the same time last year.
• Despite the pandemic, building has continued. About 42,000 new housing units came online in larger markets during the first quarter of 2021 alone.
• After some hesitancy due to the pandemic, older adults are renewing their interest in senior living. As a result, the majority of senior housing communities experienced an increase in occupancy in the second quarter of 2021.
• Operating costs increased due to problems such as rising labor and supply costs. However, higher rental rates on renewals helped offset these … [Read more...] about (12/20) Senior Housing: Positive Outlook With Challenging Unknowns