InFront on the Workforce

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Retention & Engagement

Provide a Welcoming Workplace as More Retirees Seek Employment

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Increasingly, when people turn 65, they aren’t interested in a gold watch and a rocking chair. Instead, they want a desk with a fully-loaded laptop. HR professionals need to be prepared to help retirees return to the workforce.

Burt Mustin, who passed away in 1977 at age 92, appeared in over 150 films and TV shows. What makes this so astounding is that he didn’t start acting until he was 67. Today, a growing number of seniors are following a similar path, seeking new careers and job opportunities after retirement. According to a Rand Corporation study released earlier this year, seniors are transitioning to post-retirement life in non-traditional ways—25.7% are staying in full- or part-time jobs past age 70, and 16.9% are leaving and then reentering the workforce.

Mom and Pop Benefits Can Win Employee Loyalty, Support Positive Parenting

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Recruiting and retaining moms and dads alike requires HR to understand what these employees need and want to successfully juggle career and family.

The competition for the best and brightest caregivers and other employees is tougher than ever. One way to get ahead of the curve is to ensure that you offer benefits that appeal to both moms and dads raising families.

Move Over, Millennials: Here Comes Gen Z

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You’ve learned how to recruit and retain Millennial workers; now you need the A, B, Cs of Gen Z.

The first wave of Generation Z graduated from college in the spring. There are about 65 million Americans in this group, the youngest of which are still in grade school. Nonetheless, this is your future workforce, and it’s worth getting to know them now.

According to author Mark Beal, Gen Z share some similar characteristics with Millennials. They are digital natives, community minded, and socially conscious. They also are competitive and driven to achieve. They’re team players who want to support the company’s goals, but they don’t want to be just a number or a face in the crowd.

How Holidays Can Improve Worker Productivity, Satisfaction

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Despite the distractions of festivities and other commitments, a recent survey says that workers actually claim to be more productive during the holiday season.

 

In a survey of more than 2,800 workers, 65% say they are more productive during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The study suggests Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco are the most productive cities during the holidays, while St. Louis, Des Moines, and Boston are the least productive. In the same survey, workers offer some common barriers to holiday productivity. These include personal and social commitments, greater year-end workloads, cold and flu season, and holiday shopping.

Successful Succession Planning in All Departments

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HR directors play a crucial role in helping C-suite executives plan for the next generation of corporate leadership, but don’t forget about the other departments.

Succession planning is often viewed as a company’s plan for assuring business continuity and brand strength when a member of the C-suite retires or leaves. But smart HR leaders will extend succession planning concepts across the company, especially for key positions within each department.

How to Perk Up Your Perks

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When it comes to perks, there’s a big disconnect between what employees want and what employers offer.

With unemployment at nearly an all-time low, HR departments can expect a tougher battle for quality talent. One way to entice applicants is to offer perks that will differentiate your corporate culture from others who are competing locally for the same employee pool.

When designing perks, the biggest mistake employers make is assuming they know what their employees value most. There’s actually quite a disconnect between what employers think are good perks and what employees actually want, notes global HR giant Robert Half, which surveyed more than 1,500 employees and 600 HR managers about corporate culture and perks.

Why Do Employees Leave?

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A national turnover report surveys the top reasons why workers choose to quit. Hint: There’s more to it than money.

More employees than ever are choosing to walk away from their jobs, putting pressure on HR teams to get a better understanding of what contributes to job satisfaction. In long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC), turnover rates are among the highest of any industry nationwide, exacerbated by severe pay disparities and a shortage of properly trained candidates.

So, what inspires an employee to stay? Surprisingly, it’s about more than money.

Show Me the Money

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How does your CNA wage structure measure up?

Attracting—and keeping—good talent in long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) is about offering great corporate culture, engaging work and competitive pay. And the pay is the deciding factor, many would say. Turnover rates are consistently high in the certified nurse aide (CNA) category, so HR departments across the LTPAC continuum need to pay diligent attention to what’s going on with hourly CNA pay rates locally, regionally and across the country.

CNAs are the workhorses of daily resident care, especially in assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing settings. As of July 2018, the national average pay for a CNA is about $15 per hour, although pay rates tend to swing from $14 to $17 an hour by region and care setting.

The pay rate differentials between CNAs and other nursing positions are dramatic, and those trends have remained relatively consistent for years. In some LTPAC settings, including continuing care retirement communities and skilled nursing, CNAs often earn less than half of what other nursing positions make per hour. While CNAs earn an average of $15, an RN could make $29 per hour or more, according to data published by Hospital & Healthcare Compensations Service with support from LeadingAge. In addition, there’s plenty of disparity among LTPAC sectors: CNAs earn consistently lower wages at skilled nursing centers across the country than their CNA colleagues in assisted living settings.

Regional pay disparities will surely be on the front burner for the next few years. “Several key players in the skilled nursing mergers-and-acquisitions space identified wage pressures as a key issue for providers in 2018, as the still-booming economy gives workers more choices and bargaining power,” notes a Skilled Nursing News article. How well your organization competes for employees locally and regionally could depend on the bargaining power of your CNA wage structure.

Creating transparency in wage structure

Having a clear, consistent wage structure for all hourly workers is crucial of course, but especially when it comes to CNAs, since their turnover risk is one of the highest in the sector. Ensure that HR departments are kept current on local and regional trends in wages and have a clear system and definitions in place to ensure consistency. Take all licensing, credentialing and experience levels into account.

Recruiting talent across state lines

Having trouble finding the employees you need locally? Depending on how the average CNA pay rates in your state compare, it can be a smart move to widen the employee search and tap into CNA candidate pools in neighboring states.

There’s a surprising variance in CNA hourly pay rates among states, even for the same job title and certification level. For example, CNAs saw a differential of more than $6 per hour nationally in 2016, ranging from $16.28 per hour in North Dakota to less than $10 per hour in Louisiana.

State size doesn’t always matter: While California consistently ranks among the highest-paying states for CNAs, Connecticut and North Dakota also are among the highest nationally, notes an article based on data from the Hospital & Healthcare Compensation Service.

Investing in “keeper staff”

Staff CNAs who show strong skills and consistent dedication are prime targets for education and retraining to elevate them to LPNs, a job title that often earns at least $22 an hour. Providing a program for personal advancement—whether via scholarship or shared cost increments—can be a big step in keeping an excellent staff member engaged in the quality of the organization.

Positioning your organization as a good employer means putting a competitive, defined wage structure strategy at the forefront of the recruitment campaign and championing that investment in quality skills throughout the employee’s tenure.

For more information on how your state’s average CNA pay rates rank nationally, check out the CNA Careers & Salary Outlook By State, published by Nurse Journal.

8 Brilliant Benefits

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Creative benefits differentiate your organization’s culture and keep staff smiling

If you want to attract and keep good staff, you need to think beyond just salaries and traditional benefits. Being innovative with benefits and perks can showcase your organization as a great place to work and give you a competitive edge in attracting and keeping great employees.

The Search for CNAs

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SNF, AL providers struggle to find quality CNAs—and federal/state regs aren’t helping

Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are the backbone of post-acute care. But finding quality CNAs to recruit is harder than it should be, provider organizations say.

As the demand for long-term and post-acute care services increases, providers are feeling the pinch in local markets where there is a lack of trained CNAs available. The 75-hour federal training requirement is difficult to fulfill in many regions, especially rural areas. Yet, 31 states require more training than the federal minimum—ranging from 80 to 180 hours. Amid the dearth of qualified CNAs, providers are often compelled to host their own training programs to ensure sufficient staffing.

But if a provider receives a civil monetary penalty of more than $10,484 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for survey deficiencies, the provider’s own in-house training programs can be suspended for two years, creating a “wag the dog” situation.

“The long-term care sector is facing many challenges today, but our members continue to provide better care than ever despite financial downturn and a tight labor market,” says Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association (AHCA), who has joined other post-acute care organizations in taking their frustrations to Capitol Hill. “That’s why it’s so important to tell policymakers that we need a predictable financial future and fair regulatory environment to survive the current economic climate.”[/vc_column_text][vc_infobox title=”How your organization can gain quality CNAs”]With an increase in the older demographic, competition is heating up for qualified nursing and nursing aide staff. Healthcare HR organizations predict that shortages will become worse.

By 2025, the long-term and post-acute care industry could find itself short by 95,000 nursing aides, according to the U.S. Healthcare External Labor Market Analysis, conducted by healthcare consultancy Mercer.

In order to become the provider that draws—and keeps—quality CNAs, consider offering one or more of the following:

  • Creative bonus structures and incentives for off-time
  • Opportunities for housing
  • Incremental educational stipends
  • Mentoring programs to foster onsite skills development and job satisfaction
  • Educational incentives to encourage CNA-to-LPN advancement

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