Introduction
Employee retention in healthcare is an ongoing struggle. Health System employee retention rate has repeatedly dropped year after year. As of 2011, employee retention rate has maintained. This may not be the works of management or satisfied staff, a tornado hit the town’s sister hospital on May 22nd 2011 and completely put them out of commission. All staff within the Joplin radius must retain his or her job or opt to drive 30+ miles each way for commute. Upon approaching employees from Freeman, it is very rare to have an employee satisfied with his or her department, salary/benefits, working conditions, or management. This has been an ongoing situation, at least for the last 7 years I have been an employee. The problem is how to keep employees feeling appreciated and satisfied with their positions.
Background
Many employees were interviewed for the research of this paper. There were employees from different departments, race, gender and longevity with the facility. One hundred and two employees were asked the same questions such as: * Are you happy in your current position? * Are you satisfied with your current salary and or benefits? * Do you feel your manager plays an active role in the department? * Do you feel your department works as a team? * Do you feel you work in a high stress environment? * Are you currently seeking employment elsewhere?
Out of a hundred and two employees, only three were satisfied with their current position. Twenty eight employees were seeking employment elsewhere, another fourteen wanted to seek employment elsewhere if the commute were not so far. A staggering one hundred percent of employees felt they worked in a high stress environment and were currently dissatisfied with salary and benefits. The facility has not given raises for the last two years due to budget cuts, also paid time off has decreased and premiums for insurance have raised 11%. These are just a few benefits that have been removed. Also employees feel their job duties have increased and appreciation has decreased over the last several years. Registered nurses and nurse techs are taking more patients per shift. Physical therapy and respiratory therapist time with patients have decreased to fit more in their schedule through the day. Overall employees are feeling overworked and underpaid.
What are the main reasons for employee’s dissatisfaction or frustration in an organization? This is not a new problem. It is an age-old situation in which no one took this matter as a serious issue because the employees were not much ambitious and they were happy with what they had. But things have changed. New employees are not happy with what they have and what they get; they are in search of new achievements and are more ambitious. One of the most important reasons highlighted for employee burnout is job stress. The nature of work is changing at whirlwind speed. Therefore, the employees are stressed and with the workload and this job stress poses threat to the health of workers and in turn the organization suffers. Job stress leads to physical illness like loss of appetite, restless sleep, and a complete sense of exhaustion. At the same time, he will also undergo emotional depression. This state occurs when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resource and needs of the worker.
There may be some costs associated with employee turnover, which is unavoidable and occur in the normal course of business. When the employee's performance is below average and he doesn't contribute much for the organization because of his mental state, it may led to high loss of employee turnover. When the employee doesn't work up to the mark then the organization fails to meet the goal, thus the organization faces low productivity. When the employees are not recognized and valued by the organization then the employees morale becomes low or poor because he thinks that there is no use for him in working in