Leaders’ Strategies for Retaining their Healthcare Workforce

Retaining a pool of healthcare experts is critical to lowering healthcare costs while increasing quality. The ability to retain employees inside an organization has often been used as a metric of success. Agencies have worked hard to achieve this level of success by focusing on techniques that help people stay in the same employment for a long time. As a result, many tactics are used by leaders and healthcare administrators to reduce staff turnover by raising their level of happiness at work. The present study will use a qualitative case study approach to review the strategies that healthcare administrators in a midsize hospital in Jackson use to enhance retention of their healthcare professionals. Open ended research questions will be used to interview the 5 to 10 participants in the study. The primary research question used in the study will be as follows: what strategies of leadership are used by hospital management to reduce increase retention of healthcare professionals? Analysis of the results from the interview questions will be done through coding of the different answers provided by the participants. Discussion will be done through comparison with strategies used in other similar studies to enhance making the informed conclusions and recommendations.

Strategies Used by Leaders to Retain their Healthcare Workforce

Introduction

Trends in the economic and employment sector indicate that in past few decades there has been a reduction in the retention of workers. Research suggests that many reasons have been related to employees leaving and changing their places of work as they look for satisfaction through better terms of service (Bhattacharya & Ramachandran, 2015). In this way, ability to retain the workers within an organization has been used as a measure of success. Agencies have made efforts towards this level of success by focusing on strategies that help the employees remain in the same job for long (Bhattacharya & Ramachandran, 2015). More so, employers focus on retaining the present pool of workers to reduce the cost of training and to develop a new team to take up the gaps left in various positions. Consequently, within the healthcare settings, studies indicate that retention of workers is imperative to help maintain quality and effectiveness in care as they cater for the needs of the patients (Kirk et al., 2017). Therefore, those in the leadership positions are required to establish essential strategies that influence and motivate workers to remain in their jobs. As such, the focus of the qualitative case study is to identify the policies that those in the leadership positions within the healthcare systems apply to maintaining and retaining the pool of employees.

Background of the Study

Satisfaction of workers and their turnover is imperative for the success of the organizational goals and the retention of the knowledge base and skills within the healthcare system. In this way, organizations have made an effort in identifying essential strategies that contribute to the retention of workers. Fang et al. (2014) identified that success of agencies had been defined by their retention power as it is a way of reducing the cost of management. It is considered imperative for the healthcare professionals and other workers to be fully engaged in the workplace to be motivated to work and offer the best of their skills. Also, Scanlan & Still (2013) observed that the retention of professional healthcare providers in the system ensure that practical skills were utilized in the hospitals and reduction in costs through a decrease in the level of training. As such, the study showed that efficiency was maintained in the healthcare setting and that the quality of care was improved over time (Scanlan & Still, 2013). In this way, it is required that an organization’s leadership identifies strategies for engaging and retaining workers to ensure that the set goals are achieved, and success attained.

The ability to engage and retain the workers in an organization has been relating to the presence of sufficient leaders with necessary strategies for achievement of the set goals. Research has shown that there has been a high level of attrition and burnout for the nurse in the healthcare system through the leadership that has previously been set (Bhattacharya & Ramachandran, 2015). According to the review of studies by Weberg (2010), it was indicated that increased well being and satisfaction of nurses, as well as a reduction in the work stress and level of burn out, was related to the presence of transformational leadership within the organization. Similarly, the study by Jasper and Juma (2008) identified that leaders have a role in improving the level of practice, care and implementing change within the healthcare system.

Though multiple studies have been done to identify the role of leaders in enhancing retention of workers, few have had a focus on the healthcare sector (Weberg, 2010; Bhattacharya & Ramachandran, 2015). Also, most of the studies fail to establish the specific strategies that the leaders used in ensuring that they maintain and retain their pool of employees (Rose & van Rensburg-Bonthuyzen, 2015). The identified plans included engagement of the workers in the activities of the organization, on the job training, a balance between work and life, rewards and compensation. The leaders are therefore needed to have the knowledge of the situations that affect the well being of the employees within their organization and establish strategies that are specific to them. They need to be useful in identifying the policies that affect their employees negatively and make necessary efforts in engaging them.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to explore the strategies that leaders in the healthcare sector can use in retaining their pool of employees. It will be imperative to understand the factors within the administration of the healthcare sector that attracts and enhance the retention of the healthcare providers. The study will describe the relationship between the skills and strategies used by leaders in healthcare and the effect on the outcome of patients.

Problem statement

Various studies have indicated that the recruitment and training process of new employees is costly and could hinder the process of growth and attain the set goal. In the healthcare sector, increase in the employee turnover has been related to the rise in training and recruitment costs and therefore the reduction in the level of profits made in different hospitals and clinics (Rose & van Rensburg-Bonthuyzen, 2015). According to Wong, Cummings & Ducharme (2013), an increase in employee turnover within the hospitals could lead to an effect of the cost of care for the patients. The failure of the administrators and leaders in the healthcare sector to identify a method of management that impacts positively on the lives of the workers is seen as the primary reason of the high turnover and rise in costs of care (Wong, C. A., Cummings, G. G., & Ducharme,2013). The 2014 statistics on employee turnover indicated that an increase to 1.5 million resulted in the rise in value and training for replacement of the specific position to about $250 million (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2014). In this way, it was identified that the strategies used by the hospital administration in management were poor through the lower level of engagement provided to the employees leading to a high rate of turnover.

An interview with most of the healthcare professionals indicated that the leadership strategies used by the managers were not sufficient since they led disengagement of employees and low levels of satisfaction (Prati & Pietrantoni, 2014). The general business problem presented through studies is the action that hospital administrators and leaders take part in managing the increased cost of patients care and the turnover rates of employees. The specific problem is unidentified effective strategies that healthcare leaders could use in reducing the employee turnover and increased their level of engagement.

Significance of the Study

Based on the effect of employee turnover on the cost of care in the healthcare system, the study is vital in establishing the best strategies that leaders could use in retaining the pool of professionals. As indicated by research, healthcare professionals need to be engaged in the decision-making process to enhance their level of care (Rose & van Rensburg-Bonthuyzen, 2015). The study will, therefore, use qualitative methodology to allow the researchers and study participants to gain an understanding of the specific factors that lead to employee retention. As such, the study will go a long way to establish an understanding of the best strategies that employers could use in maintaining the morale of workers and help them enjoy the work they do as they offer the best quality of care to the patients. It will be a way through which a foundation if the primary methods to be used by leaders in different hospitals to ensure that employees turnover is significantly reduced.

On the other hand, establishing necessary procedures that could be employed to the on the job training, the study will enhance the change in kind of management used by workers. It will strengthen the attachment of value to the needs of the employees to give them satisfaction in the healthcare settings as they offer quality care to the employees. Since the study will explore strategies used by senior healthcare leaders, it will be imperative in establishing the best way through which other organizations could be involved in procedures that impact on the lives of most of the employees. Furthermore, it will be essential in protecting the rights of employees in the workplace as it will ensure that the condition of work is critical in providing care to all.

Nature of the Study

The study will explore the leadership strategies used by healthcare administrators and therefore the use of a qualitative research design. Through the use of qualitative research design participants will gain an understanding of the best strategies used. Moreover, the study does not collect any numerical data and therefore appropriate for the current study. On the other hand, it could not be essential to use mixed methods as the survey is aimed at finding out solutions that could help build the retention of healthcare providers and not the need to understand the issue at hand. Use of numerical data similar to quantitative studies disqualifies its use in the present study since the aim is to identify the best strategies for those in the leadership positions.

The study will, therefore, use a qualitative case study as the most appropriate method in exploring the specific strategies. The technique is imperative in making an in-depth examination of study participants and factors that enhance the study of a particular phenomenon (Yin, 2013). In this research, it will improve a description of the specific strategies used by the leadership to define and address the issue of employee retention. It is through the study that best practices will be explored and set to enhance the understanding of their application in various healthcare sectors. It will also be imperative to make decisions on the different ways that management, the staff, and patients can be satisfied through the available strategies and enhance their engagement in various activities within the organization. As shown by Yin (2013) the use of case studies in qualitative research is essential to have a broad assessment of the situation through the developed contextual framework. The provision of in-depth data from a qualitative case study enhances its use in the present study as it explores factors necessary for the top healthcare leaders. It will use in-depth interviews and focus group discussions on examining the present elements within an organization that attracts healthcare providers to retain their positions.

Research Questions

The primary research question used in the study will be as follows: what strategies of leadership are used by hospital management to reduce increase retention of healthcare professionals?

Interview Questions

The study participants will include 5 to 10 healthcare leaders in a Mid-sized hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. They are required to respond to a semi-structured questionnaire that provides open-ended interview questions to help define the knowledge, skills, experience, and perspective of the healthcare leaders on necessary strategies to improve the retention of their pool of workers and reduce frequent turnover. In this way, the participants were required to respond to the following interview questions:

In what ways do you ensure that the pool workers at your hospital are maintained?

What have you identified as the primary cause of the employee turnover within your hospital?

According to your experience in leadership, what are the strategies that you have encountered used by those in leadership to maintain the number of employees?

What strategies have you employed to increase the engagement of the healthcare professionals?

What, strategies in the engagement of the healthcare professionals have you considered important in contributing to their retention?

What are the strategies you have used to engage and retain workers within your department?

What barriers have you encountered in your effort to retain the healthcare workers within your department?

How have you been able to address these barriers to success?

How do you monitor the success of the different strategies you employ in your department?

Has it been possible to engage and main the pool of healthcare professionals within your department with the implementation of the strategies?

What were the most appropriate strategies you used that you believe enhanced the satisfaction of your staff?

What another factor that we have not discussed that you would consider adding to the help me understand the best of strategies for employee retention?

Conceptual Framework

The study will use the framework will employ the structure presented by the two-factor theory on motivation and employee satisfaction (Alshmemri, Shahwan, & Maude, 2017). The approach will be applied in the present study to measure both satisfaction and dissatisfaction of employees in their place of work. Herzberg wanted to establish an understanding of the source of joy for the employees as he considered the effect of the attitude of their motivation through a description of the surrounding situations. He studied the specific characteristics of the workplace that contributed to the satisfaction of workers while other factors were established and related to dissatisfaction (Alshmemri, Shahwan, & Maude, 2017). The factors that were related to satisfaction included, the work environment, responsibility, achievement, and recognition if the workers among others. On the other hand, it considered factors that led to dissatisfaction such as salary, security, established relations with peers and management, company policies and level of engagement through supervision among others. As such, the model emphasizes the quality of work and its balance with life that may affect either the satisfaction of dissatisfaction of workers. In this way, it is considered that improvement of the quality of work-life will be essential in reducing the level of employee turnover in an organization (Alshmemri, Shahwan, & Maude, 2017). These concepts of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction will be employed in the conceptual framework of the present study\to measure the success of the established strategies. Therefore, the two-factor theory will be used to measure the different approaches used by study participants to maintain a high employee retention.

Definition of Terms

Employee retention: as indicated by Kam and Meyer (2015) it is the deliberation action of the workers to get separated and leave their present workplace due to different factors.

Engagement: it is considered an interaction of the attitudes and emotions of an individual to rate their job performance as influenced by either internal or external factors.

Healthcare administrators: those in the position of leadership, either directors or executives responsible for managing and organizing and delegating different activities in the delivery of care services.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory: it is a model that helps identify the factors related to employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction defined by the rate of turnover and retention of workers.

Quality of work-life: it is a multiple approaches of the attitudes of workers towards their working environment, provided training, safety concerns, payment, and methods of motivation, decision making, and career development opportunities among others.

Assumptions, Limitations, and Delimitations of the Study

Assumptions are considered facts that are presumed to be correct even though they are not verifiable to help justify the results of a study. According to Grant (2014), they are things that are accepted to be plausible without having the facts related to the condition. The present study will assume that the study participants will provide strategies that they have honestly used in their administration. Second, assumptions will be made that the health administrators will not be pressured by the organization’s management to respond to the interview questions in a specific manner. Finally, an assumption will be made on the relevance of the interview questions to help explore the particular strategies employed in retention of healthcare professionals.

Research indicates that the limitations of a study are potential setbacks that may not be possible to control with the choice of research design, funding, and other statistical models and may affect the final results in the research (Kam & Meyer, 2015). In the present study, results may be affected by the fact that data will only be obtained from a limited number of administrators, 5-10. Also, the thoughts of other staff members and the employees on the strategies that help improve their engagement may be essential but fail to be considered affecting the results. More so, the results of the study will not be sufficient to be generalized to the whole population due to the small sample size used. In this way, the results of the survey will only be adequate for use in the specific hospital setting included in the study. The limitations will, therefore, cause a constraint in the results of the study.

Schwarzfeld and Sperling (2014) identified that delimitations are specific boundaries that are set by the researcher to prevent having immeasurable outcomes. First, the study will be carried out in a clinical setting and not in any other areas. Second, interviews will be done on the healthcare administrators within the hospital only to explore the strategies they use in retaining the healthcare professionals in their position. Third, the study will just use a small sample size of 5-10 healthcare administrators in ensuring that both time and cost of research is reduced. Finally, the study participants will be from one location, a midsize hospital in Jackson, Mississippi to help limit the geographical difference.

Data Analysis

Analysis of the results from the interview questions will be done through coding of the different answers provided by the participants. I will then discuss the results based on the various themes that are identified in the interview. A summary table of the participants and the different strategies identified will be used to present the overall results of the study and the possible applications in a clinical setting.

Discussion

The discussion of the results of the study will be done through the comparison with other similar surveys in healthcare. As shown by Gallego et al. (2015) different strategies have been identified and could be used in retaining the healthcare professionals through engaging them in the essential decision-making process of the organization. The study indicates that proper recruitment procedures, selection of the healthcare professionals, on job training and high leadership relationships are important in reducing the rate of turnover and increasing retention (Gallego et al., 2015). Similarly, other studies will be included in the discussion of the results from the present study to help make changes in the study setting and incorporate strategies that improve the quality of care for the patients. Additionally, discussion of the results will help identify the necessary recommendations to be made in the healthcare settings and to increase engagement of the healthcare professional, their satisfaction, retention and therefore a reduction in the turnover rate.

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