Recruitment and Retention In Your Agency: Banging Your Head Trying To Figure Out Why It Doesn't Work?

September 14, 2021

What Isn't Working?

After being in agencies all over the US, there are definite patterns

consistent with those that struggle with recruitment and retention efforts. Let's look at 4 of the big ones we see.

Working with different generations: Right now, you may have employees who are Baby Boomers and those who are Gen Zs as well as everything in between. When you look at how you handle employees, do you address things the same way you did 20-30 years ago even though the mix of employees has changed? A big reason people leave is due to agencies not understanding or working with what is important to them. If you cater to a specific generation of employee, then you will have a difficult time keeping all the others.
Interview Process: This also ties into the previous bullet point regarding generational issues. Think about those currently involved in the interview and hiring process. If you sat in on an interview with a Gen X employee, would the dialogue from the interviewer sound the same as if he or she was interviewing a Gen Z? Staff involved in hiring need to understand what is important from a generational standpoint to that employee to understand how to focus the interview. Make this a part of your coaching with staff who do interviews and hire. You easily miss out on great employees by not selling your agency in a way that makes your agency desirable to those in the interview.
Work Environment: This one is tricky. Our work worlds have changed. More people work from home than ever before and have proven to be as efficient if not better in many cases than being in the office. Losing an employee for having very rigid work restrictions costs you so much. Consider altering the time in and out of work for employees. Maybe your office is open from 8a-5p. You have an employee who is unable to begin work before 10am but is willing to work full time. Do you allow for work hours to stagger for employees? Do you allow working from home for those who still have to work with young children on home schooling? Maybe you have an employee caring for an elderly parent who needs to be able to take a block of time everyday from the work schedule that is more that your typical hour long lunch break? Do you allot for altered schedules for these employees? This is something we see happen a lot in agencies. The cookie cutter employee just doesn't exist today.
Personal contact with management: The complexity of our agencies has increased. We have merged with other agencies and therefore gotten bigger. We all are doing more with less. The one thing that has gotten lost is the contact between management staff and the employees. Do you remember when you knew every employee who worked for you? Can you still say that now? Administrative staff needs to find a way to stay connected to all employees regardless of what the employee's job role is.

Let Us Help With Your Recruitment And Retention Strategy:

At Kenyon Homecare Consulting , we help agencies analyze operations to help promote a successful recruitment and retention strategy. Although this article is just a small look into commonalities between agencies struggling, there are so many more ways an agency can promote job satisfaction and long term employment. Call us today at 206-721-5091 or contact us online to see how we can help you to improve work conditions and strategy within your agency!

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