To survive the war for talent, organizations need to be at the top of their game in recruitment, selection, and retention. Their processes and practices must be strategic, efficient, and have bull’s-eye accuracy. The pressure placed on them today to live up to these standards has caused some to rethink or even change their strategy

Unfortunately, research uncovered little evidence of such excellence in healthcare or in other industries. The quality of recruiting and hiring strategies and processes received, on average, a lukewarm evaluation by both staffing directors and hiring managers. Healthcare staffing directors rated the effectiveness of recruiting and selection systems at 6.4 on a 10-point scale. Hiring managers had an even less favorable view on recruiting (5.9), though they held a slightly more positive opinion of selection (7.0). Averaging across respondents, only nine percent rated either practice “top of the game” (9 or 10 on a 10-point scale).

Retention is a Serious Problem

The most efficient selection system in the world won’t help you meet your objectives if you can’t keep the talent you find. Unfortunately, retention continues to be a serious problem. A study of 110 healthcare providers found that more than two-thirds (69 percent) had moderate or great difficulty retaining critical-skill workers compared to only 43 percent of companies across industries.

Employees are staying a shorter time.

More than half (54 percent) of the Selection Forecast hiring managers expected that new employees would stay in their positions a shorter time compared to five years ago. The situation might be even more drastic than they realize. Only 10 percent of staffing directors thought new professionals would stay with their organization two years or less; most (55 percent) expected three to five years. However, the majority (58 percent) of candidates seeking healthcare professional positions thought that the organization should expect them to stay two years or less. Employers underrate poor treatment of employees and overrate external factors as causes of turnover.

The staffing directors and hiring managers underrated the importance of the third and fourth ranked factors
on the job seekers’ list: Feeling unappreciated and treated unfairly. These issues deserve much more attention from managers. One problem is that healthcare managers often are selected based on their technical competence rather than their leadership skills.

The biggest discrepancy between job seekers and others centered on the importance of external factors, such as accompanying a spouse in a move to another location or returning to school. Eleven percent of job seekers cited external factors as a main reason for moving on to another job, ranking it tenth in a list of 14 reasons. Yet hiring managers and staffing directors ranked external factors first.

Such a startling gap in rankings suggests that employees give face saving external reasons for resigning, not wanting to discuss painful disappointments or burn their bridges behind them.

Knowing the real reason that employees leave is a key to preventing short-term turnover, or “Hello, goodbye.” If too many “polite” explanations (such as external factors) keep turning up, beef up your exit interviews, or even better, outsource them to a third party. A disgruntled employee is more likely to open up to a neutral third party who can assure anonymity.

Learn More

Contact Jim Schneider, Senior Partner at 773.338.1389 or Click here to request more information.