40% of your care staff quit within their first 100 days on the job. Recruit to retain to save hundreds of thousands of dollars and pull yourself out of the revolving doors of recruitment and retention for good.
I&R doesn’t stand for rest and relaxation; instead, providers are finding themselves caught in the revolving doors of recruitment and retention. Three quarters of all providers had to turn down cases last year due to the care professional shortage—and it’s having negative repercussions on their business.
The average home-based care provider spends approximately $174,174 on turnover costs a year, while the typical senior living provider forks out over $210,000 to replace their staff annually.
To make matters worse, almost half of this turnover occurs within the employees’ first 100 days on the job. Meaning you’re spending about $200k on employees who last about 12 weeks.
That’s about $2,000 a day.
The doors stop here.
This article will help you combat these high costs, double your number of qualified applicants, and increase employee retention by as much as 65% as we walk through:
What makes turnover a never-ending cycle in this industry?
What do today’s top candidates need to stay long-term?
What can we do to stop this downward spiral for good?
The Two-Pronged Problem of Recruitment & Retention
Post-acute care ranks in the top five industries with the highest workforce shortages—but why?
1. It’s extremely hard to get qualified candidates in the door from a shared talent pool.
2. It’s even harder to convince them to stay.
You may initially think the solution to your recruitment and retention woes is as simple as offering higher wages. With that in mind, let’s review the following best practices for recruiting top candidates and keeping them around for the long haul.
5 Best Practices to Recruit Like Your Retention Depends on It
Respond to candidates within the first 48 hours of application.
Applicants are 57% less likely to interview if they don’t receive a response within 48 hours of applying. After 48 hours from application, an applicant is 57% less likely to interview. Which means, you need to respond to an applicant within this timeframe, or you lose your chance at the best candidates on the market.
Automated recruitment and hiring tools improve efficiency, combat interview no-shows, and put you in position to secure the important first interview with top candidates.
Don’t just respond with email—take advantage of phone calls and text messages.
Respond to any questions that indicate “employment intent,” or those who are serious about your job opportunity, with an immediate phone call and text message.
“Employment intent” questions include questions about pay, shifts, hours, and qualifications.
Immediately call every candidate who books an interview.
Candidates who book interviews are engaged, qualified, and ready to be hired. These are the applicants who are worth your time. Call them immediately to build a rapport. Answer their questions first, then ask your own.
Ask the candidate to promise that they will give your opportunity a shot. While not enforceable, this builds an extra level of connection and accountability.
Make sure your company is the candidate’s next interview because, remember, after 48 hours a candidate’s chance of attending the interview decreases drastically.
Be available for interviews every day.
Schedule at least three hours a day, four days a week, for interviews.
This formula:
- leverages the “speed-to-job-offer” advantage
- Increases your chances of being the critical “next” interview
- Ensures your competitors don’t snag your top recruits due to scheduling conflicts
Keep hiring paperwork simple.
Make it easy on the candidate. Only collect the minimum qualifications you need to decide if a candidate will progress onto the next stage of the hiring funnel.
Full application, background checks, and references can wait until just before or just after a conditional offer.
5 Best Practices to Retain Your Newly Recruited Employees
Tyour KPIs and Establish a Benchmark to Reach
A good KPI benchmark for new-hire turnover is 40%. To calculate your new-hire turnover, take the number of new hires that leave before day 100 over a designated timespan and divide by the number of new hires acquired in that same timespan. Benchmark your performance to industry-standard with the HCP Benchmarking Report.
15th Annual Edition of the HCP Benchmarking Report
The industry wants to hear from you! Add your voice to years of historical industry data for our 15th Annual Edition of the HCP Benchmarking Report. Complete the survey by February 29,2024 for a FREE digital copy of the 2024 Report.
Enhance Onboarding and Training
Employees are 23% more likely to stay at their jobs if their manager clearly explains their roles and responsibilities. Slow down and make sure your employees are getting a solid foundation that helps them thrive within your company.
Collect Systematic Feedback from New Hires
Let those who submit surveys know what you’ve learned from their comments and what you’re going to do to reduce negatives or maintain positives. If you don’t respond to their feedback, it’s likely your employees will stop giving candid comments, because they’ll feel like it is a waste of time.
Use third-party surveys like Retain to obtain unbiased feedback at important employee milestones.
Give Recognition
According to the 2023 HCP Benchmarking Report, Recognition Received (or lack of it) was the top employee complaint in 2022. Recognition is a simple act that goes a long way with employees. Let people know they’re doing well and share it with others publicly.
Create a Culture of Love
In a service-based industry like post-acute care, the emotional state of employees heavily influences how customers are treated. Consider implementing company policies that foster greater affection, caring, compassion, and tenderness among workers.
Keep your employees engaged and on the job.
Retain is the ultimate tool for reducing employee turnover rates, especially during the first 100 days when the risk is at its peak.
From 12 Weeks to 12+ Months
What is the difference between employees who stay 12 weeks versus those who stay over 12 months?
It comes down to getting the right candidates in the door and nurturing them from their first day of onboarding to the day they’re referring others to join them.
Watch our on-demand webinars to learn more about the dynamic recruitment and retention duo, Pre-Intent and Retain.
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