In many types of assisted living facilities such as nursing homes, staff turnover is a very prevalent problem. Unfortunately, the demands of the job in addition to constraints on compensation make it difficult for nursing homes to retain their best employees.
The way that nursing homes manage their workforces can make the problem worse. Moreover, a constantly changing staff can compromise the quality of care for residents.
Obstacles to employee retention
Compared to other healthcare workers, care providers who work in nursing homes receive much smaller wages. Some workers earn little more than minimum wage. Workers with training and experience eventually opt for better paying jobs.
While nursing home managers intend for low wages to be a cost saving measure, the cost of turnover is considerable. Onboarding and training new staff can take a lot of time and resources. In the long run, efforts to reduce turnover benefit facilities financially.
Consequences of frequent turnover
Turnover can lead to understaffing. As a result of chronic understaffing, working conditions become even more tolling on staff and can actually lead to even more turnover. Employees who work in an understaffed facility become disheartened by being unable to give residents the care that they deserve.
When employees have too many responsibilities and struggle to finish their work, it creates a greater likelihood of oversights or errors that result in harm to a resident. Also, putting new employees in situations that they are not ready for makes the risk of harm to residents considerably greater.
