Workforce Stability and Strategies for Retention

(bright music) - This is Lab Medicine Rounds, a curated podcast for physicians, laboratory professionals, and students. I'm your host, Justin Kreuter, the Bow Tie Bandit of Blood, a transfusion medicine pathologist at Mayo Clinic. Today we're rounding with Jennifer Storlie, operations manager of inpatient laboratory services at Mayo Clinic here in Rochester, Minnesota, to talk about a topic that's currently on the front of mind for many healthcare organizations.

We'll be talking about workforce stability and strategies for retention. Thanks for joining us today, Jennifer. - Yeah, thank you for having me today. - So let's kinda start off with, why is workforce stability

such an important topic for healthcare right now? - Well I think, any level of turnover creates an opportunity for an open position. And dependent upon your staffing levels, you may be able to absorb that open position for the time being until that can be filled. But eventually for many, if you have too many open positions that can cause this imbalance in the work unit. So, now you've created a hardship, and just to be able to provide that quality of healthcare for patients becomes jeopardized.

So, then if we look at turnover rates and not having the staffing levels needed to run a work unit, there's also such a large cost associated with it. And so, beyond the cost, then you're asking staff to pick up additional hours, over-time. There may be reduced opportunity for PTO. Now you're creating burnout. You've got unsatisfied staff because of the workload that they're having to maintain. And it just becomes this continuous need that we have.

And when you have a continuous turnover or needs for hiring of new staff, there's also this great need for training. Bringing in new staff, so now you're training. And when we're training staff, we know that we have lower productivity. And losing staff that have that experience level, it's just, it's unfortunate. They've got a certain skill level that when it's lost, it takes a while to be able to get that from a new hire.

So, then we're growing those new hires to gain the skills and the knowledge that's needed. And I think we're constantly adjusting to that inefficiency as well with the productivity. And sometimes, they'll say, I'm in phlebotomy, so it'll be like, well turnaround times for testing what's going on. And it's like, well, collections were taking a little bit longer. We've got newer staff in certain units, so there might be additional errors or just asking a lot of questions.

You're usually taking two people off the floor to train that one person. So there's just a lot with it. If we had that stability, we wouldn't have to continuously be looking at hiring. And I think hiring is not all bad when you're bringing on somebody new to a work unit unit. But when you have an influx of it, when you have that large turnover, then it can cause some other issues.

- Wow. I think you shot me right through the heart when you were talking about the delays in lab draw as a transfusion medicine doc. There are certain patients that I absolutely am looking for kind of a post transfusion platelet count within one hour of transfusion. But I think as you were kind of talking about though, why is this important?

I had this vision of dominoes as you were talking about how this kind of starts as one thing really cascades into so many other domains that we know are important. Like, what is the wellbeing of our workforce? And I can only imagine what it's like trying to train a new employee and welcome them into your culture if the work unit is really strapped with work. - Yeah, I mean, so we talk about positive onboarding experiences for staff and we really wanna give that to those new hires.

But you're right, when you're just struggling to collect the next order or get to the next patient to meet the needs of what you're expected, that can be a challenge. So we're always trying to balance which need is greater at the moment, and it's just a continuous balance. It definitely is. - Let's dive into that a little bit. So what are, let's kind of get our hands around what are a couple of those current kind of challenges?

Maybe a few with hiring and then a few with retaining some of these quality employees. - Well, we're talking about healthcare. So we've got a skill level that's oftentimes needed. So it's not just the skill level, but then we've also got education. You're not just hiring anybody off of the street, for the most part, to fill healthcare positions. So that can be a challenge when you're out there recruiting. And to be honest, it's a very competitive market right now.

I think that we can all agree that as we've gone about our day-to-day lives, we see it in restaurants and retail shops and businesses. They're all struggling to have enough employees to be able to just run the day-to-day business, just to keep operations going. So we need to look into how do we fit into that? Are we competitive? Do we have the right pay and benefits? And are we meeting the needs and expectations of what potential new hires are looking for?

And I feel like we're seeing a shift as well where employees are saying, what can the company do for me versus what can I do for the company? So there's a little bit of different of a shift in the culture too of what people are asking for in a job and a career. And perhaps what might have been a good benefit a couple years ago might not be so relevant today. And I think it's just constantly adjusting to what is it that people are looking for.

I think we're looking for, we're healthcare, so we want people who are helpful and to fit into our rich ties that we speak of. But a lot of companies are wanting good quality candidates to come in through their doors. So there's that competition that we're continuously needing to vile for. And I think being present in social media in the appropriate context, what does that look like?

So that we're connecting with the right audience and that we're creating pathways for job opportunities that are attainable is gonna be really important as well. And as we reach out, making sure that we're intentional with recruiting. Are we recruiting a diverse workforce or are we missing an opportunity there as well? So as we look at even our current staff

and our new hires, I think it's really important that we understand, is there a level of engagement? Do employees feel empowered? Do they feel like they've found that good career fit that's meeting their expectations? I think there was a mindset when you work for Mayo, and it's like, now it's like, but I still wanna be happy in my job. I want it to be a good fit. I want it to fulfill my day. So I think there's a lot more of looking at that and not just that you work for a certain company.

- I'm curious, I apologize to interrupt you. - [Jennifer] Yeah. - There, I'm curious about, as you were talking about what a company perk, what a perk of the job was in the past may not be relevant now. And I'm kind of curious about, what are your thoughts about how do you kind of keep your fingers on the pulse of what really are the current needs and interests of the workforce? What's the way to, I guess to be a constantly evolving organization?

- Well, I think that you really need to be able to listen to what your employees are saying. Pick up on those key indicators when they talk. We do have the benefit of having a Sirota survey where we do get feedback, but also just including your employees on those day-to-day decisions so that you can hear what they're having to say. They're the ones out there doing the work.

How important is it to bring back to the work unit and share with their managers so that you can constantly even evolve what's needed in the team?

Making sure you're keeping that communication open. And then are we truly being flexible? We talk about this flexibility and then having this work-life balance, but what does that look like? And in healthcare, we can't just send the patients home because it's a holiday or a weekend or we just don't have staffing today. We're not like a restaurant where we can tweak our hours

and we're not gonna open at this time. So we have to have staffing around the clock. And how do we meet those needs? It's really important to listen to what people need as they have daycare struggle issues and they're going to school.

And so there's all these family dynamics and personal dynamics that we're just, you really, it's really important that you're just listening to your employees and making sure that the best, that the way you can to best meet the needs of the patient matches what the best needs of the employees are. And I think that's what you just constantly. You can't be like, well this is set in stone, this is gonna be 2023's plan. It's continuous involving.

- And I imagine that is this, I'm kind of curious for how does this look like so our audience can kind of get a little bit more of what your experience has been. Is this something that, this constant listening to employees, is this something that is a regular topic of discussion with management meetings about what we are hearing from our employees?

Or is this something that's more informal that you're meeting with some of the leadership for your group, reflecting on what you are hearing from employees in meetings? What does that look like? - I think it's a combination because really, you're gonna know if something's not going well because there's gonna be that communication. You're just gonna hear that chatter in the work unit. But I think a lot of work units have adapted to also having huddles.

And so those are great opportunities to just quick spend a few minutes connecting with the team. What are some quality issues, safety issues? What's not going well in the work unit? What is going well in the work unit? And when you're having those huddles, it also allows you an opportunity then to really connect individually with those staff and be able to hear what those concerns are.

It's also like, I've always found it really beneficial too to just throw out an email and say you know what, I'm struggling with this. Or I see a lot of communication through Teams chat that looks kind of negative.

What could we do different? What are some suggestions? And then getting a team wrapped around that so that you don't continue to hear those issues, but that you grow and you enhance that process. And I think when you bring in staff and you allow them the power to be part of that, it shows that you're valuing what they do every day. It shows that you're valuing their opinion and their thoughts and that you're willing to create a work unit that is successful for them to come to every day.

Even if it is a little bit short with staffing. I think they're gonna be a little bit more open to putting in that extra effort if you can start to meet some of their needs as well. - Wow, this really resonates with me and I'm curious about as doing these huddles and why this resonates with me is I love this kind of engagement with the work unit. Is that oftentimes people may make suggestions that are great and brilliant but are gonna take a little bit of time to work on.

Maybe it's not even fully in our control of our work unit. And we can explore that. How do you handle and manage that in a positive way when employees are making these great suggestions, but like you said, you just can't on a dime change the work hours in many cases? - Yeah, so there's some things where I think we're not able to be as flexible with. We know we need to have X amount of staff on the overnight to care for the patients.

We can't really change that because that's the business need of the hospital. But things that we can do is when an enhancement comes forward. And you're right, sometimes things do take a little bit of time, sometimes they take longer than what you would like to imagine. But for instance, a staff member brought forward the concern about line draws not being able to be identified on the patient list. So I'll put through an epic change request, and then it's getting that employee involved.

So I had that person be involved on the meetings. Sharing forward. What would you like to see this workload look like? And then sharing it with the team, hey, this suggestion was brought forward. I'm sure others have experienced that this would be a benefit. - So you're really getting them integrated with the solution. So that person, that's what I'm hearing right, is they're really in the thick of it. - [Jennifer] Definitely.

- So they understand why something is taking some time and maybe even building some leadership skills in the process. - It's a great opportunity for that. There's no reason why they can't be part of an epic change request meeting. Have them sit in with, we use Soft for our collections, have them sit in on those teams. So that they can understand what is the length in between the meetings? How long does it take to get something? But they also start to understand the process of it.

And that way, they don't feel like things are just happening to them

but they can actually be part of that process and that change agent. And I think that's really big, and you don't have to have too many people involved where the communication starts to share and spread. So you have one or two people involved and they're sharing it with their close coworkers, it's shared in meetings and education events through huddles. And now everybody's aware of what's going on. What's the process, why is it taking a long time?

So I think think there are really those quick just do its, and anytime you can implement a just do it, that's fantastic. But sometimes for those longer projects, I think just getting the staff involved, allowing them to be part of the communication. I'll forward an email to them and say, hey what do you think about this? Just making sure they're engaged so that they know, oh, she didn't forget about this. This isn't on the back burner.

This is just what this process looks like is really important. And I think you're right, you grow those management skills and you allow them to be part of the process. And they're no longer just an employee that comes in, clocks in, does their job, and leaves. They're now an employee who's helping to make the work unit a better place. - So I wanna, I think you've probably, we've started to dip into some kind of these top recruitment strategies to kinda increase the stability of our workforce.

But I want to kind of call some attention and highlight to that. So I was wondering if you could kind of elaborate a little bit on some of your kind of top recruitment strategies. - Yeah, there is such a growth that I've seen and experienced this past year with recruitment efforts, and it seems like no suggestion or path really is off the table for discussion as long as it does have the potential to reach people.

So there's a lot of effort going into many strategies, and I'm sure there's even more happening across the organization. But some of the recruitment initiatives that are in place that I'm particularly close with working is we're doing advertising through local newspapers, billboards. There was one of the billboards by the fairgrounds, when we had this for phlebotomy, there was a picture of a couple of my old employees that made sure, hey, look you're on a billboard.

Let's get some excitement around this

so that they would make sure to share it with people. And then social media, making sure that we're utilizing those tools. 'Cause I think that's really important right now. We're also using Indeed hiring events. I have an all day Indeed event tomorrow that I'll be sitting at doing for interviews.

We're also doing handshake campaigns, advertising through high schools, making sure that we're connecting with those career counselors so that they know what kind of job opportunities are out there for students. Whether it is a degree needed or if it's just a training, that students have the different opportunities and are aware of that.

We're also working with recruiting agencies such as Velocity and Recruit Talent Inc. All with the goal so that we can share what our needs are and have this support network around us. Other opportunities that have been really great, as we know that Mayo's a larger institution, so we're sharing staff. We go to different departments, we get different jobs, but one of the things that you can do since you have that skillset set is keep them on as a supplemental or job two employee.

So that when they're able to, if they're looking into picking up additional hours, they can come back into your work unit and maintain that skill and help fill in some of those gaps. So that's been really great too. - Well, and so you're doing several, and maybe that's and understatement to say several different strategies. - Yes. - How do you assess that? Because I imagine that that's kind of a valuable information to know. Which of these strategies are more effective?

And maybe even it gets more specific than that, more effective in recruiting some of the top employees that you see engaged in the work unit. So how do you assess what do you wanna continue going forward? What's not really a good investment

of your time and resources? - Yeah, so we're fortunate enough to have HR recruiters that partner with us and they kind of help us manage some of that data. So if we do an initiative and we don't have any activity out of it, it's probably one that we might put to the side. And the thing about a lot of these initiatives is they might, they're gonna work differently for different areas.

So maybe some collections for phlebotomy is gonna have one path that's gonna work better and testing labs are gonna have a different outcome. So I think you also need to know who is it that you're recruiting for and separate that. So we may not be as successful in one area, but a testing lab might be very successful in that. So it is watching to see how many candidates are we getting out of there? How much activity, how much interest?

And then continuing to work, because you're right, it really is a lot. I am by no means a subject matter expert, but this last year, there has just been so many different recruiting opportunities I've been part of. And in the past, I've always been part of recruiting, but I did it more to connect with people and just share my love for what I do for my job. So it was a way for me to connect, share what I do, say, here's another career path.

But now it's really going out there and it's being that driving force and it's really being specific about what we need. What are we looking for? And like you said, just making sure we're using it the correct way. - Wow. I bet this conversation for listeners has really sparked some ideas 'cause there's, like you're saying, there's a lot of context specificity for what works, what might be getting done.

And so can you speak to some potential educational opportunities where listeners can learn more about this? - Sure. There's a number of career opportunities that are being discussed,

not only with how do we bring in top talent, but how do we grow our current staff and some educational pathways that'll continue to feed the needs of the organization. 'Cause we need to do both. But one way is bringing in people that have maybe the soft skill, and then doing some onsite specific training and creating those pathways where they can grow from one career field to the next. So for example, phlebotomy, we have two programs that we teach, that we teach you the skill.

And one is through the Mayo School of Health Science and the other is the Phlebotomy Assistant program, which they both offer specific training pathways to learn that phlebotomy skillset. But it's just really utilizing it for which one is right for you. And then being able to look at how do we balance the needs? So as our needs for phlebotomists grow, we're able to adjust the number of cohorts that we offer in a year or the number of students that we offer in a class.

And both programs have been successful this past year with meeting those needs. The Phlebotomy Assistant program is also offering training on all three shifts since that is a specific need. So that started for 2023. It's just to how do we grow to meet the needs of hires coming in? Maybe a day shift training program doesn't work. So now we're offering the evening and overnight, and hopefully we'll be able to fill those hires into those positions as well.

So development and education, I think it's only going to continue to grow and enhance as we better understand the need collaboratively in the healthcare field. - Wow. And I think that's another topic we'll have to invite you back for. I'm the medical director for a medical laboratory science program, and yeah there's a huge need, and how to expand that is a complex question. (laughing) So thank you so much. We've been rounding with Jennifer Storlie today.

Thanks for taking the time to talk about workforce stability and really kind of elaborate on some of those strategies for retention for our workforce. - Yeah, thank you for having me. - If you'd like to hear more about this topic, Jennifer will be presenting at the 2023 Phlebotomy Conference in April. So please visit mayocliniclabs.com/phlebotomy2023 for more information. And all of our listeners, thank you for joining us today. We invite you to share your thoughts and suggestions via email.

Please direct any suggestions to mcleducation@mayo.edu and reference this podcast. If you've enjoyed Lab Medicine Rounds podcast, please subscribe. And until our next rounds together, we encourage you to continue to connect lab medicine and the clinical practice through insightful conversations. (bright music)