Recruitment & Retention Strategies in Healthcare

July 4, 2022
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The health and social care sector faces many challenges. One such challenge is the recruitment and retention of health and social care staff. Having a shortage of staff can have far reaching consequences throughout the sector, both financially and on the quality of care being delivered to patients and service users. 

This article will outline some of the main causes of employee turnover and what strategies can be adopted to help employers manage the recruitment and retention of their workforce. 

What are the Causes of Employee Turnover in Healthcare? 

There are various reasons for high staff turnover, with many of these being longstanding systemic issues. The Health and Social Care Committee appointed by the House of Commons is currently undergoing an inquiry into workforce: recruitment, training and retention in health and social care. Investigating the issues surrounding employee turnover is vitally important as services try to build back stronger and clear the backlogs caused by the pandemic. 

The various issues staff face within the sector can often lead to increased stress and can have a cumulative effect on wellbeing and retention over time. Some issues include: 

  • Understaffing.
  • A lack of resources.
  • Not prioritising staff health and wellbeing.
  • A lack of sufficient training or skills.
  • Reduced opportunities and investment into career development and progression.
  • Heavy workloads.
  • A lack of flexibility with shift patterns and poor work life balance.
  • Poor working relationships.

The impact of these problems can all contribute to increases in staff turnover. Coupled with the high demand and high pressure environments often associated with health and social care, the risk of staff suffering from burnout is greatly increased. 

If you are not familiar with what burnout is and the ways it can affect people, take a look at our How to Promote Positive Mental Health for Healthcare Workers article for further insights into this all too common problem within the sector. You may also want to take a look at the government response to the Health and Social Care Committee report on workforce burnout and resilience in the NHS and social care. 

When it comes to avoiding burnout and many of the other issues facing health and social care workers today, robust and well planned recruitment and retention practices should be in place. This not only helps to ensure the most suitable and appropriate candidates secure vacant roles, but also that their career and wellbeing are nurtured and supported throughout their employment. 

How Might Employers Recruit & Retain Care Staff?

Working in the health and social care sector can involve working with a variety of different people, including those that are most at risk of harm from abuse or neglect. These individuals may be at greater risk due to a physical or cognitive impairment, the nature of the setting they are in such as a care home or hospital, or because they require care and support services. 

It is therefore imperative that employers follow a safer recruitment process. This process should reflect the four key principles of safer recruitment and should be considered at all stages. From identifying a vacancy to choosing to employ a new employee. Having safer recruitment policies in place helps to deter, reject, prevent and detect those who may cause harm to adults at risk, or are otherwise unsuitable to work with them.

One way to work towards finding candidates who are well suited to a caring role and share the key values associated with working in healthcare, is using a values based recruitment approach. This approach is used within NHS training programmes and recruitment strategies and is a way to ensure an individual’s behaviours and values align with those of the NHS Constitution. 

Organisations who are not a part of the NHS can still take on a values based recruitment approach, which will be founded on a set of principles designed to deliver safe, high-quality, person-centred care. This approach should be taken alongside existing processes that assess the individual’s skills and experience, as well as comply with employment law and policies.  

When it comes to ascertaining a candidate’s suitability for a role and the alignment of their core values and behaviours, responses to both application forms and interview questions can be a useful way to get to know them. Consider a mix of technical, personality and experiential questions to help determine their level of skill, experience and their values. Take a look at our Interview Questions for Care Workers article for some examples. 

Successful recruitment techniques should always keep retention in mind. Recruiting for retention helps you to hit the ground running and avoid some of the issues facing staff retention. When looking to recruit staff, is it useful to consider:

Geographical locations of candidates

Long commutes, particularly when working long or unsociable hours, can sometimes have a negative impact on staff and may lead to them looking for vacancies closer to home in the future. To help combat this, you could look at engaging with the local community. Focus on groups that would benefit from employment opportunities and progressive career prospects. 

Highlighting the benefits of working in the sector

Health and social care work can be immensely rewarding. Help potential candidates to engage with those in need of care and support, their families and those already working in the sector by having open days or promoting volunteer opportunities. This can offer a better insight into what is involved in working in the sector and may inspire those who had not previously considered it as a career before. 

Understanding more about the work before embarking on a new role within the sector can help prevent new starters leaving in the early stages of employment after deciding it isn’t what they expected or it isn’t a good fit for them. 

Utilising the value based approach

Finding candidates who possess key values required for care work is a big positive when it comes to finding suitable staff and those likely to remain within the sector. Look for those that demonstrate kindness, empathy and compassion. Those values, along with a desire to learn new skills, can be invaluable for a good team player and a health or social care worker. 

Do remember that those conscientious and caring individuals who are passionate about providing high-quality, person-centred care, can often be left frustrated when insufficient resources and a lack of personal development opportunities impact their ability to provide their best work. Always be mindful of offering a supportive environment and good working conditions regardless of service pressures. 

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Want to Learn More?

Continuous learning and development not only benefits health and social care staff, but also those they care for. Why not take a look at our Resilience Training Course to aid with personal development, or our range of Safeguarding Courses to help further your professional knowledge. 

Retention Strategies in Healthcare

In such a high pressure industry as health and social care, it is important to nurture the wellbeing of the workforce. The work can be incredibly challenging and staff must have a safe space and a supportive and well engaged network to be able to thrive and maintain a desire to continue their career within the sector. 

When looking at strategies to help staff retention, it is important to:

Provide good working conditionsdrop down menu

What is seen as ‘good’ working conditions may depend on the perspective of the employee, but offering flexibility, a safe environment, and being mindful of staff wellbeing and morale goes a long way to achieving this. A few ways to help promote good working conditions include:

  • Offering flexibility in shift patterns and hours to allow for a good work life balance. 
  • Providing a benefits package and encouraging staff to utilise them.
  • Removing financial strain and barriers to recruitment by funding DBS checks, induction hours and any additional travel expenses incurred during training. 
  • Fostering an open, trusting and supportive environment, where staff of all levels behave and communicate in ways that support the organisation’s values. 
  • Communicating as a team. Those that work unsociable hours can sometimes begin to feel isolated from the team as a whole. Utilise online communication channels and team building events to help maintain a sense of togetherness and community.

Promote wellbeingdrop down menu

The wellbeing of a workforce should be a priority for all employers. The consequences of poor mental health are far reaching and can not only impact retention levels, but also the quality of the service being provided. Encourage staff to utilise the many organisations who offer free advice, support and resources to help support mental health and wellbeing.

It is important to remember that first and foremost, wellbeing should be promoted from within. Make time to ask staff how they are, listen and breed an open and honest culture. When it comes to fulfilling the needs of the service, always recognise how shift patterns, workload and the day to day challenging events of health and social care work can affect staff. Help, support and understanding should always be available. 

The wellbeing of a workforce should be a priority for all employers. The consequences of poor mental health are far reaching and can not only impact retention levels, but also the quality of the service being provided. Encourage staff to utilise the many organisations who offer free advice, support and resources to help support mental health and wellbeing.

It is important to remember that first and foremost, wellbeing should be promoted from within. Make time to ask staff how they are, listen and breed an open and honest culture. When it comes to fulfilling the needs of the service, always recognise how shift patterns, workload and the day to day challenging events of health and social care work can affect staff. Help, support and understanding should always be available. 

Invest in staff developmentdrop down menu

Investing in your staff is a vitally important part of successful retention. Setting out clear career pathways and providing the time and opportunity for additional learning and development has a hugely positive impact on employees. Take a look at our article on How to Support Professional Development in Health and Social Care for further insights. 

Don’t work with the mindset that once staff have the basic mandatory training required to fulfil their role, they have no need for further development. This is how those working in care often begin to feel trapped and unmotivated within their role. Get to understand your staff as they will each have different goals and ambitions, be flexible in your approach and support them in ways that work for you both. 

One way to help improve key areas is to have healthcare champions within your organisation. These can really help to drive forward new initiatives and development plans, as well as improving service quality, staff morale and the overall working environment. The role also provides a great opportunity for the personal development of staff. Find out how this could benefit you and your employees by taking a look at our Champions in Healthcare: Role and Responsibilities article. 

Form good relationships with training providers and look into the different funding options available to you. With the Government set to invest heavily into the sector, it is worth being mindful of new initiatives for training and apprenticeships and any future retention schemes. 

Recognise and reward good practicedrop down menu

Recognition should be encouraged not only by management but between peers also. A team that recognises good practice and sees how it is recognised and rewarded are much more likely to take pride in their work and further their learning and development. It also helps workers to learn from each other.

Recognition and reward can come in many forms, set out a clear plan within your organisation and be consistent throughout the workforce. Find out what motivates them the most and how they would like to be recognised. 

Plan for retentiondrop down menu

A mistake that can be made when it comes to recruitment, is to focus more on filling a vacancy to help an understaffed and overstretched workforce than finding the best candidate for the job. Once a new recruit is onboard, it can be the case that they turn around and leave before their first six months are even complete. There can be many reasons for this, such as:

  • The role not being quite what they expected.
  • Feeling unsupported by colleagues.
  • Poor working conditions.
  • Not feeling part of the team.
  • Feeling undertrained for the tasks required of them.
  • Seeing no options for progression.

When new staff enter an environment that is already at capacity, employers run the risk of their new recruits feeling overwhelmed and under-supported. These factors must be considered when it comes to a successful onboarding process that focuses on retention.

Always ensure there is adequate staff and time available to support a new starter as they navigate their new role. This may involve a ‘buddy’ system, where certain staff are assigned to assist and support new staff with any questions they may have. 

Planning for retention in the initial stages of employment could involve regular check-ins to discuss how new recruits are feeling, whether they need more support, if they have any questions and to provide an opportunity to talk about any other concerns they may have. 

These could be done after day 1, week 1, week 2, 6, 7, 8 and 12. They can be a useful way to gain feedback on what is working well and what improvements can be made to your organisation’s induction process. The questions you choose to ask and how you focus your discussions may depend on particular issues you face within your organisation and any areas you have already targeted as needing improvement. 

It is important when having check-ins that an open and just culture is encouraged throughout the organisation, as workplaces with a blame culture are unlikely to gain honest and constructive feedback from their employees.  

Learn from leaversdrop down menu

Whilst it is good practice to try and detect those likely to leave before they make the decision to go, exit interviews and/or leaver surveys can be useful tools when it comes to better understanding the reasons behind staff turnover. It is likely that the reasons people give for leaving after 6 weeks are going to be different to those given after 6 months or a year. Understanding this can help you to develop a long-term strategy for retention. 

Always look out for repetition when it comes to the reasons given for choosing to leave. Any commonalities should be addressed to help prevent any further reduction in workforce.

Successful recruitment and retention is important for the future of the health and social care industry. Robust processes should be in place to support the wellbeing and development of all staff, encouraging and supporting the workforce to remain within the sector for a long-term and rewarding career.

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