5 Healthcare Staffing Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make

May 13, 2019 | Staffing Blog

Staffing in healthcare is not a simple task. You not only want to find people with adequate training and experience, you also need to retain your staff long enough to maintain a functioning community and healthy work environment. Staffing and retaining go hand in hand, and keeping that in mind will help you better staff your healthcare needs. Keep reading for the most common mistakes in healthcare staffing.

Trends and Behaviors to Avoid

All of these mistakes are best avoided when managing the staffing program for your healthcare organization.

1. Staffing on Autopilot

It is common for staffing teams to begin to coast on autopilot once they have reached a certain level of success and objectives. Doing so can result in missed opportunities and the unawareness that allows adjustment to changes occurring in the market. Those staffing in healthcare should always remain mindful of what is happening within the industry. For example, instead of just staffing an individual with extensive nursing experience in more nursing positions, consider entering them into physician care or allied health opportunities.

2. Inadequate Staffing Levels

With healthcare costs on the rise, many healthcare facilities try to balance out expenses by keeping their staff small. Whenever there is an adequate level of staff the result is always the same. The existing staff members take on more than they can carry and quickly become stressed and overwhelmed with the work. This means a greater turnover and the inability to retain a high functioning staff. Saving money is important, but not if it is going to compromise your quality of service and ability to retain staff. Make sure you are paying attention to the needs of your staff and bringing on more help when the workload is too high for the people you already have. If you do not do so, not only will you have unhappy staff, but patient satisfaction and safety will be compromised as well.

3. Lacking in Proper Training

Make sure you are choosing the right individuals to train your newcomers. If your new staff is not adequately trained, they will struggle on the floor and be unhappy in their job. Think about who of your employees that you want to see more of, these are the people that should be spreading their knowledge. Yet, a good healthcare provider is not always a good trainer. You need someone that is good at what they do, but also has communication skills, ability to teach, and shed an optimistic light on challenges that come with the job. Furthermore, trainers should have clearly defined guidelines to ensure consistency and that they are covering all of the necessary steps before letting newcomers go off on their own.

4. Confusion in Culture

In order to maintain a positive work environment, every establishment needs its own set of beliefs and attitudes for employees to work by. Each worker needs to know that they are working on a team that has the same goals as them. With these core values, they will feel good about their work and a sense of alignment with their coworkers. If someone is brought onto the team that does not align with this culture, it can create a disturbance in the energy flow. Not only will the team become frustrated, but the new staff member will struggle to feel accepted and negative attitudes will ensue. In a face-paced, high-stress environment, co-workers need to be able to depend on each other. Make sure that you know the culture you are staffing for so that you can be thoughtful when adding to it.

5. Ignoring Competition

If you want to bring on a strong and competent staff, you will need to know where else they may be interviewing and what may compel them to take another offer over yours. No matter what the situation is, it is always important to know what the competition is doing to ensure that you do not fall behind. Make sure you are offering comparable pay and benefits, and add in something else that makes your work environment just as, if not more, appealing as others.

Staffing Agencies Can Help

By choosing a dedicated staffing agency with a focus and knowledge of healthcare, you can be sure that the right candidates are being brought to your door. Allegiance works to get to know the eccentricities of your company and what exactly you are looking for to add to your team. They then filter through prospective candidates and find matches that will fit with your company.

Let Allegiance get the busy work out of the way so that you can focus on the rest. For more information on how Allegiance Staffing can help you gain and maintain a strong staff, you can reach out to our team here.