Getting Your Employees to Stay

by Ray Foxworth, D.C., FICC • 

President & Founder, ChiroHealthUSA • 

There’s no greater professional priority than creating a welcoming work environment. Employees are the backbone of every business. Retaining them is a fine art for employers who must use their heads and their hearts if they want to hold onto their staff. Here are four smart and sensitive ways to tackle turnover.

Prioritize Engagement

A disconnected employee is halfway out the door. Only 30 percent of American employees are engaged, while 20 percent are actively disengaged (and that’s an important distinction). Here are some preventative steps:

• Measure current engagement levels via employee surveys. Asking the right questions can fuel positive change through honest feedback.
• Connect employees with each other to promote a sense of togetherness and teamwork. Consider an in-house messaging system to encourage open, professional communication.
• Keep a well-maintained digital presence and connect your employees to it for the latest practice news.

Why not make engagement fun with team-building activities? They’re a proven bonding exercise, and there are many options to choose from.

Improve Onboarding Through Values-Based Hires

Getting a positive head start on engagement is rooted in hiring right the first time. Screening the good fits from the bad at the interview stage can improve employee retention. You obviously want a certain skillset, but you also want to onboard candidates who actively want to be part of your workplace culture.

Choosing applicants who share your clinic’s values, goals, and vision from the outset is the real recipe for lasting relationships. Anybody can be trained to follow procedures without caring about them as a person. Here are five steps to organizing your core values before including them as part of job advertisements and application forms.

Offer Incentives

 Competitive pay commensurate with experience is naturally the first reward employees want. They also want ongoing respect, recognition, and a reasonable work/life balance. Recognition and respect can be shown through team praise or tangible rewards for excellent work, such as cash or gifts.

The rewards may also be intangible, such as time off, which helps employees with their work/life balance. Other rewards that can help you retain employees are:

• Consistent coaching and education toward role advancement.
• Paid time off and sick days.
• Health insurance.
• Pay raises in line with inflation.

A strong way to set the right rewards for your team is simply to ask them, then do your best to provide what they’re looking for.

Encourage Wellness

 Getting employees to stay is more likely when employers focus on internal and external factors. How are their home lives? How is their mental and emotional health? What weights are they carrying beyond their professional roles?

A compassionate workplace can greatly ease personal struggles for those working in healthcare, which is already one of the most stressful occupations. The best employers understand that their team members have lives and personal responsibilities, both ongoing and unexpected, which can dictate their availability for work.

Workplace wellness programs can create a positive feedback loop that strengthens professional performance. Program structure varies, but all are built on similar pillars, and all must consider important legal ramifications.

Here’s a comprehensive guide to those pillars and to legal compliance. Creating a wellness program can be instrumental in beating employee burnout, another big contributor to turnover.

It has never been harder to hire and keep employees. The market is competitive, and our team members have more options. Join us for two important webinars that address these issues. On May 16, Dr. Eric DiMartino will present “Getting the 4 Rights, Right.” He’ll review the steps for hiring the right people for the right positions in your practice. On June 6, Dr. Mark Sanna will present “Your Practice Culture Counts More Than Ever,” which addresses keeping the right people in your practice. You can register for both webinars here.