Healthcare Industry Trends: Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers

Healthcare Industry Trends: Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers

By 2010, healthcare employers must fill more than 14 million jobs-up from 10.9 million in 2000. The current shortage in healthcare will magnify when boomers retire. It will magnify again when they require intensive medical services. Many workers disenchanted with medicine are leaving-for example, because of pressure from insurance companies for shorter hospital stays, or less time with patients. Competition from the insurance, pharmaceutical and retail industries also takes its toll. Others are discouraged from entering.

Meanwhile healthcare workers are aging: The average age of nurses is 47. One-third of all physicians are 55+.

In 2001, the American Hospital Association began identifying ways to stem the shortage. Since then, healthcare employers have conducted research to learn what mature workers want and then began offering it. Trends in the industry include phased retirement; flexible work options; part-time work with benefits; workplace accommodations such as lift systems to reduce physical strain; counseling and referral for finances and eldercare; knowledge transfer programs; lifecycle workshops; and training to update skills and learn new ones.

AARP has joined with national healthcare leaders to examine five key areas that impact the recruitment and retention of workers over 50:

• Meaningful Work,
• Wellness and Work/Life,
• Training and Reskilling,
• Environment and Tools, and
• Benefits and Compensation

For each of these areas, a task force of healthcare professionals drew up recommendations on how their peers could address the aging workforce challenge.

Meaningful Work

Meaningful work has been linked to employee engagement, job satisfaction and motivation. A major AARP study finds companies with motivated, stimulated and satisfied employees are likely to surpass the average one-year growth for their industries. Here's what employers can do:

• Build a multigenerational workforce. Hire the best person for the job, regardless of age. Understand "older people" stereotypes and how the generations perceive one another. Provide flexible work options and enlightened recruitment messages featuring workers of all ages. Train managers on communications preferences and motivators for different age groups.
• Make senior management accessible. The CEO of East Alabama Medical Center spends an hour a day walking hospital corridors to get to know every employee by name.
• Conduct employee satisfaction surveys every 12-18 months, analyze by age, and make improvements. After responding to the results of its first survey at Johns Hopkins Health System, employee satisfaction shot up 192% on the next questionnaire.

Wellness and Work/Life

Healthcare jobs are often emotionally and physically demanding and workers want to reduce stress and understand life stages. A study of 164 community hospitals (Journal of Health Care Finance, Fall 2004) in Texas found financial reimbursement incentives effective for wellness programs. Mature employees want:

• Flexible work arrangements, including part-time, flextime, a compressed schedule, a reduced workday or week with benefits, and telecommuting, conducive to 24/7 hospital shifts. Mercy Health System in Janesville, WI, has a Weekender Program (work weekends only), Traveler Option (6-13 week assignments), Registry Pool Option (work 48-96 hours/month with benefits), telecommuting and Work-to-Retire (reduced hours and seasonal work).
• Eldercare support: Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital sponsors eldercare workshops and monthly discussions.
• Life planning courses: Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, SC, provides seminars on finances, Medicare, and recreation for workers 55+ and spouses.

Training and Reskilling

What attracts employees is training, tuition reimbursement, retraining, and reskilling. Medical technology, practices and personnel are rapidly changing, requiring ongoing education. Innovative offerings include:

• A Knowledge-Transfer program at PinnacleHealth in Harrisburg, PA, where soon-to-retire employees train new workers on a flexible work schedule.
• Yale-New Haven Hospital's School-at-Work program, which pays entry-level employees to learn skills (writing, math and computers).
• A Career Opportunities program at New York University Medical Center that trains non-clinical staff who want to change careers within the hospital.

Environment and Tools

Employers must overhaul their physical work environment to attract mature workers and prevent injury, for example, with mechanical lifts. When Beaumont Hospitals was building a new facility, it consulted staff and patients on the design, lighting, work space, paint, and carpet colors. Occupational therapists made sure equipment was ergonomically correct, and employees requested far-away nursing stations be replaced by centralized pods. Management did a mock-up of floors and had staff simulate working conditions.

Compensation and Benefits

Mature healthcare workers want a defined benefits pension plan, a generous match amount for their 401(k) plan, and comprehensive health coverage. They seek pay that reflects their years on the job and benefits that address their stage of life. Employers looking for an edge are responding:

• Ochsner Clinic Foundation in New Orleans, LA, allows employees to work only four hours a week to qualify for subsidized health insurance.
• At Carondelet Health Network in Tucson, AZ, nurses can choose three, six or nine month contracts with healthcare and retirement savings benefits.
• Scripps Health in San Diego, CA, offers employees 55+ with 20+ years at the organization full medical and prescription benefits even if they work fewer hours.
• SSM Healthcare of St. Louis, MO, provides limited medical coverage for grandchildren.
• Employees of Centegra Health System in Woodstock, IL, can donate their unused paid time off so co-workers can care for family members.

Ensuring a Healthy Outcome

The practices used by healthcare businesses to recruit and hold onto the best and the brightest works well for employers in all industries. The truth is, companies that create an inviting and exciting, age-neutral workplace will succeed in attracting and retaining top talent-talent that includes 50+ workers.

Additional Resources

In Our Hands: How Hospital Leaders can Build a Thriving Workforce This 2002 report from the American Hospital Association presents findings of the AHA Commission on Workforce for Hospitals and Health Systems.

Wisdom at Work: The Importance of the Older and Experienced Nurse in the Workplace The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation prepared this comprehensive report on the status of older nurses and how to retain their valuable experience.