Employee turnover can be quite costly for your allied health practice. As such, having strong employee retention strategies is imperative. While you could certainly go through the process of recruiting, you should remember that it can be expensive and time-consuming. You’ll have to find candidates, sift through many resumes, interview people, and finally onboard them. 

It is far cheaper and more efficient to implement employee retention strategies that encourage your staff members to stay. We have compiled a list of six employee retention strategies in healthcare that you can execute to keep your employee turnover as low as possible.

6 Employee Retention Strategies

1. Pay Competitively 

It is important to show your employees how much you appreciate them. You can show them your gratitude by providing them with a competitive salary. Increasing salaries is a great way to nurture loyalty among your employees.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible for newer practices to pay competitive salaries to their staff. If this is the case for your practice, you can offer to pay for training that will help to develop their careers. You could also reward achievements with vouchers or gift cards. Another option is to offer more vacation days.

2. Recognise Your Achievers

It is important to show recognition when your employees perform well. While verbal recognition can go a long way, it is also a good idea to reward these achievements with something tangible. Programmes such as “employee of the month” can be a great way to keep your staff motivated and encourage them to perform well.

3. Provide a Path for Career Growth

One survey found that only 44% of Australians are satisfied with their current job. Moreover, a third of workers feel as though poor leadership in the workplace is their greatest cause of stress. Employers must therefore be willing to provide guidance and direction, in order to compete to keep their staff satisfied.

In other words, communicate a clear career path with your employees. Discuss what they want to achieve professionally and how they can achieve it while working at your practice. Training, promotions, and involving your employees in decision-making are all great ways to cultivate a career path. Moreover, this aids in employee retention. 

4. Work On Your Brand

Having a strong brand for your practice helps to cultivate legitimacy and professionalism that employees would be proud to be a part of. A good allied health brand improves the interactions and relationships between healthcare professionals and their patients. Not only will you be building trust with your patients, but you will also be strengthening trust with your employees.

5. Equip Them With Tools to Make Their Job Easy

Not being properly equipped to carry out a job can be incredibly stressful for many employees. That is why it is important to provide your staff with the necessary tools and resources that allow them to efficiently carry out tasks. This is one of the employee retention strategies that are often forgotten.  

The tools that you equip your employees with can be in the form of effective training. It can also be something more tangible such as case management software that helps them to manage their tasks easily. An online injury management system is another tool to help your administrative staff to simplify management and other processes regarding workplace injury.

6. Be Flexible and Provide Benefits

If you want to retain employees, you need to give them a reason to stay with you. Flexibility can go a long way in improving the workplace environment. For example, you can provide extra time off when your employees need it or you can offer a more flexible work schedule.

You can also provide benefits such as paid time off,  food and snacks in the workplace, fitness perks like a gym membership, or the option to work remotely if it is not necessary for them to be present at the practice.

The Bottom Line

It is important to avoid losing employees by creating an environment where they want to stay on long-term. These employee retention strategies will help you to do just that. Competitive salaries and flexibility, for instance, are tactics that can help you to retain your valuable staff members.