Brainstorming ways to recognize employees in an effort to boost retention rates? Forget the pizza party, one researcher says. Today’s employees are looking for a little bit more.
Creativity and flexibility are the way to boost employee morale and win the retention game, according to Kathleen Weissberg, MS, OTD, OTR/L, CMDCP, CDP, a Gannon University adjunct lecturer and national education director for Select Rehabilitation, a national provider of contract rehabilitation and consulting services.
Weissberg discussed her research into how staff recognition programs can improve quality of care in aging services settings Wednesday during a LeadingAge membership call.
Nurse and certified nurse assistant turnover can be more than 50% in some areas of the country, costing providers $2,500 to $3,500 to recruit and retain each new employee, she said.
Having tracked data over the past 10 to 15 years, she said, 93% of direct care workers said that they would have stayed in their jobs if their employers had invested in their growth and development. That statistic, Weissberg said, is up a whopping 170% from 2010 and should have leaders thinking about how they lead.
“Right now, it’s a very different work environment,” she said, adding that observations and focus groups reveal that one size does not fit all when it comes to employee recognition. It’s time for employers to look at generational rewards, she said.
Baby boomers and Generation X employees, Weissberg said, generally are looking for some level of recognition a few times a month or year. Millennials and members of Gen Z, on the other hand, generally are looking for feedback multiple times a week, and they want it to come from their direct supervisors.
Previous generations of workers, Weissberg said, are looking at traditional workplace rewards, or health and wellness perks that enable self-care. Younger generations, however, are looking for personal/professional life balance and improvements in their quality of life outside of the workplace, which can include volunteer time off to give back to the community or money for concert tickets or a tattoo.
Customizable reward programs call for creative ideas and flexibility, she said, adding that those generational rewards come from research and actual programs being implemented in aging services communities.
“Sometimes we say no before we consider possibly saying yes,” Weissberg said.
Where to start?
The simplest way to start a rewards program, Weissberg said, is to ask employees what they want. Employers, she added, might be surprised that most of the time, employees don’t ask for the “sun, moon and stars” but for what they think is reasonable. If the employee request is out of reach, she said, then it’s important to give the worker a rationale for why or to provide a timeline for implementing a reward.
Finding employee “pain points” also is important, Weissberg said..
“We all lived through this pandemic. We all have struggled in some way or another, and there are a lot of individuals continuing to struggle,” she said. “A lot of what I heard is really tapping into their pain points.”
Weissberg gave examples of employers providing cell phones to each employee, to absorb the cost of communication, as well as arranging for transportation to and from a community, offering housing, providing meals or allowing flexible scheduling.
It’s important to give employees a reason to stay and to create an “enjoyable environment,” she said.
“It has to be a culture people want to be part of. Start small — you don’t have to get crazy with the Cheez Whiz,” Weissberg said. “Some things are not as expensive as you think.”
