Tip of the month

Encouraging employees to remain engaged

As managers, we recognize the association of employee buy-in to outcomes. The Baptist Leadership Group recently revealed a poll addressing the relationship of engaged employees to revenue. The poll revealed that only 12% of the participants correctly noted that 250% is the increase expected in hospital revenue when employees are committed to the organization.

Employee satisfaction surveys further suggest a 40% lower turnover rate for those who score high in employee satisfaction areas. Engaging employees is one thing, maintaining that level of commitment is another. 

Before you develop a plan to sustain engagement, be sure you have identified the work environment that attracted employees from the beginning. 

Consider the following points related to employee engagement:

• Do your departmental goals tie into the mission of the organization?
 
• Are you willing as the leader to accept the differences in staff that require a variety of engagement techniques?
 
• If you are relying on Web-based/computer learning, how do you expect staff to maintain a team approach to healthcare delivery?
 
• Are you providing interdepartmental networking opportunities? 


• Is there any element of lightheartedness and fun, when appropriate, in the department?

Reference 

InstaPoll Recap - Employee Engagement. Retrieved April 24, 2010, from http://bhclg.com/pressreleases/default.aspx?ContentIS=100531.

Source 

Shelley Cohen, RN, MSN, CEN, Health Resources Unlimited, www.hru.net. Adapted with permission.