What Makes Health Care Workers Stay in Their Jobs? Culture and Caring.
As we enter the end of Q1 2023, staff turnover continues to challenge organizations around the world and across the continuum of care. Burnout, emotional fatigue, and stress are impacting caregivers, and organizations are asking the question: What makes healthcare workers stay in their jobs?
The Harvard Business Review (HBR) sought to answer this question last week, in an article bearing that exact title. And the answer was clear – organizational culture and caregiver support. HBR found that what matters most to all types of healthcare personnel is their organization’s commitment to quality and patient-centered care.
So, what does this mean?
Organizational culture matters, and a foundation of person-centered care and caring communication will positively impact employee engagement, retention, and wellbeing. Along with this, the HBR studied the interconnectedness between patient experience and employee engagement, and its impact on financial performance, highlighting a “pronounced association between improvement in overall hospital rating and financial performance.”
The correlation between profit and culture are clearly highlighted in the data. The first step on this cultural transformation and the linchpin to sustained success is leadership. “Improving organizational culture is a leadership challenge that is more complex than finding the money to increase compensation or correcting the programs that cause unhappiness,” HBD authors Patrick T. Ryan and Thomas H. Lee noted. “The data suggests that leadership matters as never before — not just at the C-suite level but also at the front lines where managers really determine how organizational culture feels for employees.”
As a company focused on person-centered cultural transformation, Planetree partners with healthcare organizations on their journey towards sustained excellence with an unwavering focus on quality, compassion, and partnership. We guide organizations using our experience and evidenced based PCC framework and Planetree Methodology to identify, implement, and sustain change in partnership with our global healthcare network. We have shown this success with organizations around the world and have done so for more than 40 years. We put the person at the center of the care experience, and the benefits of this practice are clear to patients and families, as well as to caregivers at all levels. Person-centered culture is more than just the “right thing to do,” it is an invaluable asset to organizations and their ongoing viability. Leaders who are committed to creating a culture of caring for their caregivers, patients, and communities are creating environments that increase employee resilience, loyalty, and wellbeing, translating to increased patient satisfaction and profitability.
Click here to explore the full Harvard Business Review article and contact Planetree to begin your journey to person-centered care and culture today.
