Recruiting and retaining top-notch employees, especially clinical employees, is important at every healthcare organization – and that’s never been truer than during the staffing shortages that followed the COVID pandemic. Earlier this year, CHS affiliated health systems and hospitals introduced a suite of enhanced benefits to support employees’ career, educational and financial goals while simultaneously increasing their satisfaction and loyalty. Components of the program include:
Among the benefits enhancements is a student loan repayment and reimbursement program for all regular full- and part-time employees that offers significant savings on interest rates through fee-free loan consolidation. And, due to the critical nature of the work they do, employees in qualifying clinical roles are also receiving a monthly contribution toward the principal balance of their student loans as long as they stay current with their loan payments. Qualifying clinical roles include nurses, medical and surgical technicians, most imaging technicians, physical, occupational and respiratory therapists and other key clinical support staff.
These contributions are really adding up. Regular full-time RNs and medical technologists, for example, are eligible to receive $416.66 per month toward their loans, up to a maximum contribution of $20,000. Regular full-time employees in the other clinical positions are eligible to receive $208.33 per month, up to a maximum contribution of $10,000, and regular part-time employees in these positions can receive 50% of those amounts.
CHS health systems and hospitals have also broadened their educational assistance/tuition reimbursement policies to better serve employees looking to expand their skills. They have doubled the tuition reimbursement cap for employees pursuing non-nursing education to $5,000 per year to match the reimbursement cap for nursing students. And, all employees are now eligible to receive tuition reimbursement for any type of education – regardless of whether it is related to their current position – as long as it is a field of study the hospital/system employs and regardless of whether they receive tuition assistance from other sources.
In addition to helping lighten the burden of educational requirements, CHS affiliates are now also covering costs associated with the renewal of licensures and certifications required for employees’ current roles.
In other efforts to improve recruitment and retention, CHS has established a centralized nurse recruitment program. Since growing the program from just two markets in 2019, it now includes every CHS affiliated hospital. During the first half of 2022, hiring of bedside nurses was up 12% and turnover improved 4.5% compared to the same period last year. The team of nearly 60-dedicated nurse recruiters is now expanding their efforts to include Allied Health positions.
Finally, Community LEADS (Leadership Excellence and Development Series) launched in 2022 and is a CEO-led training program designed to build stronger, more confident and engaged leaders. Identified as a top priority by CEOs, training modules for department leaders focus on topics such as Resilience, Intentional Communication, Critical Conversations, Leading vs. Managing and Change Management.