Research Paper on North Memorial Health: 60+ Years of Inpatient & Emergency Care

Introduction

The organization which I used for this analysis is North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. I decided to use this organization since I work here, and hence I am familiar with it. It was also possible to get the HR administrator with ease. The hospital has been in operation for more than 60 years. For all those years, it has been able to provide inpatient and emergency care for 24 hours each day. Some of the services that the hospital gives is cancer care for more than 40 years now. The facility also provides heart and vascular care with quick responses in cases of a heart attack. Other services offered include mental health, palliative care, Neonatology, family birth center, trauma care, surgery, among others. the hospital has been able to increase its operations tremendously. To be able to provide the mentioned services, the hospital has hired qualified staff. Each form of care has a highly experienced managing director to ensure their departments are running smoothly. The health facility also has partnered with other specialists to provide their services and hence reducing the operating cost. One can join North Memorial Health either as an employee to develop his career or as a volunteer to offer help in the form of service.

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The HR Issue

The issue which I am focusing on is employee retention. Many factors make an employee remain in the organization. The main factor that staff looks while working for an organization is the working conditions (James & Mathew, 2012). The working conditions should be gentle and encouraging as employees spend most of their time in the workplace. HR should come with different ways, which they can use to motivate employees. In North Memorial Hospital, there is a challenge in this issue. The human resource department is not doing enough to motivate employees. There is a high turnover rate among junior employees mostly. The management seems to focus mainly on the senior staff, forgetting the support staff. The whole organization must work together. The junior team is as essential as the doctors and the members of management.

The new employees find it hard adapting in the new environment. The nurses look down upon the new staff and even yells at them. There is a way in which the existing employees should conduct themselves, but they choose not to follow. The human resource department fails in ensuring that the new staff gets a supporting environment so that they can be able to learn quickly. Another weakness that is noted is that the organization has not done enough to support employees' work-life balance. It is hard for employees to grow, and that is why most of them prefer to join other organizations, which can help them to develop. Sometimes it becomes a challenge to work in an already developed company. When one works with a company that is growing, the employees grow as the company grows.

Comparison of the Best Practices

The HR issue which I am comparing with the best practices is employee retention. The problem refers to the ability of an organization to retain its employees. For there to be a high retention rate, there must be a low employee turnover rate. For example, if there is a retention rate of 75% in a particular organization, then it can be said that 75% of the employees remained working there for a specified period. There are some efforts which an organization must put to ensure that there is a high retention rate. Some of those methods which are currently being used in healthcare industries and other related industries are the following;

Orientation

A proper orientation has a high impact on the time that the employee will remain in the organization. The employee should not be trained about the job alone. He should be taken through the company's brief history, the core values, mission, and objectives as well as the culture of the organization. There should be a proper onboarding process, which should make the employee feel he is in the right place. It is the role of the HR department to ensure that the employees are well received in the organization and are not harassed by the existing ones (Samuel & Chipunza, 2009). In many organizations, the current employees usually harass the new one because of the fear of the unknown. They typically fear that maybe the new staff has come to take their place or they might be promoted before them.

Recognition and Reward Systems

Everyone feels good when he or she is appreciated for the work done. Sometimes the employees go extra miles to do above their duties. Appreciation may take various forms. It is not necessary to wait at the end of the year, and that is when you appreciate everyone (James & Mathew, 2012). Gifts at the end of the year seem to be a routine. Some surprise cards or emails can work out pretty well. In the cards or emails, there should be a message showing that the employees' devotion has helped the organization to move from one point to another. In this way, the organization uses a small budget, which has a significant impact. It is an excellent form of employee motivation.

Work-Life Balance

An organization should understand that the employees have a life beyond work. There is no need to overwork them so that they can expect some gifts at the end of the day. The work hours should be specific and should not be determined by how busy the organization is. If many tasks are supposed to be achieved daily, the management should recruit more workers. When there is a healthy work-life balance, there is job satisfaction, and consequently, there will be a high retention rate (Cloutier Felusiak, Hill, & Pemberton-Jones, 2015). Employees should be encouraged to take vacations, and there should be no reason that should prevent them from getting their annual leave.

Communication and Feedback

The management must listen to the complaints of the employees. The human resource department should come up with a system whereby they can get feedback from the employees. Suggestion boxes can be used as most employees fear to complain directly. Another way in which the management can get feedback is through the filling of questionnaires. Nobody in the organization should be ignored. Every employee's concern should be listened to. The administration should also manage by walking around and listen to the employees directly (Deery & Jago, 2015). It is crucial to remove the barrier that exists between the employee and the management. Listening to the employees' complaints improves their morale.

Employee Compensation

Compensation cannot be left out while talking about retention. It is one of the main reasons why people work (Samuel & Chipunza, 2009). Although there are other reasons why people work, at the end of the day the employees need to pay their bills. Organizations should provide competitive packages so that staff can find a reason to remain working there. There is the salary as well as other allowances which should be offered. Where the employees work for extra hours, they should be paid overtime. There is various insurance which the staff should be given a cover. The organization should also offer the retirement plan. Every employee should be aware of the benefits he is accruing from the beginning.

Comparison with the Current Organizational Practices

Some practices are being done appropriately by North Memorial Health Hospital regarding employee retention strategies, but there other issues that need to be addressed to ensure there is a high retention rate. The benefits which employees get in North Memorial Hospital differ according to the position that one holds. There are some competitive benefits which make the staff who gets them to work for longer. Some of the benefits include health insurance plans, financial benefits like Paid Time Off (PTO), and career growth plans.

Orientation at the North Memorial facility is not up to the standard. That is the reason as to why many employees who join the organization at entry levels do not get job satisfaction. The human resource department has not established a proper plan whereby the employees can be inducted well. Conducting correct orientation enables the employee to know the organization well and hence increases the retention rate (Deery & Jago, 2015).

There is no proper channel for communication in North Memorial. The employees and mostly the junior staff feel sidelined. Their ideas are not listened to, and when they give out their feedback, it is not acted upon. Employees who suffer silently do not take long before they can look for somewhere else where they can work.

There is no work-life balance in the hospital. Many employees complain about working for long hours. The employees end up lacking time for other essential activities like family time. There should be a specific time in which the employee should work. Working in the hospital for long hours has caused many medical errors around the world. Therefore, it should not be encouraged at all.

There has not been a proper way to recognize employees so far. Most of the staff, and especially the junior ones, feel that their efforts are not appreciated. Every worker should be appreciated from the one standing in the gate, ground person to the managing director.

Recommendations

The management, through HR management, should improve their communication with the employees. Where there is communication, it is possible to realize all the issues affecting the employees before they explode. Solving the problems in time will lead to more employees who are satisfied and hence increase the employees' retention rate. There are different ways in which the management can use to get employees' feedback (James & Mathew, 2012). On the issue of orientation, the HR department, after recruiting new staff, should ensure that they all undergo a comprehensive orientation and induction sessions. They should learn the organizational structure, and where to report in case they have an issue affecting them. HR should be ready to assist employees in various matters and mostly the new staff. The management should start ways in which they can recognize employees who are performing well in the organization. The administration should employ enough staff for all the shifts to avoid some employees working for long hours. The employees' benefits should be reviewed from time to time to ensure that every service offered is well compensated.

Rationale

All the strategies are carried out to ensure that the employees' retention increases. Hiring is expensive for any organization. There are various costs which are associated with having to recruit new employees now and then. Employees remain where their issues are addressed. Every employee is vital to an organization. The quality of the service in the hospital improves when the employees are satisfied. The success of any organization depends on the quality of its human resources. Labor turnover affects the productivity of the company negatively. Employee retention is, therefore, necessary for any organization.

References

Cloutier, O., Felusiak, L., Hill, C., & Pemberton-Jones, E. J. (2015). The Importance of Developing Strategies for Employee Retention. Journal of Leadership, Accountability & Ethics, 12(2).Retrieved from http://www.m.www.na-businesspress.com/JLAE/Pemberton-JonesEJ_Web12_2_.pdf

Deery, M., & Jago, L. (2015). Revisiting talent management, work-life balance and retention strategies. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.Retrieved from https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2013-0538/full/html

James, L., & Mathew, L. (2012). Employee retention strategies: IT industry. SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 9(3), 79.Retrieved from https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30315431/scms_journal