Research Paper on Outsourcing for Long-Term Care Facilities: Benefits & Considerations

Introduction

Outsourcing is hiring a company that specializes in a particular type of service to do it on behalf of the long-term care facility. There are various factors which necessitate outsourcing. To start with, the people at the facility need some specialized care. One determiner is where the facility management realizes that they need a consultant to advise them on the appropriate method to carry out the housekeeping. Hiring is expensive in any facility. The recruitment process involves a lot from the advertising of the positions, shortlisting, interviews, and finally, training (Roberts, Henderson, Olive & Obaka, 2013). Outsourcing, therefore, reduces the operating cost.

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After doing a proper job analysis, the management is able to determine staffing needs. Job analysis of housekeepers determines if it is necessary to outsource the services. There is a need to provide quality services. Research has shown that people under the care, whether the sick or the elderly respond to treatment better when they are in the right environment. Responding to medications consequently increases their life span. The task of managing the cleaners is left to the management of the firm, which is outsourced. The managers and the supervisors are the ones who are tasked with ensuring there is proper job design. They allocate duties according to the specialty of their employees.

Another determiner of whether outsourcing is required is accessing the Human Resource Management that is in place in the facility. The human resource department is the one which should provide the right working conditions for the employees. Where the department is not able to provide the necessary equipment and measure to safeguard their staff, outsourcing is necessary. No one should contact diseases and other infections in the cause of their duty. The outsourced firm provides all the protective garments which are required during cleaning. All the liability is shifted from the care facility to the cleaning company. It is a requirement in law that the employer should ensure there is employee safety in their jobs. To avoid any legal issues, outsourcing is the better option.

The job description of the housekeepers can necessitate outsourcing. There are times when the work to be done is just cleaning, and the instructions are issued by someone else. In other cases, housekeepers are fully responsible for ensuring that everything runs smoothly and cost-effectively, there is a need for professional service providers. Currently, housekeeping involves a lot. It is not about just cleaning without considering the health of the cleaner and the resident. There is a need to have housekeepers who can listen and respond to the residents politely. The cleaning has to be done in good working order. For example, there is specific time to clean some rooms when the residents are somewhere else.

Cultural responsiveness is another factor that can make the care facility to look for a housekeeping service provider. Many organizations requirement is that they should not be made up of the local community alone. If the management decides to employ the local people only, they will not be able to appreciate the culture of other communities in the right manner. There may be residents who come from different ethnic groups or races, and hence when one outsources these services, there is a likelihood of being given a more diverse labor force. When the staff is diverse, it opens the care facility even more such that more people feel included, and they can bring their own into the facility. As the care facility grows, outsourcing needs grow as well to have people who will focus only on providing quality services to the residents

As the HR Manager with a 120 apartment assisted living facility, that includes 16 unit memory care units, how do we effectively and efficiently ensure all staff complete annual training requirements?

Annual training is crucial for all employees. The HR manager must ensure that it is done appropriately however complicated it might be due to many activities. The facility having a 120 apartment, and also 16 memory care units require critical attention. The training must be done based on need. Need analysis is, therefore, essential. It ensures that training is not done to the wrong people. A poorly conducted need analysis also leads to teaching wrong competencies, and using inappropriate learning methods (Loffler, Goldgruber & Hartinger, 2018). There is no time that the facility can be closed down entirely to facilitate the training of the employees, and hence a proper schedule should be put in place after the need analysis.

Job analysis and job design must be considered while carrying the training program. Every task that is conducted should match the right skills. Job evaluation is done to access how different forms of care are done. More time and resources are allocated to the areas where weakness is noted. The training need should match the objectives of the care facility. The trainer, as well as the trainee, must know why the training is done. It is in the basis of continuous improvement. After identifying the business need, it is easier to carry out the training efficiently and also effectively. The management is able to have a proper job design once the training is done in the right manner. A few employees can handle some tasks as the others proceed to the training.

Job descriptions of various staff should be considered while carrying out a need assessment for training. Some team carries out specialized care. Mostly, the technology which is used in the facilities keeps on changing. There is a need, therefore, to conduct more training to ensure that the employees understand or the technical part. Even when there is no new technology, refresher courses are mandatory. The time allocated to these staff cannot be the same as those doing housekeeping jobs.

It is the role of the HR manager to ensure that the employees understand the importance of training. Job appraisal is done to the employees who are well trained and are able to undertake their roles effectively. Continuous training is essential to any organization as it facilitates continuous improvement. Once the staff understands why they should be trained, they become part of the growth which is needed and even seek more chances to acquire more skills (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2017). Completion of training should be part of the things to be evaluated, where it is found that the employee did not undergo training; he misses some benefits and is not eligible for any promotion.

The HR manager is the one who should also ensure the top management understands the advantages of annual training. He should advocate for more employees so that no service stops while maybe the unit staff are being trained. Sometimes the management feels that it is costly to do training now and then. Training may be expensive, but the cost of not training is even higher. Ignorance is expensive. Once the needed resources are provided, the HR manager should organize training sessions that are spread throughout the year.

In summary, for training to be effective, all the parties which are involved should understand the importance of adding new skills. The management, as well as the employees, should work with a common objective. When everyone understands the importance of sharpening, the employees are ready to be sharpened, and they cooperate.

The hospital is considering creating a new job classification for a "universal worker" to perform a combination of housekeeping, laundry, and grounds keeping duties; currently, each of these classifications are separate - What are key factors to consider in combining these into one universal worker classification? (the organization is non-union).

One of the factors to consider while creating the new job classification is job analysis. One must ask himself questions like, what were the skills that were looked while recruiting for that position? Some people are not able to perform more than one task. For example, a gardener may not be having any skill to do housekeeping. He knows only about the garden, but he performs his duties perfectly there. The worker under the new classification, therefore, should be able to carry out all the tasks or most of them.

The employees must understand their job descriptions in the new category. There is a change of duty, and hence the team must review the new job description to be able to decide whether they will take up the roles or not. Development of job description will involve writing all the tasks in the new category one by one. It is a combination of all the other job descriptions which are combined.

Training is equally essential when coming up with a new job category. Some employees are comfortable with most of the tasks but need refreshing to understand better. The employees are made to understand what is expected of them in the new job description. The HR manager should ensure there is inclusion in the new team. It is crucial to have a team with people who were previously ground keepers, housekeepers, and laundry staff. They should also come from different ethnic groups.

Remunerations in the new job classification must be factored in also. The employee should understand their salary and benefits which they are going to accrue as a result of doing more tasks than before. It is expected that the salary or allowances will rise. The staff should also be provided with the equipment or protective garments which they will need to carry out every role.

One has to consider the responsibility that is being given to the workers. Are they up to the task? Consulting before creating the new classification is crucial. The management needs all the tasks to be done in the right standard, even after combining various jobs to one. The quality of the service should not be compromised. Consulting the employees before will enable the management to know whether the team is ready for change (Fuqua, Walden & Smith, 2018). Employees are generally opposed to change, but it is still possible for one to get an unbiased opinion.

The working environment also has to be considered. Some areas require specialized care, while others anyone can work as there are no regulations. In this case, gender is also considered sometimes. For example, in some care facilities where utmost cleanliness is required, a lady housekeeper should be employed to work there. She should also be clean and have the basics of housekeeping. On the other hand, a man will be good to do the ground keeping. Hence, even after combining jobs, there are some considerations like these, which have to be put in place.

The new job classification can be rolled out in three months before implementing it fully and get feedback from customers who are in this case the patients. They will compare the feedback to when the roles were separate. If the customers complain too much, then it will not be appropriate to go ahead and combine the roles. Feedback is an essential factor and should not be ignored by the hospital management.

References

Fuqua, R. M., Walden, L., & Smith, K. (2018). Human resource management in health care: A case of turnover in long term care. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 5(5).

Loffler, K., Goldgruber, J., & Hartinger, G. (2018). Moving towards a competence centre for geriatric medicine and care: Quality management and human resource management as major support factors. Best Practice & Research Clinical Anaesthesiology, 32(1), 47-55.

Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Roberts, J. G., Henderso...