Going beyond pay: Alternative solutions to retaining & engaging nurses

Situation & Challenges

Regulatory changes driven by the Royal Commission into Aged Care meant that this aged care organisation needed a greater number of Registered Nurses (RNs) to service their facilities. This was made difficult by higher than desirable turnover rates and having to compete for talent with hospitals, which could pay higher wages and provide more support to staff.

This organisation wanted to investigate ways to retain and support their current RNs, as well as gain better insight into staff experiences, the needs and requirements of RNs, and reasons why they were leaving the organisation. The ultimate goal was to reduce the turnover rate of this group of employees. Since they did not have the budget to simply pay nurses more, they needed to dig deeper into non-financial drivers for engaging their staff and what might make them leave.

Solutions

People Solutions designed a bespoke exit interview protocol, to be used in phone interviews with RNs who had left the organisation over the past six months. This protocol involved both quantitative and qualitative questions to provide rich data on the following areas:

• Perceptions of their role
• Experience with management and their supervisor
• Colleagues and working relationships
• The work conditions, environment, and culture
• Training and development
• Reward and recognition
• Reasons for leaving and comparisons to their new employer (e.g. pay, industry, positives and negatives)
• If they would recommend the organisation as an employer or work there again (and, if so, what would need to change)

Result

We conducted phone interviews with 13 recently exited nurses. It was more difficult than anticipated to get in touch with people but, given the value of speaking to them over simply completing an online survey, we ensured they were given every opportunity to participate.
The results were pulled together into a report for the organisation, highlighting key strengths, areas of improvement (both quick wins and longer-term investment), and detailed information about each of the areas outlined above.

Many positives were identified that the organisation could leverage moving forward, including a very supportive team environment and the value staff gained from their work.

We also identified several interventions they could implement that did not simply involve increasing remuneration, such as support and training for leaders, clarity and feedback from leaders to nurses, and increasing the visibility of leadership.

The report provided insight for the People and Culture team, and they continue to collect data internally to investigate these areas further on an ongoing basis. The organisation also has plans to engage with current staff to understand their engagement and unique employee value proposition.