Why holistic benefits are essential for supporting and retaining health care workers
The past few years have been incredibly difficult for the entire health care industry, with physicians, nurses and support staff on the front lines of…
Additionally, there’s been a wave of professionals leaving the industry, with turnover rates over 25%. More than 95% of hospital RN separations have been voluntary, and those vacancies leave the remaining staff to bear an even heavier burden.
It’s no wonder that burnout among health care workers has reached an all-time high of 60%. While many cite the overwhelming workload as a primary reason for leaving, a significant number also report feeling undervalued and unappreciated by their employer as a compounding factor.
Related: Health care workers seek financial supports from employers, survey finds
Health care leaders must find ways to stop the exodus and recruit new staff. Since turning away patients to reduce the workload isn’t an option, offering holistic benefits can help health care organizations demonstrate they value their team and are willing to support them now and into the future.
Here’s how health care HR leaders and the brokers who serve them can position holistic benefits to support, retain and attract front-line staff.
Provide holistic health programs. The stress of the job can take a serious toll on holistic wellbeing. Long shifts and stressful work days can be draining, negatively impacting mental and emotional health. Additionally, many providers are forced to eat on the run, which means they don’t get proper nutrition; and exercising is out of the question after spending 12 hours standing every day. As a result, about half of American nurses are living with obesity or are overweight, and poor mental and physical health directly impacts their ability to provide care.
To counter those conditions, benefits programs could include providing meals, meal plans or nutrition counseling, and on-site exercise programs, as well as stress reduction tools staff can access anywhere, such as meditation and mindfulness apps or journaling.
Offer student loan assistance. Many providers, including residents and advanced nursing professionals, are weighed down by student loan debt. With interest and payments on federal loans resuming soon, financial stress is about to become more acute. Financial worries can contribute to depression, anxiety and even substance abuse, with nearly 1 in 4 people say it affects their ability to focus on the job. Those can all add up to an increased risk of patient neglect, injury—or worse.
Offering student loan assistance in the form of refinancing options or tax-free payments made directly to the employees’ loan can ease that burden. Organizations can also offer non-elective contributions to a 401(k) plan equal to the employees’ student loan payments so staff don’t have to choose between paying off their loans or saving for the future.
Give flexible savings options. Over half of Americans can’t come up with $1,000 for an emergency expense. With so many people living paycheck to paycheck – especially in support roles – it’s extremely hard for them to build a cushion, let alone plan for retirement.
Employers can help by offering emergency savings plans that automatically deposit a percentage of every paycheck into a dedicated savings account. They can also offer profit sharing or performance bonuses paid in the form of 401(k) retirement contributions or even help employees set up 529 college savings plans to lighten the load when their kids go to college.
Consider the entire life and career span. A first year RN and a 25-year veteran are at very different stages—both in life and in their financial journeys—and they need different benefits options. Even the most robust benefits packages won’t be effective if they’re a one-size-fits-all program.
Instead, meet employees where they are with options that work at every stage of life and let them choose what’s right for them. It’s also important to promote these flexible options and show employees you’re willing to invest in what they need today, in five years, or 20-30 years down the road. Offering this continuum of benefits provides long-term value to the relationship, and staff are less likely to leave for the short-term gains of a higher salary somewhere else.
Help them navigate benefits. In medicine, providers rely on protocols for the treatment of most common conditions. Similarly, there are basic financial products and services that should be standard for all employees to leverage at specific stages of life. However, your staff may have no idea what they need or when they need it, and just offering a menu for them to choose from doesn’t cut it.
Adding a benefits concierge service through digital tools can identify staff needs and point them in the right direction to get the right support at the right time. This also introduces them to benefits they may not have even known were available to maximize utilization and help spur participation in programs.
Invest in their careers. Many employers offer tuition reimbursement, which is generous, but it also leaves it up to the employee to figure out what program they want to pursue with only anecdotal insight into job prospects. Not to mention, it’s extremely difficult to attend classes when you’re working three 12-hour shifts a week or alternating days and nights.
Also: Essential health care workers deserve better financial benefits
Especially for entry-level roles like CNAs, LPNs or phlebotomists, offering career planning and investment can help an organization and the employee develop a longer-term strategy. Working with staff to develop a career arc that includes financial support—for example, come to work with us now as an LPN and we’ll help you advance to an RN or BSN—is a strong enticement for new prospects to come on board and stay. Aside from the financial support, help them build time into their schedule to attend classes, so they don’t lose progress and you don’t lose talent.
Provide administrative time. Offering the best benefits in the business offers no real benefit if staff don’t have time to learn how to take advantage of them. Posting printed collateral in break rooms is one way to get the message out, and some organizations are even using direct mail to get materials into the home where staff can read and discuss it with other household members.
However, consider building one hour a week of administrative time into front-line staff schedules to give them time to actually read the emails and engage with the content you’re distributing. This ensures they get the message and have opportunities to act on it before they head home and forget.
Leverage employee advocates. Every floor or department has a trusted individual (or two) who everyone goes to for information or advice. It’s often a senior nurse or someone who’s well-networked across the organization.
HR leaders can leverage these individuals as champions to talk about and promote benefits to other staff members. Identify these advocates in each area, educate them and be sure to compensate them for their time. Don’t expect this to be invisible labor—make this advocacy work part of their normal shift each week.
Supporting health care workers’ wellbeing requires more than just basic health insurance and retirement planning. It requires truly understanding their specific needs at various stages of their lives and careers and offering benefits that make sense across the spectrum. By providing holistic benefits, employers can help reduce frontline staff stress, demonstrate that the organization values their skills and them as people, and it creates a culture of caring that attracts and retains talent to help lighten the load.
Barrett Scruggs is VP of Workplace Financial Well-Being at SoFi at Work.