Do too many of your new hires only last a year or two? High turnover not only strains your resources but can also affect quality of care. With just a few changes to your hiring, training and retention procedures, you can maintain (and boost) employee morale as well as improve patient satisfaction.

Here are a few hospital recruitment tips to help you attract and keep the most qualified employees.

1. Frequently Communicate with Applicants

Rushing the recruitment process increases the chances you’ll hire an employee who isn’t a good fit for your hospital. Unfortunately, taking too long to make a decision can be just as detrimental.

The best candidates will likely have plenty of offers and will soon move on to the next opportunity if it takes too long to progress to the next step in the interview process. Regularly communicating with applicants can help ensure you don’t lose high-quality candidates.

2. Include Peers in Interviews

Coworkers play a big role in an employee’s decision to stay at an organization—no one enjoys working with people who are unpleasant, unhelpful or who don’t work well as part of a team.

Peer interviewing provides a good way for everyone who would be working with the candidate to decide if they would be a good choice for the department.

3. Give Support to New Hires

The first few days of a new job can be overwhelming. Employees need help with everything from finding the cafeteria and restrooms to navigating hospital policies and procedures. When they don’t receive the help they need, they may quickly become frustrated or experience burnout.

It’s a good idea to assign mentors to advise new employees for their first couple months on the job. In addition to providing practical information, mentors also can help new employees learn the little nuances that vary from hospital to hospital, such as the preferred way to communicate with other departments or vacation schedule protocol.

4. Provide Training and Advancement Opportunities

Ongoing training is an essential aspect of improving employee engagement, whether employees work in clinical, administrative or support functions. Ask staff for input when designing programs to ensure the training programs you provide offer real value for your employees.

For example, the Duke University Health System in Durham, North Carolina reimburses their staff the costs of attending work-related conferences and offers a bonus to nurses who want to get certified in a particular specialty.

5. Offer Ongoing Management Training

Some supervisors instinctively know how to manage employees, while others require extensive training. In fact, according to a study by the RN Work Project, nurses cite the primary reason for their departure was a bad relationship with their manager.

Providing ongoing training that focuses on positive management techniques can help supervisors feel more confident and employees feel more appreciated and supported. Extend training to all managers—even experienced supervisors can benefit from learning new methods and techniques.

Creating a good working environment is an essential aspect of attracting and keeping high-quality staff. When staff members are happy and engaged, patients benefit, which can translate to an improvement in your HCAHPS scores.

Looking for even more ways to boost HCAHPS scores? Download our free eBook, Guide to Positively Impacting HCAHPS Scores.