Many Long Term Care (LTC) organizations believe there are high correlations between happy employees, reduced costs and improved resident outcomes.
 If you’re like many Long Term Care Managers you probably are concerned with staff satisfaction. Many managers create action plans on how to address staff engagement. Others will relinquish control to their staff in hopes that less accountability will result in higher satisfaction scores. At some facilities, managers have mailed thank-you cards for a job well done. However, it didn’t take long before employees started to wonder about the real intent of getting cards.
One thing that managers must know is that motivating staff comes from within the employee. If employees are not motivated because they want to come to work there's little you can do about it. Managers can inspire, but inspiration is typically like a day off... it's very short acting.
It’s no surprise that most satisfied employees in LTC organizations are at the top of the food chain. Why? Not because they make more money or have more responsibility, but because they have more control over their workday. For example, take a look at a job description of a facility manager and the job description of a Certified Nursing Assistant. Most everything the CNA is to perform is dictated by regulations and others, where in the case of the manager, their responsibilities are far more autonomous.
The Point: Employee satisfaction has less to do with action plans or time off as it does with listening and giving them a sense of empowerment. Providing staff with preference based working environment will go a long way to improving employee retention and satisfaction. Which will also help reduce costs and improve resident outcomes.
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