Staff retention and recruitment: "one great department"

The projected demand for healthcare workers during the next ten years has been the impetus for many organizations to develop more creative strategies to ensure adequate staffing levels in the future. In order to keep pace with service demands, the diagnostic imaging department at Valley Lutheran Medical Center (VLMC) in Mesa, Ariz., has been growing as well. Since November of 1999, the number of core FTEs increased from 54.5 to 96. As a result, efforts to retain the current employees became just as critical as efforts to recruit staff for the new positions that were created to support the expanded services. In February 2001, an AHRA seminar was held in Phoenix, which included a day-long session called "Workforce 2001: Recruitment, Selection, Retention of Quality Employees." The presenter, Clint Maun, C.S.P., emphasized the need to provide "passionate orientation" for new employees, encouraged team-based selection of new employees, and reminded the audience that new employees decide within the first three days whether or not they will stay with an organization, regardless of how long it actually takes to leave. Maun also described to the group a model for creating team effort called "One Great Unit" (OGU), which uses a "12-Week Plan" for engaging staff. For the diagnostic imaging department at VLMC, this concept was remodeled so that, instead of focusing on one modality (unit) in the department, the focus was on the whole department. The first step to creating "One Great Department" was to establish an Oversight Committee that would help define the focus of the 12-Week Teams. Five, front-line employees were recruited who represented a cross-section of the imaging department. To assist in the implementation, the director of learning and innovation at VLMC agreed to facilitate the first two meetings. The first 12-Week Team was called together in May 2001. The operational objective addressed was "improving communication inter- and intra-departmentally." Each member volunteered to take one issue to investigate. For instance, the team identified that unit secretaries used an outdated resource document for ordering radiology exams. The 2001 goal was to limit voluntary employee turnover to less than 15 percent, an aggressive goal considering that in 2000 the turnover rate was 40 percent. In January 2002, the 2001 turnover rate was 14.5 percent (Bravo!). While we accomplished our goal, there are many challenges ahead. The Arizona market is so volatile that we cannot afford to rest on any previous success.