Laboratory managers' views on attrition and retention of laboratory personnel

This study was undertaken to provide information on the current shortage of clinical laboratory employees and to identify strategies for retaining laboratory employees.

A paper survey was distributed to 800 clinical laboratory managers.

The survey was sent to laboratory managers at their work sites.

190 usable surveys were returned for a response rate of 24%.

Surveys were mailed in March 2003.

The number of CLTs and CLSs considered fully staffed at the laboratory managers' institutions, the numbers of CLTs and CLSs who left the institutions in a five-year period, and the reasons employees left were tabulated. The managers' responses to questions on the factors that they considered most important in retaining laboratory employees were tabulated and categorized.

In this five-year period (1998-2002), 5% of employees left their jobs annually. Over 60% of laboratory employees who left did so in the first five years of practice. The top five reasons that employees left their jobs were: (1) new laboratory job, (2) moved/family obligations, (3) retirement, (4) left the field entirely, and (5) employee was fired. In the first year of practice, 15% of the employees who left were fired. Between one and five years of practice, 7.3% left because of the hours or shift, 6.7% left to pursue further education for a non-laboratory career, and 6.7% left the field entirely. In the group of employees who left between five and ten years, 13.5% left the field entirely and 5.2% left for sales or clinical trials positions. Over 40% of the employees with more than ten years of experience who left did so because of retirement.

Most laboratory employees who left did so to take another laboratory position; however, reasons for leaving vary with years of experience. The number of laboratory employees leaving the profession exceeds the number of new graduates entering the profession making the retention of employees essential. Laboratory managers identified salary as the most important retention factor.