Tag Archive for ‘retention’ at PHInational.org

Tag Archive for 'retention'

PHI EXPERT INTERVIEW: Peggy Powell

Published

on August 27, 2008

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Tapping the Power of Peer Mentoring

This is the second in a series of PHI Expert Interviews, which bring you insights from four senior PHI staff. They’re an impressive group - among the nation’s leading experts on long-term care’s direct-care workforce - and collectively they’ve spent decades studying the challenges facing the workforce and how to address them. We think you’ll be interested in what they’ve learned.

Peggy Powell is one of the founders of Cooperative Home Care Associates, the worker-owned home health agency that started PHI, where she served as director of education. Since joining PHI in 1991, she has worked with CHCA and other employers to develop strategies for recruiting, training, supervising, and supporting direct-care staff.

One of those strategies, peer mentoring, is gaining in popularity – and no wonder. Done right, a peer mentor program helps new direct-care workers get oriented to the job and the organization, bolstering their skills and their confidence. It also creates a career ladder for experienced workers.

And that’s not all, as Peggy has learned. Continue reading ‘PHI EXPERT INTERVIEW: Peggy Powell’

Study Shows Link Between Health Care and Retention

Published

enakhnikian

on August 22, 2008

in PHI Blog

. Closed

“There is now a consistent pattern of data showing that homecare workers receiving benefits have a lower rate of attrition and, therefore, a higher rate of stability,” says the latest report from the Los Angeles County In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program.

Impact of Health Benefits on Retention of Homecare Workers: Analysis of the IHSS Health Benefits Program in LA County (pdf) is a follow-up to four reports from 2003-2006, which showed that offering medical benefits to the IHSS home care workers reduced turnover.

The present study, a five-year longitudinal retention analysis, echoes those findings. It also teases out more detail, comparing work patterns for workers who enrolled in the benefits program with those who did not, identifying traits that predict who will enroll, tracking changes in enrollment over time, and more.

The findings are significant because “The success of any kind of in-home supportive services depends on having an experienced and well-trained and committed workforce - you can’t have people stay out of institutions if there’s no workforce to take care of them at home,” says Joanne Holland, a senior clinical specialist at RTZ Associates Inc. “It’s such important work, but it’s not a high-paying position. And a lot of people are able to stay in the work because of these health care benefits.”

The study found that nearly half (45%) of the workers who enrolled in the plan were still in the workforce at the five-year mark, compared with only about a third (35%) of those who were eligible for benefits but had not enrolled.

“The stability of the workforce means you have better workers because they’re been doing it longer,” adds Holland. “It also makes for better relationships with consumers, so it’s a better experience for them.” RTZ Associates wrote the report.

Comment below, or see PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers blog for more comments.

Elise Nakhnikian, PHI, Senior Online Editor
enakhnikian@phinational.org

Nationwide Initiative to Reduce DCW Turnover Documented

Published

enakhnikian

on August 8, 2008

in PHI Blog

. 2 Comments

bjbc logo The July issue of The Gerontologist is devoted to findings from the Better Jobs Better Care research and demonstration project. BJBC, which began in 2002 and ended in 2006, was the largest initiative in the nation ever created to address the high vacancy and turnover rates of direct-care workers by improving the quality of direct-care jobs. The initiative involved changing both public policy and employer practice. Demonstration grants were made to groups in Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

A nine-page overview lays out how and why the project came into being, the problems affecting the direct-care workforce, and how awareness of and responsiveness to those problems is changing. The essay is by Robyn Stone (pictured), executive director of the Institute for the Future of Aging Services, and PHI President Steven Dawson. FAS and PHI conceived of BJBC and provided technical assistance to the grantees. Funding was supplied by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Among the findings detailed in the issue:

Direct-care workers across long-term settings identified more pay, improved communication, better supervision, and being treated with respect as the most important things employers could do to improve jobs.
After accounting for satisfaction with wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities — good basic supervision was most important in affecting CNAs to stay in their jobs.
There is a positive correlation between CNA job commitment and resident satisfaction.
After accounting for satisfaction with wages, benefits, and advancement opportunities, good basic supervision was the most important factor behind commitment to the job. Continue reading ‘Nationwide Initiative to Reduce DCW Turnover Documented’

Rising Gas Prices Expose Home Care Fault Line

Published

enakhnikian

on August 5, 2008

in PHI Blog

. 4 Comments

Are rising gas prices making it harder for you to deliver or receive care? Add your comments at the end of this post.

We all feel the pinch from high gas prices, but for home care workers it’s more of a punch. As PHI President Steven Dawson puts it: “The doubling of gas prices over the past few years has been like a pay cut for many home care workers — particularly those serving clients in rural areas.

“Policy makers like to believe that home care is cheaper than nursing homes, but that’s only true because home care workers are paid less than nursing home workers, often without health benefits,” adds Dawson. “There’s not much good to say about higher gas prices, except perhaps that they will now force policy makers to look more closely at the real costs of shifting toward home-based care, and in response create realistic reimbursement policies that will offer home care workers a true livable wage and benefits.”

When PHI’s Michigan State Director Hollis Turnham wrote about the home care gas crisis in our blog in June, talking about the problems she was already hearing about, anticipating others, and asking what other people were experiencing, the response was swift and impassioned. An employer called rising gas prices “the 500 lb gorilla in the room for home care agencies.” A home care worker talked about seeing turnover increase and “looking for something closer to home myself.” The head of a home care and hospice aide recruitment agency said he planned to do “something very tangible to address this issue,” though he wasn’t ready yet to say just what.

Continue reading ‘Rising Gas Prices Expose Home Care Fault Line’

Texas Publishes Stakeholder Recommendations for Improving DSW Recruitment, Retention

Published

enakhnikian

on July 24, 2008

in PHI Blog

. 0 Comments

“Just yesterday my son’s caregiver quit…she couldn’t provide care for my son because she didn’t have care for her own children. It’s a vicious cycle,” says one of the long-term care stakeholders interviewed for a report from the Texas Direct Service Workforce (DSW) Initiative.

Stakeholder Recommendations to Improve Recruitment, Retention, and the Perceived Status of Paraprofessional Direct Service Workers in Texas (pdf) distills input from key stakeholders into 14 recommendations on how to improve turnover and the perceived status of the state’s direct service workers.

With the help of PHI, whose technical assistance was supplied to the project by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ National DSW Resource Center, the initiative divided the recommendations into compensation, opportunity, and support - the same three categories used in PHI’s Nine Elements of a Quality Job.

Continue reading ‘Texas Publishes Stakeholder Recommendations for Improving DSW Recruitment, Retention’