LIKE MANY INDUSTRIES IN THE UNITED STATES, HEALTHCARE HAS A REAL PROBLEM
on its hands with employee retention. Experts expect employee turnover “to hit record
highs and cost U.S. companies more than $600 billion in 2018” (Work Institute, 2018).
What’s difficult for organizations to understand is that many of the reasons that staff
members leave their jobs are preventable. According to the Work Institute, “more than
three in four employees, 77 percent, who quit could have been retained by employers”
(Work Institute, 2018).
As many as “42 million employees will voluntarily quit their
jobs in 2018. This means that 28.6%, or more than one in
four employees, will leave their jobs this year to go to work
somewhere else. If this trend continues, by 2020 over 48
million employees, or one in three workers, will quit their
jobs” (Work Institute, 2018). The Work Institute quotes the
U.S. Bureau of Labor’s 2018 finding that “In 2017, the
voluntarily quits rate increased 5% from the prior year, as
nearly 38 million employees left their jobs. Since 2009, the
number of quits, which excludes retirement and relocation,
increased by over 80%, surpassing pre-recession levels”
(The Work Institute, 2018).
Healthcare is no exception to this trend; the industry
has been characterized by high turnover for many years.
Becker’s Hospital Review cites a “study by Compdata
Surveys of 11,000 healthcare employers with more than
11 million employees that found the average turnover in
healthcare jobs in 2017 was 20.6%, up from 15.6% in 2010,
putting healthcare’s turnover second only to hospitality’s”
(Rosenbaum, 2018).
The Financial and Care Impacts of
Healthcare Turnover
The annual cost associated with healthcare turnover is
significant. Monster.com shares that, “In healthcare, declining
retention is extraordinarily expensive. The cost of turnover
at one major medical center represented a loss of more
than 5 percent of the total annual operating budget,
according to an article in Health Care Management Review.”
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
“Nationwide, the cost of replacing a registered nurse
ranges from about $22,000 to more than $64,000”
(RWJF, 2009). Extrapolate that to other clinicians and
non-clinical staff, and to care environments across the
continuum, and the numbers are enormous.
For turnover’s effect on outcomes, an essential focus for
healthcare, more research needs to be done to get a
complete picture. Currently, “Most of the empirical
research examining the relationship between turnover
and quality has been conducted in the nursing home
setting. High turnover rates of certified nursing assistants
have been associated with poorer quality care for nursing
home residents” (ASPE, 2015). Leaders should look closely
at all turnover to improve organizational performance—
especially voluntary turnover. Increases in voluntary
turnover will continue to affect the ability of organizations
to sustain profits and grow revenues. The cost of turnover,
voluntary or involuntary, is estimated at one-third of a
worker’s salary (Work Institute, 2018).
“Nationwide, the
cost of replacing
a registered nurse
ranges from about
$22,000 to more
than $64,000”
– Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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