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Strategy of The Month for February 2010

HIRING AND RETAINING THE RIGHT TEAMS

A Punch List for 2010

Overview

            Labor is the major cost element of Senior living operations.  This newsletter series has been heavily focused on reducing direct labor cost creep; developing more efficient staffing patterns.  But properly addressing the labor situation involves several other important issues.  Here is a planning punch list of questions to address early in 2010:

1.      Past Trends – Have you found that the job applicant pool has changed over the last several years? 

·        Has this pool change affected your administrators, nursing staff and others?

·        What positions are currently hardest/easiest to fill?

·        What specific types of programs have or will you implement in 2010 to overcome some of these challenges?

2.      Use of contract labor:

·        Are you using contract labor as an ongoing strategy because, in certain positions, it provides a tangible benefit?

                                    Or . . .

·        Are you doing it to compensate for permanent employee labor shortages?

·        Do you have a specific plan to minimize or optimize the use of contract labor in 2010?

3.      Use of nursing agencies:

·        To what degree have you had to use agency professionals to fill nursing or other staffing slots within your organization?

·        Has this trend increased or decreased in recent years?

·        Do you consider use of agency a:

–        Major disadvantage?

                                          Or . . .

–        Does it depend on certain circumstances where it could in fact be an advantage?

·        What is your outlook for 2010?

4.      Employee turnover costs:

·        Have you been able to compute the actual cost of employee turnover?

–        Recruitment

–        Training

–        Etc.

·        Is employee turnover cost a major issue that significantly affects your budget in the course of a calendar or fiscal year?

·        If yes, does that cost impact influence your decisions to invest dollars in other forms of employee retention and executive recruitment?

5.      Employee recruitment:

·        How do you structure your employee recruiting efforts?

–        Use of internal human resources function exclusively?

–        Use of third-party executive search and professional placement agencies exclusively?

–        A blend of the above?

·        Do you have a policy to help you decide when to use which resource for filling certain employee slots?

6.      The universal worker concept:

·        Have you considered the universal worker concept (multi-tasking of specific FTEs) as being beneficial for your organization?

·        In which areas does it offer the most potential?

·        Will you use it as a continuing or enhanced strategy for the future?

7.      Value-engineering employee levels:

·        For a given operational function, have you considered any practical approaches to reducing the FTE count to perform that function?

8.      Communication of employee benefits:

·        Do you communicate employee benefits on a:

–        Selected basis?

–        Continuing basis?

·        Does this communication, in your opinion, have a positive affect on employee morale and turnover?

9.      Succession planning:

·        Do you have a formalized succession planning initiative?

·        Is it aimed at not only promoting existing employees, but reducing future turnover?

10.      Automation and systems and procedures:

·        Have you evaluated new software or other Information Technology (IT) strategies that might have a positive impact on reducing or controlling your labor costs?

11.    Succession planning:

·        Have you considered the likely impact on your overall labor costs if one of the following situations emerge:

–        Significant labor union organization for entry level workers.

–        Increases in the minimum wage.

·        Can some of these potential cost impacts be controlled or reduced by alternative management strategies?

    The questions and issues are relevant.  The answers may be elusive.  But until and unless you address these issues, your labor costs are not optimized or properly under control for 2010.

Jim Moore is president of Moore Diversified Services, Inc., a national Senior housing and health care consulting firm based in Fort Worth, Texas.  He has written several books about assisted living and Senior housing, including Assisted Living Strategies for Changing Markets.  A new book titled Independent Living and CCRCs was released in September, 2009.  Jim Moore can be reached at 817-731-4266 or jimmoore@m-d-s.com.

To visit Moore Diversified Services, Inc. – www.m-d-s.com

To review information regarding Jim Moore’s new book - http://www.westridgepublishing.com/ILandCCRCmain.htm

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