Practice Management Alert

Question: It’s so hard to find good staff these days, and we’re worried about losing our best ones to other practices. Is there a way to know which staffers are thinking about leaving, so that we can take steps to keep them?

Kansas subscriber

Answer: According to research from firms like Gallup, LinkedIn, and CareerBuilder, anywhere from 22 to 75 percent of employees are actively looking for new jobs at any given time. And even your happiest employees may be vulnerable.

Remaining open to new employment options has become a way of life for most employees, so even if they’re not actively seeking employment, it doesn’t mean they won’t respond to an opportunity if one is presented to them. “People trying to predict attrition often think of ‘push factors’ that make people want to leave their jobs, but [there are] ‘pull factors’ that indicate recruiters might be wooing someone who’s not actively looking,” Genevieve Graves, PhD, a data scientist who applies predictive analytics to talent management, said in a 2016 interview with Harvard Business Review.

How can you tell if a talented employee is scoping out greener pastures on their own or being lured away by a new opportunity? Nancy Jo Vinson, RN, BA, CASC, director of integration management at Surgical Care Affiliates, spoke to administrators and mangers as ASCA 2017 about boosting staff retention. She offered these subtle — and not so subtle — signs. Staff members may:

• Begin dressing better (or changing into nicer clothes for lunch, if scrubs are the norm).
• Take lunches or breaks at nontraditional times
• Request PTO, one day at a time
• Make or receive more phone calls than usual
• Appear urgent to finish assignments or let their productivity drop off
• Ask you or someone else in the practice for a reference (this one isn’t so subtle)

Timing also plays a significant role in the amount of job hunting taking place among your staff. Job-seeking activity increases by 6-9 percent around work anniversaries, and 12 percent before birthdays — especially “milestone” birthdays — according to a 2016 study from CEB Corporate Leadership Council. Why? These are times when people naturally reflect on where they thought they’d be at a certain point in their career or their life. If they’re not happy with the results, they take action.