Nurses' Workplace Perceptions in Southern Germany-Job Satisfaction and Self-Intended Retention towards Nursing

Our cross-sectional study, conducted from October 2022 to January 2023, aims to assess post-COVID job satisfaction, crucial work dimensions, and self-reported factors influencing nursing retention. Using an online survey, we surveyed 2572 nurses in different working fields in Bavaria, Germany. We employed a quantitative analysis, including a multivariable regression, to assess key influence factors on nursing retention. In addition, we evaluated open-ended questions via a template analysis to use in a joint display. In the status quo, 43.2% of nurses were not committed to staying in the profession over the next 12 months. A total of 66.7% of our surveyed nurses were found to be dissatisfied with the (i) time for direct patient care. Sources of dissatisfaction above 50% include (ii) service organization, (iii) documentation, (iv) codetermination, and (v) payment. The qualitative data underline necessary improvements in these areas. Regarding retention factors, we identified that nurses with (i) older age, (ii) living alone, (iii) not working in elder care, (iv) satisfactory working hours, (v) satisfactory career choice, (vi) career opportunities, (vii) satisfactory payment, and (viii) adequate working and rest times are more likely to remain in the profession. Conversely, dissatisfaction in (ix) supporting people makes nurses more likely to leave their profession and show emotional constraints. We uncovered a dichotomy where nurses have strong empathy for their profession but yearn for improvements due to unmet expectations. Policy implications should include measures for younger nurses and those in elderly care. Nevertheless, there is a need for further research, because our research is limited by potential bias from convenience sampling, and digitalization will soon show up as a potential solution to improve, e.g., documentation and enhanced time for direct patient time.

Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse and Skilled Addiction Treatment Workforce

National drug overdose deaths have been rising for decades, with particularly significant increases in recent years among populations of color. There is an urgent need for timely, accessible substance use disorder treatment, but workforce shortages across roles and settings impede the ability of the treatment system to meet the rising and evolving demand. In this Commentary, the authors discuss reasons for workforce shortages across roles, and offer recommendations for 8 areas of investment to grow and sustain a substance use and addiction care workforce prepared to address the overdose crisis in a racially equitable manner.

Managing multiple, geographically-separated identities, and its effect on employee retention

Extant literature posits that an individual manages their multiple identities by integrating or separating them to varying degrees. We posit that, rather than managing a single set of identities, an individual may engage different identity structures in different contexts. We use the fly-in, fly-out work context, whereby an employee's home and work are substantially geographically separated, to explore whether different identity structures exist, strategies for managing them, and their effect on employee retention intentions. Analysis of qualitative data from 29 participants collected across three work sites revealed three main strategies that employees adopt to cope with having multiple identity structures: aligning identities; making work identity dominant; and creating a new identity around the working arrangement and discarding all other identities. These strategies interact with the employee's actual identity structure to influence retention intentions. Implications for retaining employees in such working arrangements are discussed.

The Link between HRM Practices and Performance in Healthcare: The Mediating Role of the Organizational Change Process

The role of human resources as a change agent in the organizational change process holds great importance. Hence, it is crucial to identify ways human resources can support change. This paper investigates the direct and indirect relationships between human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational performance, as well as the mediating role of the organizational change process in these relationships. The proposed model integrates primary HRM practices, organizational change components, organizational performance, employee retention, and organizational abandonment. We collected data to evaluate the relationships between the model variables through a survey questionnaire applied to 441 Romanian employees in the healthcare industry. The paper used structural equation modeling to test the model's validity and hypotheses. The results show that HRM practices directly impact organizational performance and have a mediated impact through the organizational change process. Additionally, the direct and mediating effects are consistent, and healthcare employers consider appropriate HRM practices and effective management of the organizational change process as essential drivers to achieve superior performance. The empirical findings provide valuable insights for government policymakers, stakeholders, and health managers on how suitable HRM practices can influence organizational performance.

Employee Retention in the Service Industry in Malaysia

This study aims to investigate the effects of work-life balance, work environment, and reward and compensation on employee retention in Malaysia. A total of 400 questionnaires were collected online from employees within the service industry in Malaysia. Partial least square structure equation modeling was used to test the model and hypotheses. The results reveal that work-life balance and work environment had a strong positive effect on employee retention, but reward and compensation had a much stronger positive effect on employee retention. This research provides unique theoretical contributions by investigating these factors in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak as components of the reciprocal process between employee and employer, and their effects on employee retention. This study also provides vital insights to business organizations to consider designing effective employee retention plans for a successful business.

Human Resource Practices for Corporate Social Responsibility: Evidence From Korean Firms

Human resource management (HRM) in managing environmental, social, governance (ESG), or corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives has been recently raised. Yet, little attention has been paid to integrating CSR and HRM. Our primary goal was to identify how and whether certain HR practices are critical for developing employee capability to operate in firms with active CSR initiatives. We first examine the impact of external CSR activities on firm-level work outcomes. Moreover, we attempt to identify a choice of particular HR practices that could be aligned with external CSR activities. We then empirically examine how each HR practice interacts with external CSR activities that influence employee retention and labor productivity. Using three longitudinal datasets conducted by the government-sponsored research institution over 154 publicly traded Korean firms for five waves of survey years, the results show that external CSR has a limited impact on employee retention and labor productivity. However, when external CSR activities are combined with a specific set of HR practices, including person-organization fit-based selection, performance-based pay, extensive investment of training and development, and employee suggestion program, the impact of external CSR on employee work outcomes is more substantial. The results indicate that external CSR and a particular set of HR practices as internal CSR can be complementary and generate a positive interaction on creating sustainable human capabilities.

Voluntary Employee Turnover: A Literature Review and Evidence-Based, User-Centered Strategies to Improve Retention

The business case for employee retention is well established in the literature. Simply stated, it is more financially advantageous to keep employees than to recruit and hire someone new. Recent studies have estimated the cost of turnover due to physician burnout in the United States at approximately $4.3 billion annually. The question remains, What are the best strategies to retain employees and keep them engaged? This article addresses the critical issues of employee turnover, delineates the reasons that employees leave, characterizes employees at risk of turnover, and describes retention strategies that overlap with strategies that address burnout and disengagement.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Employee Retention: Mediation and Moderation Through Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Communication

This study investigates the impact of transformational leadership on employee retention in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and probes the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and the moderating role of communication. Data were collected using convenience sampling from 505 employees of SMEs. A Smart PLS structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to estimate the various relationships. The findings of the study reveal a positive and significant relationship between transformational leadership and OCB. Similarly, this study finds a positive and significant relationship in OCB and employee retention. In addition, OCB had a positive mediating effect on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee retention. Furthermore, communication positively moderates the transformational leadership- OCB and OCB-employee retention relationships. Leaders at SMEs should implement the traits of transformational leadership such as developing a compelling vision for employees, focusing on goal achievement, having problem-solving techniques, having a sense of purpose, and spending time on the training and development of the team to enhance OCB and employee retention.

Wellness Program Nonparticipation and Its Association With Employee Turnover

PURPOSE

This study examines the association between nonparticipation in wellness activities and employee turnover risk.

DESIGN

Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis.

SETTING

Large university in the Midwestern United States.

PARTICIPANTS

Employees with continuous employment during 2016 and complete human resources and wellness program data (n = 34 405).

METHODS

Demographic, health risk assessment (HRA), and wellness program participation data were collected in 2016 and paired with administratively recorded turnover status from 2017. For the multivariate analyses, logistic regression models were used.

RESULTS

There were statistically significant associations between various socioeconomic and demographic characteristics (gender, age, race, wage, union and faculty status, and health score) with turnover status. Also, all 3 participation levels (participated in the HRA only, participated in the HRA and wellness programming, and participated in wellness programming only) had lower odds of experiencing turnover compared to nonparticipants (participated in the HRA only [adjusted odds ratio, AOR: 0.89; confidence interval, CI: 0.80-0.99], participated in wellness program(s) only [AOR: 0.77; CI: 0.62-0.95] and participated in both the HRA and program(s) [AOR: 0.82; CI: 0.74-0.91], respectively).

CONCLUSION

Employee participation in wellness program activities appears to represent a measure of engagement with work. Nonparticipation in these programs is associated with increased risk of employment turnover in the subsequent year.

Providing Excellent Consumer Service Is Therapeutic: Insights from an Implicit Association Neuromarketing Study

This paper reports the results of a combined biometric and implicit affective priming study of the emotional consequences of being the provider or receiver of either positive or negative customer service experiences. The study was conducted in two stages. Study 1 captured the moment-by-moment implicit emotional and physiological responses associated with receiving and providing good customer service. Study 2 employed an affective priming task to evaluate the implicit associations with good and poor customer service in a large sample of 1200 respondents across three Western countries. Our results show that both giving and receiving good customer service was perceived as pleasurable (Study 1) and at the same time, was implicitly associated with positive feelings (Study 2). The authors discuss the implications of the research for service providers in terms of the impact of these interactions on employee wellbeing, staff retention rates and customer satisfaction.

Links between organizational preparedness and employee action to seek support among a Japanese working population with chronic diseases

Objectives

This study examined the association between workplace rules and training programs regarding combining employees’ work and treatment for chronic diseases, and actions actually taken by employees to manage this issue. These workplace measures (rules and training programs) are consistent with the Japanese Guideline for Workplace Patient Coordination and Disease Treatment.

Methods

In February 2018, we conducted an online, cross‐sectional survey of 1134 employed individuals with chronic diseases who needed workplace support to combine work and disease treatment. All participants were aged 18‐65 years and lived in Japan. We investigated associations between workplace rules and training programs (two items) and employee actions (eight items), using a questionnaire based on the guideline and logistic regression analysis.

Results

In total, 76.5% of the participants said they had reported their chronic disease to their employer (manager, personnel department, or occupational physician). However, less than half (47.5%) had submitted a written report about their job to their doctor. Employees were more likely to take action in workplaces that had rules or training programs than in workplaces without such measures. More actions were taken among employees in workplaces with both rules and training programs than in those with either measure alone.

Conclusion

It is important to establish rules to support employees with chronic diseases and provide training to improve awareness of these rules to encourage employees with chronic diseases to take action to access the support they need.

Factors influencing increased expertise for a sustainable workforce at a research centre in South Africa

SETTING

The Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis (TB) Centre (DTTC), Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

OBJECTIVES

1) To determine whether access to designated funding is associated with the development of expertise in employees, and 2) which other factors are associated with the development of expertise in employees.

DESIGN

This was a retrospective study. The target population consisted of all employees at the DTTC during the period 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2011. Improvement in expertise during employment was the primary outcome; the secondary outcome was an increase in educational level linked to the National Qualifications Framework.

RESULTS

There was no association between access to funding and expertise development, but an association between the number of months employed and improvement of expertise during employment was observed (OR 1.03, 95%CI 1.02-1.04, P < 0.001), controlling for age at appointment, sex, access to designated funding and education level.

CONCLUSION

The study shows that almost a third of employees increased their expertise, more than 90% had access to designated funding and personnel employed for a longer duration were more likely to experience improvements in expertise. We encourage research organisations in low- and middle-income countries to implement strategies to retain employees in order to build their expertise.

Job satisfaction and career commitment among nursing assistants providing Alzheimer's care

As part of a statewide dementia-specific training collaborative, data were collected from nursing assistants and aides who provide paid Alzheimer's care. This study explored the relevance of previous education and practical experiences to specific constructs associated with worker recruitment and retention. Direct-care providers with prior training in gerontology and geriatrics had lower levels of extrinsic job satisfaction and career resilience than those without this kind of continuing education. Program participants who were currently or previously the primary caregiver for a friend or relative with Alzheimer's disease had higher levels of intrinsic job satisfaction but lower levels of career resilience than those with no informal caregiving experience. Current or previous informal caregiving experience may enhance intrinsic job satisfaction by increasing personal commitment to pursue formal care work and providing a kind of inoculation against the demoralization that is too often suffered in these very challenging jobs.