One visiting nurse agency (VNA) slashed its employee shortage rate from 30% to 5% over a 3-year period, largely through the help of a grant-funded retention program. Perhaps as striking as the accomplishment itself was the agency head's willingness to share exactly how the program works and to answer questions from other VNAs eager to adopt the successful strategy. At the VNAA's CEO Roundtable, the operating principle is that all members are strengthened by pooling their knowledge. In addition to a bimonthly teleconference, members are part of a listserve that allows them to keep in touch, ask questions, and share ideas between meetings.
During a recent teleconference about recruitment and retention, panelists shared a variety of approaches that are working in their own agencies and then gave participants the opportunity to ask questions. Panelists described their experiences implementing ideas ranging from new marketing strategies, to trainings tailored for new graduates, to changes in benefit packages. In some cases, they made templates available to agencies interested in transplanting successful programs.
All participants on the call wanted to lower their staffing shortage rates. Many had used incentives such as signing bonuses, tuition reimbursement, and flex time. But, of course, the other employers in their markets were offering similar benefits to attract nurses. Participating in the Roundtable gave the CEOs access to programs that were truly innovative and also had a proven track record.
Other topics featured in CEO Roundtables have included fundraising, managed care contracting, and legislative issues. The calls also devote time to legislative and regulatory updates from VNAA staff.
The VNAA also organizes a similar program for chief financial officers. The Financial Managers Group has monthly teleconferences to discuss issues of the group's choosing. Members also participate in their own listserve.
The goal of the CEO Roundtable is obviously to strengthen member VNAs by giving them access to successful strategies to address the most critical issues they face. The Roundtable also provides CEOs with a peer group. President John F. Kennedy said, "Leadership and learning are indispensable to one another." Ironically, the CEO is often the only person in an organization who does not have access to staff development opportunities. CEO peer groups have proliferated ever since the 1980s in response to the needs of executive officers to discuss the unique challenges of the top spot with others in similar positions. While many of these groups run by private consultants are geographically based and include CEOs from various industries, the VNAA CEO Roundtable is obviously designed exclusively to address issues of not-for-profit home care. Thus, as was clear in the recruitment and retention conference, ideas are highly transferable.
For the 100 CEOs who participated in the recruitment roundtable, the call served as a reminder that they are not alone in facing staffing challenges. At the same time, it demonstrated that those challenges are being met every day by creative CEOs-leaders just like them.