Guide for selecting the best-qualified candidates
Creating best practices-based policies
By Colleen Sanders
Program Development Manager
Interim HealthCare, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Recruitment and retention is a major issue facing home health agencies. According to research conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, finding a candidate to fill positions is the No. 1 challenge, followed by retaining those hired, and selecting the best-qualified candidate. Here are some of the forces that create the challenges faced by agencies:
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts. Six of the 10 occupations predicted to be the fastest growing through the year 2006 are in health services. Personal care aides and home health aides are the top two fastest growing occupations.
• Changes in labor market. We no longer just compete in the market share, we compete in the labor force.
• Shortage of younger workers and aging population. More than 40 million Americans will be 65 or older by 2010. A Harvard Nursing Research Institute study reports that the average age of U.S. nurses is now more than 44 years old.
• Employees from companies that have downsized find employment quickly. The labor market will continue to diminish during the next eight years.
Many agencies do not track turnover rates or have a mechanism in place to identify and control external, internal, and supplement costs associated with recruitment and hiring of employees. The benefit of identifying costs is improved expense control. According to the Employment Management Association:
• Average costs per hire 1991-1995 for non-exempt hires ranged $973 to $1,261.
• Other studies found cost as high as $2,000 per hire.
• Average costs for nonexempt employee recruitment is 8% to 15% of annual salary.
To achieve goals of business expansion and work force stability, agencies need to be responsive to changes and ask themselves, "Is there a better way?" Recruitment, hiring, and retention is an ongoing process that should be viewed as how you do business vs. just another thing to do.
Redirect recruiting and hiring efforts from a reactive process to a best practice. Are they considered a process in your organization or are they a best practice? A best practice is a process universally accepted by an organization as a best practice to achieve better results. For example, the act of just answering the telephone is a process. Answering the telephone and identifying your agency is a best practice. Integrate your agency’s mission, purpose and or values into your recruitment and retention practices as well.
Standardized, behavioral-based interview and selection guides benefit an agency with consistency and objectivity. A hiring guide reduces "gut hires," and assists the interviewer in determining if applicants possess the needed skills and qualities.
Evaluate standardized interview guides with employee performance evaluations to determine if indicators are sufficient.
Use interview guides judiciously in order to comply with fair hiring practices.
Don’t forget about personnel involved in the decision-making process. Office personnel designated to human resource functions must be knowledgeable. Consider designating a person for membership in the Society for Human Resource Management.
Review, update job descriptions as needed
Job descriptions should contain the essential function employees, and contractors are required/expected to perform. Make existing processes more effective by incorporating existing tools and process into the selection practice. Other tools, such as skills checklists and performance evaluations, need to mirror the job description. Benefit: Employees know up front what is expected of them and how they will be evaluated.
Before interview:
• Interview candidates only after an application is completed.
• Match applicant’s job history and education to job description requirements.
• Review application for completeness, legibility, and gaps in employment.
• Administer and score written test.
The benefits:
— Predicts right hire to match agency needs.
— Predicts applicant’s reliability and stability.
— Predicts applicant’s ability to read, write, comprehend, and follow instructions.
After interview, but before hire:
• Verify references.
• Conduct skills demonstration. After hiring is not the time to find out an employee cannot perform essential job functions. All employees and contractors should be able to demonstrate basic competency. Hiring an aide, nurse, or therapist is no different than hiring data entry personnel in which they demonstrate keyboard skills prior to hire. A license or certificate only means required education and clinical training have been achieved.
An agreement with a facility or school may be needed as part of your competency determination process prior to hire, especially if hiring new graduates. If you hire new graduates prior to assessing skill demonstration make sure the requirements of your job description have been met prior to assigning to job functions or patient/client care. Benefit: Applicant meets job description requirements and has the skills that meet your needs and the needs of the population served by your agency.
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