When you own an agency the responsibilities are abundant. You must invest every bit of strength you have working through all the dynamics of your company. There are new problems daily that need your attention. It is your responsibility to see all the problems through with solutions that will benefit both your clients and your agency.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
As a Director of Nursing, I was directly involved with staff that performed all the activities of daily living for the ninety-six residents of our community. My turnover rate was extremely low and my retention rate was high for the aides that took care of the residents daily. It was my responsibility for scheduling all the staff for the three shifts day to day, making sure that all shifts were covered, educating, and training the staff when issues arose with more complex clients or things that could potentially be dangerous to my staff. I also completed the annual evaluations and the competencies of new tasks delegated.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
So, there are a few practices I did daily that I feel expedited the wonderful care that my residents received from my aides and I thought sharing them with you could maybe help some of you. The first tip would be to start from the date of hire, sharing mutual respect with your caregivers. We all know that the position that they have and the duties that go along with it are difficult to perform daily, and most of us would agree that we could never do their job. Treating them kindly and showing respect is huge when you are requesting an unpleasant task to be completed.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE
Make sure all your other staff is on board with the consideration and respect of your caregivers when having interactions and speaking to them on the phone. Respect starts with you as a boss, but it must be a strict policy of excellent customer service when having interactions with your staff. Be sure to have an open door policy so your staff can speak with you if they are having a difficult time with a client or maybe a client’s family member, or even if they may be going through a crisis at home. It’s a really good practice to let them know that you care about them as people and respect the job they do for you. And you will know that they respect you too when they are comfortable coming to you to talk about different issues they may have going on. Once they have come to you with an issue it is really important that you follow up with them so they know you were listening, and they will trust that you will work with them towards a resolution.
TRAINING MOTIVATES
Make sure that your education and training for them is on point. Caregivers do like to learn about health issues or different techniques you can offer to make them more comfortable with a particular client. The caregivers like this education because it makes them feel good about themselves and the job they do daily. Having a good understanding does help improve the care they provide. As a boss, it was a wonderful feeling for me when giving an in-service and educating on a topic to be able to look around the room and see the lights go on. My favorite in-service ever was sensitivity training. The basis of the in-service was to have them perform tasks we ask of our clients with deficits to perform. I could hear comments around the room like, “That’s why he needs for me to button his shirt”, or “Now I understand why she can’t walk any quicker”, or just simply “Now I get it”. This complete understanding of what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes improved their compassion and their patience when providing care.
PROVIDE POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
Your caregivers are the most important people in your company and they will understand that by how you treat them and how you speak to them. They will continue to be there for your clients and give their all to you and your agency. Give them opportunities to grow within your company and ways to help them with feeling good about themselves and the job they do for you. Be appreciative and assist them with problem-solving. Make sure to celebrate with your staff. November is National Caregivers Month so you can pick a day for a luncheon or a barbeque or even a small token of appreciation. Based on your client feedback it’s very easy to have an employee of the month. You can keep it simple with a certificate of appreciation that you can give them. They will feel proud of the job they do and feel appreciated. And believe me, they will not hesitate to go home after work and tell their family all about it and maybe their friends that work for other agencies. Kindness, appreciation, and respect go a very long way. These are all the pieces to helping your staff thrive in their positions, and when they thrive as caregivers, your company will thrive as well.
IT ALL MAKES SENSE
I sometimes think of this analogy when it comes to your employee’s thriving. There may be many farms in your area that provide fruits and vegetables to the community, but the farm that has the best fruits and vegetables is the business that will thrive. This particular farmer makes sure to nurture his crops, providing crops with the nutrients they need to grow, and he protects and makes sure no weeds grow to hamper their growth. So, all the time he invests in helping his crops grow and thrive he is able to sell beautiful fruits and vegetables to the community. When all speak about the beautiful fruits and vegetables, the word of mouth allows his farm to prosper and thrive.
IN CLOSING
I was never an agency owner but I can tell you this. I was a boss that had the same thirty employees for the sixteen years in my position as Director of Nursing. My staff came to work every day with very few callouts and were trustworthy, and loyal to their jobs and me. Everything I asked them to do daily was always completed with a positive attitude. We always shared mutual respect and the reward I received for allowing them to thrive was the excellent care they provided to our clients.
Bio
Marybeth Sondergaard has been a registered nurse in the State of New Jersey for 31 years. She started her career in cardiology at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in telemetry before taking a position with the VNA of Central Jersey as a community health nurse where she was employed for 10 years. According to her, it was a rewarding position helping homebound patients prevent hospitalization and keep the elderly population safe in their homes. Her next opportunity was accepting a Director of Nursing position with an Assisted Living facility in New Jersey where she fell in love with the senior population. In this environment caregivers become their family, friend, confidant, and health care provider. Her accomplishments as DON included 5 deficiency-free surveys, reducing employee turnover from 91% to 15.5%, and maintaining a low hospitalization rate for the residents of her community. While there, she received her certification in dementia care and was also certified to teach the medication aide class in New Jersey. She says her biggest lifetime achievement was being nominated and receiving the nationwide NCAL Nurse of the Year Award. Her philosophy is: when you truly love what you do it’s easy to create achievable outcomes for the safety and well-being of each and every senior you care for, and even more enjoyable to share in the joy they feel when achieving their own personal goals.