Culture is priceless when it comes to recruitment, retention, say two hospice company leaders

The struggle to hire and retain employees has been a theme for the hospice industry in recent years, but some providers have been able to buck the trend. A secret weapon of recruitment and retention, VITAS Healthcare and Amedisys, two of the largest hospice providers in the United States, we say, maintain a positive company culture.

Nick Westfall, CEO of BEEFstated that his company’s culture is a key factor in staff recruitment and retention.

“Over the past two and a half years, we’ve added north of 2,000 net additional team members, which means that 2,000 more people are now in the organization than have left the organization,” Westfall said. McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse last week in an interview. “We’ve always been able to hire because of our fantastic culture, but our retention efforts and how that has a compounding effect is really what we’re talking about here.”

Retention and culture have a symbiotic relationship, according to Westfall. Long-term employees help create a culture of quality. That culture then influences new hires’ decisions to stay. Because of this, retention can be far more valuable than recruitment for hospice organizations, Westfall said.

“The cultural component of retention and longevity is something you can’t put a price on,” he explained. “It feeds the recruitment component of it. Honestly, you can have the best recruiting strategies, but if you have a terrible culture and a retention problem, you’re not going to build anything.”

VITAS’s staff-focused approach has had a measurable impact on its bottom line. Recruitment and retention gains have allowed the provider to sequentially increase patient capacity each month through March 2022, Westfall said, driving sales and profit growth. The parent company of VITAS, Chemed, during its period most recent quarterly earnings callattributed the hospice provider’s financial successes to its ability to attract and retain quality staff members.

Being intentional about culture

Meanwhile, Amedisyswhich provides hospice, palliative care and home care to communities in most states and may still be purchased by UnitedHealth Groupit also places a strong emphasis on company culture. The company’s interim people officer, Caitlin Franklin, said Thursday in an interview with McKnight’s that Amedisys is intentional about building a positive culture as it is an important component of its workforce strategies.

“Culture is ultimately what sets each organization apart from every other organization, and we believe so strongly in the culture we foster and make sure all of our caregivers are aligned with that mission,” Franklin said.

Franklin explained that more tenured staff members, especially nurses, are important assets in educating and mentoring less experienced caregivers. By retaining these workers, the result is an improved workplace culture and a higher competency level of the entire organization.

“We know the importance of increased retention is not only positive for the team, but ultimately impacts the quality of care we can provide to our patients,” Franklin said. “When you think about how interdependent — especially for hospice — that care team is, they want to make sure they can rely on their colleagues to provide quality patient care.”

Comparing the importance of recruitment to retention, Franklin said hospices require “a balance of both.”

“Recruiting gives us the opportunity to add new things to the organization: new people, new ideas and new experiences,” Franklin said. “From a retention (prospect) … there’s real power in having a cohesive team.”

Westfall believes culture can help hospices bring new workers in the door. Culture is the tool no. 1 recruitment of VITAS, Westfall said. The company prioritizes hard work and authenticity, which helps it attract workers who share similar values. These core principles impact everyone at VITAS, from its front-line care workers to senior management, according to Westfall.

“Every company talks about culture,” Westfall said. “But I would argue that very few do it to a point where when a candidate walks in the door, I can feel that they seem authentic and genuine. And that’s what we’ve done as an organization.”