Alegent Health

After reading Chapters 9, 10, and 11, review the case below and answer the discussion questions. Alegent Health, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is a non-profit health-care system  consisting of seven hospitals with about 2,000 beds and more than 200 clinic and outpatient locations, 1,200 physicians, and more than 7,500 other employees who work throughout the organization. Several years ago, Alegent recognizes that HR issues need “acute care treatment”.  Turnover rates of 24%, couples with more than 500  positions, were costing the firm more than $15 million annually. Four years later, the turnover rates had declined to 12% and open positions had dropped to fewer than 100. Because of their improvements, Alegent’s HR practices, and especially its retention successes, won several local and national awards.

Alegent was named one of the “Best Places to Work in Omaha.” The award had bases  on surveys of employees that ask about credibility, respect and fairness, pride, and camaraderie. Alegent also received a Workforce Management Optimas Award in the financial impact category for its success at recruiting and retaining key staff. Winning these awards indicates that Alegent is clearly being effective with its HR activities. Specifically, regarding retention efforts, Alegent forms an Employee Retention Task Force whose focus was to decrease turnover and increase employee satisfaction. The task force did identify several strategies to be in use. One program illustrates how Alegent approached retention of nurses.

The Nursing Residence Program has caught national attention. Each resident (or new nurse) is paired with an experienced nurse or “preceptor” based on interests, personality, and so on. Also, a mentor outside the nursing department adds support and encouragement to individuals. Nursing staff meet monthly for training. In addition, they can visit various other departments (pediatrics, cardiology, etc.) in which they may have career interests.

Further Description

Nurses who have interest in management can shadow the department director to see how they manage the department . Returning nurses who have been out of the field five or more years are enrolled, retrained, and paired with recently finished residents. Alegent Health is the exception to the turnover levels in nursing. Compared with the U.S. healthcare industry rate of 20%, Alegent’s turnover rate of 7.6% is exceptionally low. Another key to aiding nursing recruitment and retention is an extensive training and development program. Many different short courses and classes are available to Alegent employees at no cost. As part of this program, Alegent pays up to $20,000 for employees selected for a career advancement program to obtain nursing degrees. Discussion Questions: What changes has Allegiant Health made in order to motivate and retain their employees? .

In addition to the changes that they make to improve retention at Alegent Health. What are other ways in which they can motivate their employees?. Note: When answering these questions, be sure to substantiate your response with supporting evidence from the course textbook . Or additional research from a credible source (i.e., the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Society for Human Resource Management, the Department of Labor). Please prepare a 2-5 page paper in WordCase Study Rubric (1)Case Study Rubric (1)Criteria Ratings Pts. This criterion has links to a Learning Outcome Student identified the main issues and problems of the case study.5 ptsFull Marks0 pts No Marks5 pts .

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