Hiring and retaining entry-level workers for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) is a challenge one localized operator has overcome, making it a proud outlier when it comes to meeting the industry’s biggest challenge.
Goodwin House Inc. operates two Northern Virginia communities – Goodwin House Alexandria; and Goodwin House Bailey’s Crossroads – and has overcome the obstacles exacerbated by these unprecedented conditions brought on by the pandemic.
Since last March, its results have been stunning: Goodwin House has lost only a tiny fraction of its full-time workforce, which includes RNs, LPNs, CNAs, environmental services, maintenance, dining services, administrative, life enrichment, marketing, finance, sales, social work, procurement, and IT teams.
This loyalty was achieved through the company’s mission is to “support, honor and uplift the lives of older adults and the people who care for them” through a faith-based, nonprofit organization affiliated with the Episcopal Church” under its CEO Bob Liebreich.
The company likes to emphasize the word “and” in that mission, says its management team, led by Fran Casey, Chief People Officer; and Lindsay Hutter, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer. It’s something, they say, gives their operation an advantage.
Another prevailing aspect of Goodwin House’s culture expressed in its mission is that the organization is one of generosity.
It’s part of Liebreich’s strategy to get an early lead on cultivating a long-term relationship with employees and creating distance from the competitors.
“When the pandemic hit, [Liebrech] didn’t pull back, he doubled-down,” said Casey. “When presented with solutions for facing challenges brought on by Covid-19, our competitors say, “No we can’t.” We focus on getting to “yes we can.” If we have to, we look for savings in other places. We never want to sacrifice the needs of our employees.”
An Abundance of Caution, Abundance of Staff
For starters, last spring in the throes of the senior living crisis, Goodwin House adjusted staffing models by increasing the number of clinical, housekeeping, and reception desk staff. Goodwin House hired a testing nurse, whose sole responsibility was to provide and track COVID-19 tests.
Additional clinical RNs, LPNs and CNAs were hired to ensure adequate staffing in the event a large number of staff were exposed to COVID-19 and needed to be quarantined. Additional housekeeping staff were brought on to amp-up infection control cleaning procedures. And a concierge was hired to assist with deliveries, check-in responsibilities, and scheduling family visits, once permitted.
Goodwin House began proactively testing all residents and staff on May 1, 2020, before it was required by the Virginia Department of Health. This continued through April, along with testing of service delivery employees.
“We set the bar for infection control quite high from the start because keeping our residents and staff safe was our first priority,” Casey said. “We also understood that to attract and retain staff, we needed to demonstrate that we were committed to their safety, health and well-being. Many were just as concerned about taking COVID-19 home to their families as bringing it into our communities.”
Another of its retention strategies was to help staff keep their families safe. It published safety guides for employees and their families – especially before holidays – and by providing staff with PPE to provide to their family members at home.
“At the recommendation of the Department of Health, we required staff to select a single employer (and not freelance at other facilities), because this had been shown to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. This resulted in many of our ‘on-call’ and part-time staff choosing to remain with their full-time employers. Fortunately, we were able to retain nearly all of our full-time staff members.”
To the extent possible, Goodwin House allowed for flexible scheduling and work-from-home schedules to accommodate the shifting needs of staff and to support our retention goals.
Wage Boosts & Bonuses, Grants & Groceries
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it established multiple new staff support programs to further buttress its retention strategy, including grant programs though the Goodwin House Foundation to provide up to $1,000 of financial assistance for staff members adversely affected by COVID-19.
Goodwin House also provided a hero differential to the majority of staff, with the differentials ranging from 50 cents to $2 per hour depending on their position. Additionally, it provided the majority of staff with a $400 gratitude bonus for their continued commitment and dedication to the residents, members, and patients served by Goodwin House.
Throughout the pandemic, Goodwin House created an onsite grocery store, where it secured the most needed, hard-to-find items and sold them at cost to our employees.
“This took away one more errand staff had to run, and it kept them safer because they didn’t need to make trips to their neighborhood grocery stores,” Casey said. “Once items were more readily available, we replaced the grocery store with a grocery gift card, which was provided to staff free of charge through the GH Foundation.” In total, more than $60,000 was provided in food assistance.
This is another reason why employees stay, said Hutter.
More Hiring on the Way
Casey said as Goodwin House continues to grow as an organization and seeks to hire more employees (it anticipates hiring 12 full-time and five part-time nurses this year due to expansion and turnover) by focusing on the things it can control. Its long-term goal is to build 12 to 14 communities by 2040.
To get there, Goodwin House is leveraging available and accommodating technology. It hosts virtual job fairs and conducts one-on-one virtual interviews through video conference software.
For onboarding, it revised its onboarding protocols to include online training, socially-distanced training via Zoom, and additional infection control training and procedures.
To both widen and improve its pool of candidates, it has created relationships with institutions such as the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), making obtaining a college education more accessible to staff. Goodwin House offers tuition assistance and lower tuition costs through this partnership.
In addition, Goodwin House’s Pathways Program is designed to attract and retain new talent by providing career development pathways to desired roles. The LPN to RN program, which will launch this fall, allows selected staff to work part-time while receiving full-time pay, so that they may focus their attention on completing their studies without the worry of reduced compensation.
“We are here to support, honor and uplift the lives of older adults and those who care for them,” she said. “The pandemic has presented an opportunity. Instead of running from it, we’ve asked, “How can we approach it?”
Written by Paul Bergeron
Companies featured in this article:
