Welcome to NHA Stand-Up

You're probably asking yourself, "What is NHA Stand-Up?"... We're the first weekly(ish) newsletter designed by and exclusively for Nursing Home Administrators and Senior Living Operators.  We hope you will spend 3 minutes with us to transform your mindset and attitude to better lead your community or organization.  We commit to bringing you exclusive and curated content to help you hone your skills and elevate your operational and leadership abilities as well as access to industry insiders.

#LeadWithConfidence 

Share the Love

It's been one helluva year and a half for NHA's, including your bitter rival down the road you despise for stealing your referrals.  On your way home from work this week, buy a bottle of wine, a six-pack of Bud, or a Hershey's bar and drop it off with a thank you card at your rival's front desk.  Why?  Like you, they deserve appreciation for running towards the chaos while others run away and the rest of the world points fingers at our industry.  It is more important than ever before that we stick together and support each other, no matter what logo our paycheck has on it.  It will make their week and leave you with a smile.

Elevate Your Operation

Short-staffed? I know, dumb question.  This edition will not solve your staffing woes, but these tips should help to ease the pain.

One of the best things you can do to add some ink to the schedule is to revamp (or create if you don't have one) your float program.

First, review your shift requirements for your float pool.  If it's something minimal like "two shifts per month, one of which is a weekend shift," get with your HR team and get it increased.  Managing, calling, and dealing with employees who give you a couple of monthly shifts is only wasting your time. Look to increase the float requirement to at least 1-2+ shifts per week and 2+ weekend shifts per month.

To support your ask for a more significant commitment, you will likely need to raise the float rate by $0.50-$4.00 (tiered based on the # of shifts you hold them to commit to) per hour to keep your float pool engaged.  Consider the benefits.

1. You're getting twice the shifts covered without hiring a single additional person.

2. More cost-efficient than overtime or agency.

3. As you advertise (make sure the rate range is in the ad) and recruit for additional floats, you're testing a higher rate in the market at the same time.  The market's response will tell you where your current rates stand and if more aggressive rates are needed to stabilize your schedule.

4. The risk of being overstaffed is minimal since they only pick from a list of shifts where there are vacancies.

5. There is a market of employees who will appreciate having guaranteed hours, a higher rate, and the ability to pick their shifts (based on community needs)

Lastly, you will need to put together the business proposal to present to the stakeholders within your corporate or ownership support team.  Focus on the facts and be sure to call out the risks in addition to the benefits and how you will minimize them.  If your organization does not have a template for a business proposal, consider covering the following topics.

A short narrative of what you're proposing

Current vs. proposed float program

Financial impact projections

Other projected side effects (these could be positive or negative.  i.e., reduced turnover from staff, resident satisfaction, employee engagement

Market competitive data (pick top 3 competitors)

Benefits and how to measure

Set up the conference room, call the meeting, and let us know how it goes!

Frontline Perspectives

It's imperative to get out in front of rumors and perspectives of staffing shortages.  Make time today or this week to hold huddles with your leaders and teams (all shifts) to discuss the facts and what actions the team is taking to improve the staffing situation.  Set realistic goals and commitments to provide periodic updates.  Most importantly, please share with your teams the ways they can contribute to success and improvement. If your goal is to hire ten additional staff members for next month's orientation, challenge the team to refer 30 quality candidates.  Discuss the importance of first impressions and making new team members feel comfortable as they learn their roles.  Break down your overall goal into weekly milestones that you can utilize to communicate your progress.

Now grab your coffee and make it a great day.  And remember, we're all in this together!

If you enjoyed this newsletter please help us out by forwarding this edition to 2-3 friends or coworkers.