Home Health & Hospice Week

You need to figure out the new workforce generation.

The percentage of your workers that are 35 and under is likely increasing by the day, and if you don’t know how to hire, retain, and optimally manage them, you’ll lose out.

What sets the millennial generation apart? They grew up as natives to the new communication technologies that have revolutionized our world: the internet and cell phones. But their differences aren’t only in the realm of communication; they also value time, money, and relationships very differently from previous generations. Millennials bring with them a different set of values and skills than the generations that came before.

Psychologist and workforce consultant Gustavo Grodnitzky regularly advises businesses on how to get the most out of their millennial employees, and he has identified some effective ways to manage the strengths and weaknesses of this ascendant generation in your agency:

Millennials value a “blended life.” Where-as baby boomers prize spending long hours at work, and Generation X prefers work-life balance, millennials are more comfortable working wherever and whenever they need to. To millennials, Grodnitzky says, “it doesn’t matter where they get things done, it just matters that they get things done.” Thanks to their always-connected lifestyle, they are happy to work offsite or at unusual hours when needed. This can be particularly useful in the home care environment, and for administrative or tech-based employees you currently house in your “back office” who, with appropriate technology, security, and monitoring, could just as easily work from home.

Millennials are driven by a cause. Baby Boomers measure their success more by material rewards than Generation X does; millennials, by contrast, care mostly about being a part of something bigger than themselves. This bodes well for your agency because your purpose is clear: you care for and heal people. That clear sense of purpose can help you hire and retain the most talented millennial staff.

“Everything they do, even entry level positions, must be in some direct way tied to the cause of the company — how the company’s product or service changes the world or changes human experience in the world,” notes Grodnitzky. They want to be deeply involved in how your agency makes patients’ lives better. If they feel connected to the cause, they will work with tremendous enthusiasm and creativity; if they feel that the cause is unworthy or not connected to them, they will check out and start looking for new employment.

Millennials master technology quickly. Because they were raised with the latest technology, they take to new tech like fish to water. Your agency can benefit tremendously from their knowledge about “the use of technology to create efficiencies,” says Grodnitzky. They can also quickly assimilate new systems, and help to teach those systems to older staff members.

Millennials may lack interpersonal “soft” skills. The downside to their growing up online is that many millennials never mastered many of the in-person social abilities that their parents and grandparents did. “Skills like eye contact, body posture, mirroring, and some verbal small talk are lost to them because their primary form of communication is digital and asynchronous,” warns Grodnitzky.

And don’t be alarmed if you find you must teach them simple, old-school skills. “They may have to be taught when is it more desirable to pick up a phone and call or actually go see a customer, rather than just send them a text message or an email,” he notes.

Recruiting And Retaining Millennials

To a much greater degree than the generations that preceded them, millennials feel comfortable switching jobs often. As a result, providers worry about investing time and resources in an employee, only to see that employee jump to a rival agency after a few months or years. Grodnitzky stresses that the best way to avoid losing your millennial staffers is to create workplaces and relationships that fulfill them. “They come and stay if a company focuses on relationships, a cause, and a culture that allows them to blend their lives while maintaining growth and performance,” he says.

The most important relationship you can create is between the employee and their supervisor. “They’re not job hoppers; they’re boss shoppers,” he quips.

“They need to have a good supervisor who is willing to engage them on a personal level,” says Grodnitzky. “They need a sense that the supervisor is interested in their growth globally, not just at that place of employment.” The more you show interest in their development as a person and as a professional, the more likely they are to stay for an extended period of time.

And if you forge rock-solid relationships with your millennial employees, you can solve both your retention and recruitment problems at one go.

“They become your best recruiters,” Grodnitzky suggests. “If you build a good relationship, then all you have to do is go to them and say, ‘We’d like to hire more people just like you. Do you have any friends who might want to work here?’ If you have a good culture with good leaders and supervisors, you’ll be flooded with resumes.” Not only does a supportive work environment make for more employee loyalty; it can also help to bring in the talented staffers of tomorrow.

Be Ready To Teach Some Basics

Here’s the challenge: Unlike previous generations, the millennials taking your calls and talking to patients and referral sources didn’t spend their teenage years speaking on the phone. They’ve been texting, browsing and gaming on their phones, but they haven’t been making voice calls. Consider these statistics:

• 50 percent of adults aged 18-24 says a text conversation is just as meaningful as a phone call.
• Adults under 45 send and receive more than 85 texts a day, according to Experian Marketing Services.

Millennials routinely report that they hate phone calls. They see them as a slow, inefficient form of communication. They’re not used to the verbal give-and-take that phone calls require, and many haven’t spoken on the phone often enough to feel comfortable in phone conversations.

The problem for home care providers is that they generally serve older generations who still use and value voice calls, and their experiences with your younger staffers on phone calls can color their experience of your whole agency. If you want to set the stage for good patient engagement, it may be time to train your younger staffers on better phone techniques.

That could include these telephone tips from MGMA16 conference presenter Stephen Dickens of Medical Practice Services.

• Think about tone of voice. It tells patients who you are, builds trust, and can strongly influence patients, Dickens says. If you want to emphasize a point, become firmer or deeper — never louder.

Tip: Sit up straight, even though the caller can’t see you. Your attentive posture comes through in your tone of voice.

• Be polite and user-friendly. When taking a call, answer by the third or fourth ring maximum. Make sure you give your name, role, and a greeting. Speak slowly and clearly, and don’t speak with food or gum in your mouth.
• If you need to put a caller on hold, ask for permission. Let them know how long you expect they’ll be on hold.
• If you are taking a message, make sure the patient feels unrushed and heard. Get as much information as possible.