Managing Seasoned Nurses Who Disengage

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

Recent data from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing indicates that 22% of the current nursing workforce will be eligible to retire within the next five years. Some of these nurses are expert clinicians working in acute care environments. Their nurse managers rely on them to serve as role models, preceptors, and charge nurses on units now heavily staffed with new graduates. But what if they choose to disengage from their work? Consider the story a nurse manager recently told me:

I am fortunate to have a core group of very experienced nurses on my unit who have been with me for years. Many of them plan to retire in the next few years. Replacing them will be difficult, but I am seeing a troubling trend with this group. They are going through the motions of coming to work, but are not participating in unit activities like they once did, and are not stepping up to serve as preceptors and coaches to our new staff. When I try to discuss it with them, they tell me that they are burned out and exhausted. Their attitude seems to be that they will be on “cruise control” and then retire. We have a clinical ladder, and many of these nurses are at the top of it, so I should expect more from them, but they seem firmly entrenched in doing the minimum now. 

This nurse manager does have reason to be concerned. Gallup would classify these nurses as not engaged in their work. They are essentially “checked out,” putting in their time without real passion or energy. Key characteristics of not engaged employees include:

• Apathy and Complacency: They do the bare minimum required to get by and are not emotionally invested in their work.
• Lack of Initiative: They are unlikely to volunteer for extra tasks or contribute innovative ideas.
• Focus on the Clock: Their primary motivation is often the end of the workday and their paycheck.
• Neutral to Negative Impact: While not actively harming the organization, their lack of engagement can stifle productivity and innovation.

Like the manager above, many nurse managers are facing a critical challenge in retaining their most experienced nurses, many of whom are feeling disengaged from their work. A combination of factors, including burnout, feeling undervalued, and a lack of new challenges, can lead these seasoned professionals to mentally and emotionally check out. Nurse managers have talked with me about “preceptor attachment disorder” or the unwillingness of some seasoned staff to serve as preceptors because they don’t want to emotionally overinvest in new nurses who may not stay. Some seasoned staff feel that they are penalized for their expertise and always get assigned the most complex patients.

So What Can Nurse Managers Do?

With so many health systems worried about pending financial shortfalls, it has been challenging to offer monetary incentives to nurses who are loyal and stay on their units. Nurse managers tell me that they look at every available form of recognition available to them. Incentives such as paid conference attendance, preferential flexible scheduling or shorter shifts, recommendations for clinical instructor partnerships, nominations for the Daisy educator award, an Annual Sage Nurse conference with the CNO are among the strategies being used. When virtual nursing pilot projects are proposed, many leaders tell me that they look first to their seasoned staff as a way of giving them a renewed sense of purpose. Career planning and coaching matters at every step in one’s career.