Emerging Nurse Leader

A leadership development blog

The Nurse Engagement and Retention Conundrum

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

36935808 - hire, train, motivate and retain 3d words beside a thinker to illustrate human resources practices to improve employee satisfaction and retention

Historically, we have believed and it has been true that nurse engagement was closely linked to nurse retention.  In fact, the return on investment on projects to engage staff is often linked to lower turnover.  This picture appears to be changing with our millennial nursing cohort who now comprise about 32% of the workforce and will grow to 50% by 2020.

Recent research released by the Advisory Board indicates that while the factors that drive engagement for millennials is similar to other generations, engagement alone is not enough to retain the millennials who are less loyal to organizations.  A quarter of all nursing turnover which is steadily increasing is in this age group in the first three years of practice.   A new analysis of the research article from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana university also debunks current thinking that a strong and supportive workplace will increase employee organizational commitment and intent to stay among Millennials.

So what are nurse leaders to do about these trends which seem to indicate that the millennials view their careers in a much different way and at this point do have a plethora of career opportunities?  Advisory Board recommends 5 key steps to consider as you look to retain millennial staff:

  1. Bolster their ability to cope with the workload through strong mentoring and ongoing development.
  2. Embed short term growth in entry level roles through early tenure career ladders, targeted role transitions and tuition assistance that is future oriented.
  3. Optimize total rewards for staff most at risk of leaving – ex. specialty care nurses
  4. Equip leaders to do ongoing detection of retention risks (through ongoing check-ins) so retention can be proactive.
  5. Win them back before they leave through a resignation recovery protocol.

With nursing turnover rates hovering between 17 and 18% nationwide according to a recent AMN staffing study, the stakes are very high as the number of millennials in the workforce continues to increase.  The use of contract labor has skyrocketed in many geographic areas and units are in a constant state of onboarding new staff.  The picture is not a good one from a quality and safety standpoint.  I recently asked a millennial nurse leader for his suggestions.  He said simply, “the millennials can and  have to help create the solutions but too often we are not at the table where this is discussed”.  Career restlessness is a new norm in the workplace so strong internal career development and advancement will have to be part of the solution.  Nurse leaders especially those at the frontlines will play a key role as our new retention officers.  If you currently don’t do resignation recovery conversations with staff, now is the time to begin.

Read to Lead

Advisory Board (2016).  Stop Turnover in the First Three Years.  Available at https://www.advisory.com/research/hr-advancement-center/studies/2016/stop-turnover-in-the-first-three-years

Stewart JS, Oliver EG, Cravens KS, Oishi S. Managing millennials: Embracing generational differences. Bus Horizons. September 21st, 2016 (in press) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2016.08.011

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