| | July 20198UTLOOK Healthcare Tech HEALTHCARE TECHNOLOGY KNOWLEDGE NETWORKBy Tiffany K Roberts, PhD, DABCC, FAACC, DABHI ­ Dept. of Pathology, University of LouisvilleAndrea Jones MLS(ASCP) ­ Des Moines Medical Center, MercyOneAll of the technologists quit... EVERY SINGLE ONE... within six months. That was my introduction to my new job as Director of the Histocompatibility Laboratory. Histocompatibility is a highly specialized, high complexity area of the laboratory and it requires a significant amount of on-call responsibilities. Fortunately, I am a hands-on director because I was left with only the laboratory manager and myself to do all of the routine work, all of the on call duties, as well as our regular responsibilities. Add to that the hiring and training of an entirely new staff. I learned the value of staff retention in a trial by fire. Things are better these days, we are fully staffed and they are fully trained allowing me time to do things like attend professional meetings. When I meet colleagues I love to tell this story, because I inevitably get the response, "We are really struggling with retention right now too!" Keeping good, competent technologists in your laboratory is getting increasingly difficult. Here, we will discuss a few reasons why and offer some potential solutions. In trying to understand this problem and the driving forces, we had a long discussion very early one morning. What became shockingly clear was that one of the primary reasons for losing staff is just sheer mobility. It seems that Millennial (born 1980-1994) and GenZ (born 1995-early 2000s) employees are just far more mobile, willing to pick up and move from city to city or state to state. To understand the motives behind this, it's important to understand what's happening in the background for these young employees.First, they're the most highly educated generation in American history. They went to college in record numbers and subsequently graduated with mountains of college debt ­ an average of over $20,000 per person. So they have a wealth of knowledge, they are resourceful, and they have an incentive to advance as quickly as possible. To them, "paying dues" is what they've been doing through years of education and debt. But don't confuse that with an unwillingness to work; 70% of them work up to 20 hours or more at their side hustle each week.So today's employees are seeking, above all else, opportunity. They are more mobile, because they are willing to chase that opportunity. The key to keeping them around is to provide them with opportunity. Even if it's incremental opportunity, having a proverbial ladder to climb is critical to keeping young employees engaged in their work and connected to their employer. It's important to consider the strengths of each employee and craft opportunities for them that maximize those strengths. Invest in training and learning opportunities; this demonstrates to employees that you want them to grow; and young employees crave growth! In addition Retaining an Evolving WorkforceIt's an evolving world, and we must evolve along with it and adapt to meet the changing needs of our workforceTiffany K RobertsIN MY OPINION
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