Navigating Employee Needs As A Health Care Provider: Tips For A Happy Staff
Women are natural caregivers, so it’s no wonder women account for 67% of the workforce in this area. The complexities of navigating the raising of a family – and the rewards gleaned from such an experience – leave many seeking a fulfilling job to pursue the role of helping others: but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.
Once you’ve worked your way up, you may find yourself in a managerial position in which you not only have to care for your clientele but also your own group of employees. This requires a similar but different skill set, and in this short article, you’ll receive some pointers for navigating new and uncharted territory.
Effective Communication: The Cornerstone of Happy Staff
It makes sense that actually talking to your staff and asking them what they feel they need from you is a fundamental factor in securing a happy working environment, but few managers tackle this head on.
Be open and regularly check in with your staff – ensure that everyone is on the same page; try to identify any potential problems and nip them in the bud early. Not only should you be regularly communicating clearly with your staff, but you should foster an environment where they feel comfortable coming to you: instill an open-door policy, and become the person most associated with trust and understanding. Of course, there are lines to be drawn, but combined with your experience, bearing these fundamental elements in mind will help you straddle it.
Prioritizing Staff Well-being
While good communication is essential, it doesn’t mean a lot without fundamental structures in place to cater to staff wellbeing. Keeping reasonable scheduling and demands ensures your staff doesn’t become overworked, and you should always prioritize access to mental health resources (as well as adequately signposting that this help is available and that no one should suffer in silence).
Finally, there are rewards. Especially in a demanding healthcare field, people need – and deserve – to be and feel appreciated for their efforts. How, exactly, you reward your staff’s contributions is entirely up to you – but make sure you do!
Fostering an educational environment
No one enjoys a job that’s gotten stale, and especially in the digital age, you can invest in various integrated platforms that provide company healthcare training, which not only reduces training costs but makes learning accessible to everyone at all times.
And digital isn’t the only way. You can schedule guest talks and seminars, or even give and write your own – in fact, conducting these sorts of talks yourself can be a great moral booster and hammer home your competence as a leader.
Wrapping Up
Hopefully, the tips above have given you a solid start for considering how you’ll best support your employees going forward. Health Care is an especially challenging field, both physically and emotionally; it can be daunting if you’ve recently moved into a new realm of responsibility, but as you’ll have already learned many times over in your life – there’s no greater reward than caring for other people.