In long-term care (LTC), staff efficiency and facility efficiency are directly linked. Communities—especially their administrators—can take six steps to build effective teams that not only benefit the facilities but also benefit the individual employees who make up the teams within the facilities. Staff satisfaction is at the foundation of it all.
1. GET TO KNOW EMPLOYEES
Perhaps the easiest thing an administrator can do is simply get to know his or her employees. The more the administrator is familiar with staff members, the better the employer will be able to serve them.
Certainly, the opposite is true as well: The better an employee understands the priorities of his or her employer, the more likely he or she will be able to meet the employer’s needs, and the better the employer will meet the employee’s needs.
It is not inappropriate to be aware that certain staff members’ children play sports or the violin or to know other personal snippets about employees and their families. It can mean much to an employee when the administrator stops to ask about the outcome of a son’s game or a daughter’s dance recital. Such exchanges enable employees to see the administrator as a real person with feelings, a person who cares about employees’ individual welfare.
