Resolving Morale and Turnover Issues within a Vital Organization
Tierzah Lyon
10662 Crystal Lake Rd.
Farmersville Station, NY 14060 tierzahjane@yahoo.com Keller Graduate School of Management at DeVry
MGMT-591-20618 Leadership & Org Behavior
Professor Joseph Neptune
February 22, 2015

Abstract

The organization discussed in this work of literature is Cuba Memorial Hospital, located in Cuba, NY. Cuba Memorial Hospital is named as a Critical Access Hospital through a federally supported program. This allows the hospital to choose which services best meet the needs of the community with 50+ employees. Cuba Memorial provides mostly long-term care treatment as the main bulk of their income. Like many other hospitals, Cuba Memorial Hospital (Cuba Memorial Hospital) went thru a significant downturn around 2008 due to fraud and theft of education funding and much more. Not only do they lose funding, but also they also almost get shutdown every six months due to not meeting regulations in controlling heat and air-conditioning, as well as having asbestos in the pipes, and a lack of food as they have maxed out their credits with many companies. It has been a roller coaster for many years. The main contributor for many issues among the organization is lack of morale and ethics within the company and this contribute to a very high turnover rate overall. Employees are not very good as well due to the lack of appreciation of everyone’s hard work, very low pay for nurses and nursing assistants, as well as the need to work long hours because the people always call in. There are no incentive and are lucky to get a Christmas cookie, while having to work 16 hour shifts all of the time with little to no breaks. I will be discussing how these issues that are symptoms to contributing to the lack of success among the organization, creates lack of morale and high turnover rates; additionally how to turn this hospital into a model hospital and a success as a whole.

Preliminary Problem Statement Cuba Memorial Hospital has set their top company priority as cost savings. They will keep and re-use ripped, and torn linens, take donations such as diapers to use as pads for incontinence, work short staffed, reduce benefit plans, expect more output from each employee, and, overall, not value their employees as their asset. Furthermore, this creates a lack of morale and high turnover rate because of the details about the atmosphere at Cuba Memorial Hospital. I feel that Cuba Memorial Hospital has the skills, creativity, and personnel to turn the company around to be better. I see that ambition in some employees, but that desire needs to be put into place by executives and management for the company to change who can implement changes among subordinates throughout the company including their selves and equals. Otherwise, I am afraid the company’s morale will continue to diminish and employee turnover will continue to increase. Thru my research and writing, my plan creates a guide for Cuba Memorial Hospital to become one of the companies admired by others and to work on a long-term goal of making Cuba Memorial Hospital into a model Hospital in NY State.
Facts

After many years of working at Cuba Memorial Hospital, I saw so many issues throughout the organization. I put in 60-80 hours a week there before I left in 2012. They have always had financial issues over the years, as their upper management makes too much and the people who work as nurses are severely underpaid. They used to have several types of employee incentives and appreciation activities, as well as gifts; now the employees are lucky if they are told Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Rewards for employees doing well are not there anymore and it is making an impact on the type of people the hire and who will put up with the lack of incentives and support as hard working employees. With the downturn, Cuba Memorial Hospital lost many of their highly skilled, highly valuable employees since 2012 when things were at their worst. They have tried to hirer top candidates, but Cuba Memorial Hospital, at the current time, is not willing to provide the salaries and benefits to get hire top candidates. Cuba Memorial Hospital has really been focusing on cutbacks the last couple of years to decrease costs as much as possible and illuminate and unnecessary waste with inventory, supplies, and other aspects of providing food and items that are a necessity within the healthcare and long-term care environment. Thus, about everything that differentiated ADC from other companies has gone out the window. I was previously a Certified Nursing Assistant for Cuba Memorial Hospital in the medical and long-term care units. I started with Cuba Memorial Hospital in 2008. I was around for the major downturn, the benefits package reduction, and many other bad practices that occurred etc. Additionally, I work every day with people who were there and had negative attitude towards Cuba Memorial Hospital ever since. They constantly discuss how it used to be, so it brings everyone down because well all think of how much better it would be with all of those benefits and the kindness that came with the benefits and good people, managers, and executives that used to work at Cuba Memorial Hospital. Cost-cutting activities are alive and well at Cuba Memorial Hospital still too. I was there for over 4 years and they cut down on employees or couldn’t retain employees, and would rather pay time and a half and over work the current employees than to hire new ones, have training cost, new hire costs, and possibly have to contribute to the very little health benefits that they do offer. It can make it a difficult place to work at when you never really know if you will be the next person walked out the door for made up reasons or because they just do not like you enough to keep you on. You will never know what you will walk into on your shift for staffing and who will actually do their job. They would rather overwork their valued employees, rather than hiring on a few extra people, and over favoritism let people get away with not working much each day and leaving the burden of work onto others. Even when state laws prohibit being understaffed, when there were supposed to be five Certified Nursing Assistants, at least one LPN and at least one RN, we would be forced to work with only 2 Certified Nurse Assistants and then asked to lie about how many people were here to work and care for patients to avoid being closed down or fined. The hospital became very unethical as a whole, which is when I decided to change my career and resign. All of these issues could be resolved if there was morale and a low turnover rate at Cuba Memorial Hospital.
Morale
Morale is the confidence, enthusiasm, and discipline of a person or group at any given time. Low employee morale was a major factor in patient satisfaction, productivity, and overall function of the organization. This morale created many patients to decide to go elsewhere for their medical needs. Managers and Executives could change this by communicating effectively and in a positive manner. Additionally, upper management and executives could take less pay in order to pay a little more for the people who spend all of their time caring for the patients at hand. Showing that the employees are valued can change how the employees act, how they do their work, their value and worth, their morale and ethics, and improve every aspect as a whole. To assist in creating morale, executives and management need to show morale at all times and communicate how important it is in meetings and education courses. They need to treat people with courtesy, kindness and politeness, listen to the staff and respond to their questions, concerns, and requests, keep open communication, encourage them to express opinions and ideas, implement policies and procedures consistently and fairly, make staff meetings fun and create discussions, training, and events for the employees, and give incentives such as time off for doing something that deserves recognition. Additionally, they should spend time with their employees, set goals and career path plans, provide training and advancement opportunities, coach them when needed and praise the employees and encourage others to do the same, encourage teamwork and always lead from the mission statement and vision statement of Cuba Memorial Hospital overall. Lastly, they should lead by example, communicate clearly and concisely, manage gossip, integrate ethics such as accountability, equality, discipline, integrity, empowerment, and perseverance, and most of all think positive because it creates optimism. All of these key actions will increase morale throughout the organization if executives and management would implement it into their daily lives and work environment at all times.
Reducing Turnover There are many ways to reduce turnovers. As Callagan (2014) says: “There are small things you can do to engage their employees and ensure their workplace experience isn't dreadful. Improving employee morale and providing more and better job satisfaction starts with a warm smile, an 'Atta boy' or just a pat on the back, not, just an anonymous $l-an-hour raise in pay I've often said that after food, clothing and shelter, man's next basic need is appreciation (p. 24).”
I believe that is true after much reading and research. If you do something nice for your employees, the turnover will decrease and overall morale will increase as well. Just showing a little appreciation can change the course of the organization and their employees as a whole. Additional ideas could be sponsoring events in your community. As People Magazine (2006) explained, “Sponsorship of the 2012 Olympics can improve employee engagement and offer HR a "chance to be taken more seriously" in large organizations, according to a new report (p. 14). The next option to decreasing turnover is to have up-to-date job descriptions for every position at the organization great hiring practices. Make sure that these descriptions will include the needed characteristics and qualifications for the candidate and have clear guidelines of hiring that are meet every legal and fair requirement of hiring practices. Additionally, you can ask questions of how a person would deal with a specific situation to see how they would react.
As Golensky (2012) states: “Someone whose main need is for safety will be happier in a stable, secure job than in a career that's riskier and less predictable. People who put autonomy first will look for employment that lets them work alone and make their own rules. Workers who want lifestyle balance will seek out jobs that let them have flexible hours and a full life outside of work. Those who are service-oriented care more about making a difference than making a big paycheck. If people's basic needs are not met, they will not find their work rewarding and are unlikely to stay long. If they do stay, their unhappiness will lower overall morale and productivity. Match their needs with their jobs from the start, and you’ll have a workforce you can count on for the long term (p. 4).”
I can agree on that statement because I have seen it true in other organizations. Lastly, as McKeon (2007) says, it is not just new managers who suffer; badly prepared leadership often leads to ineffective management, low morale and high employee turnover (p. 41). This statement could assist in allowing an organization to realize mistakes that they have made over the years and see the true ways in creating success in morale and decreasing the overall turnover at Cuba Memorial Hospital. This is all possible if the organization will give it a change. Plan Once Cuba Memorial Hospital implements tools to increase morale throughout the organization, create incentives, and correct their wrongful actions, then the organization can see a decrease in turnover companywide. Direct, open, honest communication can assist as well (Tips to Tackle High Turnover, Low Morale, 2010). There are also six dimensions of successful leadership, which can be viewed in Appendix A. Additionally, as Vesilind (2013) explains that the number one motivator is recognizing successful/positive work habits, recognizing positive interaction and assistance, and recognizing employee excellence (p. 60). Lastly, they need to support their employees in career goals and overall goals, as well as employee autonomy, flexibility, and support, which will show that all employees are valued. Reducing Employee Turnover In this work of literature, Callahan explains the difficulties in finding fund in smaller organizations to reward employees and give incentives. He also tells us the difficulties in finding time to hire after an employee is fired or resigns because it does get busy. He sells us his method of keeping his employees happy by giving some appliques that were donated by Exxon and created a method of reward and incentive. He explained that not every organization is as wealthy as google, but you can be creative, find ways to increases morale, and decrease turnover by keeping your employees happy. Food for Thought In Golensky’s literature, it is explained that hiring the right candidate can also play a huge role in morale and turnover. There was a story of a CEO hiring a friend who was unqualified, had a drinking problem, made a scene at a dinner, and was let go. This situation created low morale throughout the company and could have created a lawsuit. Many decisions an organization makes can affect everyone that is there. Additionally, she discusses how if people basic needs are not met, they will not stay long. People need rewards, incentives, benefits, raises, and fair practices overall. Growing Pains In this work of literature, McKeon explains how leadership can affect many aspects of morale, management, decision-making, up to movement throughout an organization. Red Letter Days Tackles Turnover In this work of literature, People Magazine explains how organizations that sponsored the Olympics had increased morale. I think this effect could be implemented on a smaller scale, such as sponsoring community events and activities. Being an active member of the community can truly change morale throughout the organization and community largely. Tips to Tackle High Turnover After reviewing this work, I understand the employees will thrive in an environment in which they can feel their work has and will make a significant difference. When employees are not stimulated by the organization and what they want, it will be even hard to motive and direct them to have success overall. This work of literature also explains the importance for open communication at all levels. Assisting employees in planning their goals and career future, and the importance of employee autonomy, flexibility, and support, which are just as important. Easy ways to Boost Your Staff’s Spirits In this work, it is explained how incentives are what can truly motivate all employees. Recognition of positive work, interaction and assistance can make all the difference as well. Conclusion If Cuba Memorial Hospital makes changes in their management and executive morale, provide positive feedback, better communication, incentives, fun meetings, autonomy, and implement how important morale is, this can decrease turnover throughout the organization as a whole and increase the productivity and happiness of the patients that at hand throughout the community, which is who Cuba Memorial Hospital serves after all.

References
Callahan, J. (2014). Reducing Employee Turnover. Convenience Store Decisions, 25(11), 24.
Golensky, M. (2012). Food for thought: I've Been Thinking About… Finding & Keeping Good People. Nonprofit World, 30(5), 4.
McKeon, L. (2007). Growing Pains. Canadian Business, 80(23), 41-42.
Red Letter Days tackles turnover. (2006). People Management, 12(17), 14.
Robbins, S. P., & Judge, T. A. (2012). Organizational Behavior, 15th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781269551120/id/ch18lev2sec20
Tips to Tackle High Turnover, Low Morale. (2010). Health Care Registration: The Newsletter for Health Care Registration Professionals, 19(6), 10-12.
VESILIND, E. (2013). Easy Ways to Boost Your Staff's Spirits. Jck, 144(8), 60.

Appendix A
Six dimensions of successful leadership that any manager or organization can implement to create a more motivating work environment for employees (Tips to Tackle High Turnover, Low Morale, 2010):
1. Clear and compelling direction.
2. Direct, open, and honest communication.
3. Employee involvement, which encourages employee initiative.
4. Increased employee autonomy, flexibility, and support.
5. Continued focus on career growth and development.
6. Recognition for high performance.