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How to Recruit and Retain Registered Nurses in Home Health Care

Nursing is one of the professions hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with overwork, burnout, and job satisfaction causing hospital nurses to look for a change—or leave the profession entirely. Home health RN jobs offer great opportunities for registered nurses looking for new work environments. To avoid losing the valuable skills of experienced nurses, home health agencies must learn how to attract, recruit, and retain qualified caregivers who have changed the parameters of their job search in 2023. 

8 Ways Home Health Agencies Can Recruit and Retain Top Registered Nurses

Is your facility looking for registered nurse recruitment tips? Consider the following suggestions for recruiting and retaining skilled professionals for your home health RN jobs: 

#1 Write Descriptive Job Posts to Attract Home Health RNs

Strong job posts will attract qualified candidates faster, and it pays to take time to craft a compelling description that will appeal to job seekers. Consider including these elements in your job posts: 

  • Searchable job title. Make sure your job post uses a title that registered nurses might use on search engines. If your title doesn’t include the right words, it won’t appear in searches. 
  • Use keywords and descriptive phrases. The same logic applies to the body of your post. Use keywords and phrases that describe the job, duties, and responsibilities to attract the attention of registered nurses with those skills and interests. At a loss for words? Pro tip: ask registered nurses working in similar positions to fill in the blanks for you. 
  • Include salary range. Listing a salary range in your job post can get more clicks from genuinely interested job seekers. 
  • Provide culture clues. Salary remains near the top of the list of important job factors for registered nurses. However, salary isn’t everything. Nurses looking for home health RN jobs may prioritize company culture or other benefits. Include information about what it’s like to work for your company in your job posting. 
  • List the benefits. Although many nurses enter the profession to help others, they still want to know what’s in it for them before they accept a job. After all, registered nurses have bills to pay and family members to support, just like other workers! Does your company offer unique benefits? What makes it a superior place to work? Citing the unique selling points of the job will attract applicants and differentiate it from similar posts. 

#2 Pay Home Health Nurses Competitively

Since there is a shortage of qualified nurses, most job seekers know their value in the market. Successfully recruiting and retaining registered nurses for home health jobs means you must offer a competitive wage and benefits package to attract the best candidates. Show that you value their skills and service by offering a competitive wage. If your agency can’t provide a salary near the top of the range in your area, consider other perks that might be valuable to registered nurses, such as gym memberships, mental health benefits, work-life balance programs, or childcare services. 

#3 Use Social Media in Your Nurse Recruitment Strategy

Social media can be a valuable tool in your social media strategy. Reach active and passive candidates where they like to spend their free time: on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Create posts that show the value of working for your organizations, including: 

  • Videos and photos that show job seekers what it’s like to work as a home health RN for your organization. 
  • Testimonials from current employees that explain the benefits of home health jobs.  
  • Words of appreciation from patients that highlight the rewards of home health RN jobs. 

#4 Give Home Health RNs Flexible Scheduling Options

Registered nurses who suffer from overwork and burnout due to overtime may crave more control over their schedules. Offering flexible scheduling options will attract more nurses to home health jobs because they will be able to balance the demands of their personal and professional responsibilities. By allowing nurses to pick the schedule that fits their lives, you’re offering a valuable benefit in a field that is often rigid, inflexible, and demanding. 

Flexible options include: 

  • Staggered start times 
  • Shorter shifts 
  • Abbreviated work weeks 
  • Job sharing 
  • PRN shifts 
  • Work at multiple locations 

#5 Provide On-the-Job Training

Registered nursing may not have prepared candidates for a role in home health care. For example, nurses considering home healthcare work might benefit from training in depression, geriatric frailty, and other mental and physical challenges frequently experienced by those needing home health care. By providing on-the-job training, you can offer an additional level of support and ensure job satisfaction—and healthier patients. Providing continuing education for nurses shows that you’re invested in their careers, leading to happier nurses who will stay with the company longer. 

Strong supervision or a well-organized mentoring program is another way to help nurses new to home health care hit the ground running. Experienced home health nurses might have tips and strategies to share with new hires that will facilitate their entry into the specialty. Creating communication channels among employees can help train your new hires and pass on valuable company information.  

#6 Promote a Healthy Work-Life Balance

Taking care of others can become all-consuming. Show your nursing staff that you care about them as much as they care about their patients by encouraging a healthy work-life balance. Everyone is unique, and balance will mean different things to different nurses. However, consider the following ideas to help your nursing staff find a healthy work-life balance: 

  • Encourage your employees to take care of themselves by eating healthy, regular meals, exercising frequently, and getting the proper amount of sleep.  
  • Offer counseling or other programs that help them deal with job stressors, such as the emotional toll of losing patients.  
  • Provide resources that help them learn skills like goal setting, time management, and stress reduction. 
  • Consider creating a forum where employees can share helpful tips and resources related to the home healthcare lifestyle. 

#7 Offer Advancement Opportunities

Offering advancement opportunities to your home health RNs proves that you are invested in their careers. Many job seekers look for more than a job; they want to see a clear path of advancement within an organization. Make it easy to attract qualified registered nurses by creating robust opportunities for learning new skills. After all, their gain is your gain, too! Nurses who feel supported and rewarded are more likely to stay with your organization and use their new skills to care for your clients. 

Partner with the Top Home Healthcare Staffing Agency in Boston for Registered Nurse Recruitment Solutions

Looking for skilled, caring home health care RNs? As one of the premier home healthcare staffing agencies in Boston, we connect qualified nurses with home care, hospice, and case management jobs nationwide. Whether you need a per diem nurse for one day or more, we’re happy to help. Looking for just the right person to mesh with your core team? CHN will partner with you to find a candidate that shares your philosophy and values, leading to a great hire.  

Our goal for every search is a win-win for both you and the candidate, positively impacting both sides of the employment equation—and the lives of patients in your care. Contact CHN Health Care Group today.

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