Case Study: Histology Personnel Shortage Shelly Semerad, MA CT (ASCP) Director, Pathology Practice at HealthPartners

A 2017 Case Study Timeline February 2017; overnight Histotech resigns for a Day shift position at another organization April 2017; evening/night Histotech resigns for a day position at another organization Standard recruitment efforts begin immediately. Postings on LinkedIn, Hospital website, NSH Candidates slow to present; those who did present did not meet our minimum job requirements. Hospital website reaches over 200 job boards Minimum job requirements: graduate of approved histo program; board certified or eligible, previous grossing experience (preferred)

Case Study Continued May 2017; little to no movement in the candidate pool. Reassessed market and other offerings Recognition bonus for existing staff Employee referral bonus Revised job postings to include; Sign –on bonus Retention Stipend (night shift only) Evening/night position filled 5.18.17 Official start date July 2017. Overnight position remains open – Yay, yet need to wait until candidate can move to Twin Cities.

Case Study Continued Sept. 2017; Overnight position continues to struggle Decided to go back to the team and “Uberize” our offering one last time. Transitioned our night shift to 4/10’s. Immediately upon updating the posting, 4 qualified, experienced candidates appeared. As of today; our open night position is still open; 8 months later.

Questions we asked? What’s going on? Is everyone experiencing these shortages? How many trained board eligible graduates are we gaining each year? How does this compare to 2, 3, 4, or 5 years ago? Do we need to start our own training program? Do we really need a trained HT? Can we settle for meeting our minimum education requirements and OJT? Are we being too picky? How long will this staffing shortage continue and is the only fix “robbing Peter to pay Paul”?

What we learned Nobody likes working nights. Having a market competitive hourly wage and good benefit package wasn’t enough. Others already had additional compensation stipends in place, we were behind our market. Candidates wanted more, including flexible hours. We need a plan to internally train our own future team. Need to strongly consider an educational partnership so the risk and talent to train future staff is shared. Play to our strengths; networking, using current employees as recruitment arms, and leveraging our community as a desired place to live. Yet nights are critical to keep our case volume working. money wasn’t everything. Turns out a shorter work week was more desirable.

Summary The Histology workforce locally, and regionally is scarce, and growth in trained professionals looks bleak. Trends of continued changes in reimbursement, cost pressures and system integration will play on our ability to remain agile and support training and education. Human capital needs are changing. We still require people, not machines in Histology. Human capital: Labor costs are still the largest component of our overall costs. Managing workforce to consistently meet budgets, benchmarks, while becoming more efficient Concern over burnout due to constant change and strain on recruiting. Positions staying open longer. Recruitment and retention models must change, think Uberizing your workforce. Must be nimble and be mindful of generational differences.