Professional Development

Creating ladders of success at an organization is a great way to retain talent. The leaders of an organization are always looking at ways to improve themselves and reach new heights in their careers. Organizations that nurture professional development within their ranks create long term leaders.

Career Ladders

A clear path for a caretaker in aging services can be the following:

CNA -> LPN -> RN -> BSN -> Graduate Nursing Degree or Administrators License

Starting from the bottom and working your way up an organization through experience is the dream for many frontline staff. Providing different opportunities to seek further educational and professional opportunities helps retain your best leaders and staff. Ultimately, better trained frontline staff leads to higher worker satisfaction and better quality of care.

In a growing and changing aging services landscape, providers should not only create a career ladder for direct care workers and nurses, but CPAs, HR professionals, development directors, marketing directors, IT specialist, etc.. Personally engaging with these individuals to show how they can advance in your organization is just as vital as a nurse or CNA. All staff need to feel they have a future and some means of advancing.

Tuition Reimbursement

One of the greatest incentives to retaining staff is tuition reimbursement for career advancement. On either the caretaker track or in administration, paying for a nursing degree, administrator’s license, or other advanced degree can endear staff to an organization and retain them for the long term. Tuition reimbursement can be a great tool for showing appreciation for good work and promoting from within. Further, it can be used as a recruitment tool for vital openings at your organization.  

In addition to the tuition, employers must be flexible in their scheduling to allow the staff to continue to work and pursue educational advancement. Even with tuition assistance, going to school is not cheap. Giving staff flexible schedules and hours can help them pay the bills and keep your organization staffed.

Tuition reimbursement does not mean you have to give an employee a blank check. You can tie performance requirements with certain grade point averages, such as a “C” or higher earns full reimbursement. Further, an employer can only pay for certain classes that are necessary to receive a particular degree. Extra classes that do not fulfill a learning requirements, such as underwater basket weaving, may not be reimbursable.

The following are some useful links for looking at tuition reimbursement information for employers and scholarships information for outstanding staff who may seek to defray costs:

Tuition Reimbursement for Employers:

Scholarships

 

Professional Mentoring

Professional mentoring is an excellent tool for helping to shape the future of your outstanding employees. Helping guide your future administrators, DONs, or administrative leaders with one-on-one personal time can greatly influence the trajectory of their career.

LAI members should create mentorship programs for all levels of employees. New administrators, DONs, HR professionals, etc., should all be paired with an experienced member of your staff who can help guide new hires in the next steps of their careers.

Professional mentoring can be as simple as meeting once a month for coffee or lunch with your mentee to personally connect with the individual and talk about advancing their professional objectives. The old saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” is applicable in aging services as in any other career field. Helping connect aspiring leaders to a wider network inside and outside your organization can greatly speed up career and professional development.

Professional Groups

Giving your top talent time to connect with individuals outside of the aging services sector can help diversify their style of thinking and create key connections in a community. Your organization’s brand is more than just the quality service you provide. Having ambassadors of your organization in the community is one of the surest ways to build credibility and connections with future residents and potential donors.

Here is a list of professional organizations that leaders in your organization could join: