Health Field Human Resource Management

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 1

Course Learning Outcomes for Unit V Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

6. Explain the legal implications of employee labor relations in the health care setting. 6.1 Explain the rights of employees in the workplace in a given scenario. 6.2 Consider the legal aspects of due process in a given scenario.

Required Unit Resources Chapter 7: Organizational Relations and Employee Engagement and Retention in Healthcare Chapter 10: Employee Relations in the Healthcare Industry Unit Lesson Clint Eastwood (1986) starred, produced, and directed a movie called Heartbreak Ridge. Clint's character Thomas Highway was known in the movie as Gunny Highway because he was a gunnery sergeant (E-7) in the U.S. Marine Corps. He had served with distinction in many wars including Korea and Vietnam and earned the Medal of Honor. Gunny Highway had just received a new assignment to the Force Recon Marine detachment but was nearing mandatory retirement. His challenge was to change long-standing unruly behaviors in this unit. He constantly told his unit that they should improvise, adapt, and overcome any obstacle—and they did. The movie, although fictional, represents what was observed in Vietnam and other conflicts as a small force of well-trained soldiers who could stand-up to overwhelming odds and win the day. This ability to adapt and overcome must be reflected in a health care organization to be successful in today’s global environment. Adaptability is important to organizations because adaptability is the key in any organization where change is happening quickly—and that means most successful health care organizations. For most large health care organizations, adaptability is critical in order to make quick changes demanded by stakeholders and to support those changes with a flexible and an engaged workforce. Health care organizations today need to consider the value and importance of their human capital. Human resources (HR) can contribute to organizational success in many ways. For example, HR can have an effect on organization culture, productivity, social responsibility, and employee engagement. While HR is not solely responsible for these areas, the contribution by the HR function cannot be denied. The highly engaged and knowledgeable health care worker will make the extra effort to help the organization be successful by improvising, adapting, and overcoming issues with creativity and hard work. Levels of employee engagement are directly related to very important health care organization outcomes including employee satisfaction, patient satisfaction, employee productivity, organizational profits, employee turnover, and the safety and security of health care workers. Studies show that an organization with strong employee engagement processes improves the employment brand that supports recruitment and retention systems. High levels of personal employee investment are connected to engaged employees, and these employees are motivated to invest more time and energy into achieving positive health care organizational outcomes through employee quality processes. In communities where there are many choices of health care organizations for patients, employee engagement can be a competitive advantage. Highly engaged employees can increase innovation, productivity, quality care, and bottom-line performance while reducing costs related to hiring, retention, and the risk management of health care services. HR professionals in the health care organization can help the organization realize the importance of employee engagement while developing and implementing an employee engagement strategy.

UNIT V STUDY GUIDE Organizational and Employee Relations in Health Care

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 2

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However, employee engagement in the health care environment must be outcome driven, not just activity driven. This means that certain validated employee and employer workforce characteristics can be directly correlated to employee behaviors that positively influence individual and organizational performance. In the health care industry, one of those employee engagement metrics is organizational commitment or the desire to stay with the organization in the future. Another example includes the employee’s willingness to provide extra effort, which could include an extra-role behavior or a discretionary effort on the part of the employee that would promote the effective functioning of the entire organization. Other outcomes include employees who show a high level of energy or investment effort in their jobs, employees who are involved in their work and have a sense of pride and enthusiasm about their work, or employees who are concentrated on and engrossed in their daily work. Talent management is very important to the organization’s long-term employee engagement success. The educated worker can make or break a health care organization in the long-term. Do employees in your organization believe that there are good career opportunities within the organization? For example, internal hiring is good for employee motivation, but it is not always the best strategy for assuring a diverse and vibrant health care workforce with an assured influx of new ideas and creativity. Sometimes, the organization has to resort to external recruiting to effectively secure these assets with the knowledge, skill, abilities, and competencies to get the job done. Think about your experience with HR and the law. It is likely that at some point you have experienced the organization’s application of the law during the HR processes. For example, when you were hired, what questions were you asked during the interview? Personal questions are probably illegal unless there was a bona-fide occupational qualification (meaning a legitimate reason) to ask these questions. There is the mistaken belief that HR needs to ensure that all staff and positions remain equally important to the organization. There needs to be recognition that those who staff the most critical roles are the highest performers and are treated differently than those who are in roles of lesser importance to business results. There is a difference between equality and equity. Employees are the lifeblood of the organization! Treating employees fairly and equitably can go a long way toward creating successful employee relations. What happens, though, when there is a perception that this is not the case? Unionization efforts may result from poor employee relations practices. The thought is that there is strength to be found in unionizing. Everyone wants to ensure that their pay is accurate and reflective of the job they perform. Managers and HR need to ensure that the total rewards infrastructure serves to attract and retain employees. This comes down to knowing your employees. Compensation is an important part of this equation, but it is only part of the formula. Knowing what additional benefits are desirable to the employees is just as important. Organizations enjoy successes as well as challenges. Throughout history, there has been a movement within the United States to ensure equitable and consistent treatment of employees, as well as the safety of employees within the working environment. Managers need to be concerned with unions. Additionally, the organization’s HR policies and practices may influence the employees’ interest in forming a union. Many rules and regulations guide behaviors in the health care workplace both in personal and professional settings. Many laws and regulations provide the framework within which organizations operate regarding their human resources activities. These guidelines are in operation on many different levels, and all have an effect on HR, managers, and employees. Whose job is it to ensure that employees are dealt with fairly within the working environment? What happens when an employee is difficult or misbehaving? During these types of situations, management and HR must work together to achieve a resolution. This resolution can vary depending on the situation. Situations involving fraud, theft, sabotage, violence, and others can seriously affect employees. Management must be vigilant about these situations and work with HR to discipline as appropriate. Progressive discipline or due process can allow the organization to keep productive employees while addressing unacceptable behaviors. There are circumstances, however, in which progressive discipline might not be appropriate and the offense could lead to immediate termination. Can you think of examples? We can hope that situations such as these do not arise during our workday, but the organization needs to be prepared to act appropriately when they do!

HCA 5306, Health Field Human Resource Management 3

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Reference Eastwood, C. (Producer & Director). (1986). Heartbreak Ridge [Film]. Warner Bros. Suggested Unit Resources In order to access the following resources, click the links below. Employee relations in a health care environment can be challenging and different from the typical U.S. workplace. Please review the following article to gather a better foundation through competency-based expertise. MacStravic, S. (1989). A customer relations strategy for health care employee relations. Hospital & Health

Services Administration, 34(3), 397–411. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A7979313/AONE?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=2e269c84

This article reviews two books that discuss employee relations in a health care environment in greater depth. Digh, E. (1994). The health care supervisor: Effective employee relations. Journal of the American Dietetic

Association, 94(2), 217. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A15163448/AONE?u=oran95108&sid=bookmark- AONE&xid=525dbe24