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FIELD ACTIVITY PROJECT PAPER 2

Field Activity Project Paper: A Staffing and Recruitment Strategy

Student Name

School of Business, Liberty University

1/11/2021

Respectfully Submitted to: Dr. Geri Rosol

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the operations of healthcare organizations globally. Many healthcare organizations have had to allocate human resources and even develop new staffing positions to assist in protecting employees, patients, and the public. An effective staffing and recruitment plan has become essential now more than ever to maintain hospital operations and achieve the mission of the organization. A strategic staffing and recruitment plan was developed to hire temporary staff to perform entrance screening and environmental scanning for the organization selected in this paper. The strategic staffing and recruitment plan encompasses various components that outline the processes from planning, implementation, and monitoring.

Keywords: COVID-19 staffing, staffing, recruitment, strategic planning

Field Activity Project Paper: A Staffing and Recruitment Strategy

Strategic planning for staffing and recruitment is essential to every healthcare organization. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, strategic planning for temporary staff to fill current vacancies as well as newly developed positions has become essential for fulfilling the mission of this organization. One newly developed position is the screener/environmental scanner role that supports the selected organization’s mission to “honor America’s Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being” (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015, para 1). Therefore, a staffing and recruitment strategy was developed throughout several months, was successfully implemented, and remains ongoing.

Staffing and recruitment strategies require careful analysis of the environment, the inclusion of internal and external stakeholders, and consideration of budgetary needs and impact. Therefore, leaders must seek guidance and wisdom to ensure quality decisions are made. The Bible informs us that we can ask God for wisdom and he will grant it to us. James 1:5 states “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking” (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019). Additionally, the Bible reminds us that seeking many advisers is wise for ensuring success. This is also pertinent to effective strategic planning. The Bible states, “Without wise leadership, a nation falls; there is safety in having many advisers” (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019, Proverbs 11:14)

This paper will provide a detailed overview of the staffing and recruitment strategy activity, including the development of job duties, needs determination, development of standard operating procedures, innovative changes, review of the job announcement, strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threat (SWOT) analysis, and the development of training and competencies.

This paper will also analyze elements of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) included in the activity, evaluate the strategic impact on the organization, and provide several recommendations.

Overview of Activity

As an overview, this field activity project involved developing a staffing and recruitment strategy to meet the needs of the organization after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The staffing and recruitment strategy encompasses the development of job duties for the newly established position of screener/environmental scanner. The project also entails the calculation of the determination of needs, development of standard operating procedures, a review of the job announcement, the establishment of innovative changes, a SWOT analysis, and the development of training and competencies. This project can be classified as a strategic management plan which is defined as “building and allocating resources both to meet the needs of today and to fulfill the vision of the future” (Walston, 2018, p. 329). Strategies to effectively manage resources such as supply and human resources are critically essential in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To ensure the success of the staffing and recruitment plan, careful strategic planning and implementation were upheld. According to Fry and Baum (2016), it is imperative that the strategic plan is adequately supported by the budget and should be thoroughly examined in the planning process. Special purpose funding was provided to the organization and used to fund the staffing and recruitment plan outlined in this paper.

Development of Job Duties

Job duties specific to the position were developed and listed on a word document to assist in the development of the job description. The job description provides a detailed list and account of all the duties that are essential to a specific role. Once the job description was developed it was provided to Human Resources (HR) for classification which determines pay grade. After classification was complete, it was determined that the position would be a General Schedule (GS) three. This was an important step in the process as it assisted in determining how much impact these positions would have on the special funding budget. A GS three salary position makes approximately $23,976 to $31,167 annually (U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2020). Interestingly, Maher et al. (2020) reported that there are significant growing financial pressures to meet the demands for services to protect the public from the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in higher uncertainty in making financial and managerial decisions.

From a Biblical worldview, analyzing costs is essential before moving forward with a plan. It is imperative to be good stewards of the budget that is available at the healthcare organization where we are employed and make good financial management decisions. The Bible states “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?” (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019, Luke 14:28).

Determining Needs

A spreadsheet was developed to determine the minimum necessary man-hours and full-time equivalents (FTE) needed to complete the duties of the position to support the mission of the organization. Additionally, a mock schedule was developed proposing two different scheduling options, one with an eight-hour shift option and another with a 12-hour shift option. This information was used as supporting data for the justification of the positions. According to Walston (2018), the strategic planning process must be data-driven to ensure decisions are made based on current and reliable information. Data can be obtained in a variety of ways and often the gathering process begins with internal data (Fry & Baum, 2016). However, it is also critical to obtain external data to trend the competitiveness of the organization (Fry & Baum, 2016).

Man-hours were calculated using a formula that incorporated the operating hours with the minimum staff required to man the doors. It was then determined that based on the calculated man-hours that a minimum of 16.4 full-time equivalents (FTE) would be needed to staff the entrance doors to perform the screening process. To account for additional duties such as high-touch cleaning and way-finding as well as employee sick leave and vacation time it was determined that 29 FTE would be appropriate to staff the main medical center as well as the three community-based outpatient clinics (CBOC’s). Data was presented to key stakeholders which included the Resource Pool Coordinator, Incident Command Team, Human Resources, and the Resource Management Committee. According to Walston (2018), stakeholders are those individuals and groups that invested in an organization and can be both internal and external.

A request for temporary positions form, with an attached memorandum, was completed to request the temporary COVID-19 screeners/environmental scanners. This information was then routed to HR for review and then to the Medical Center Director for approval. After approval by the Medical Center Director, the process for strategic recruitment and staffing was then able to begin.

Standard Operating Procedure

A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was developed using information gained from the crisis stage of the pandemic response. Initially, in the crisis stage, the processes for screening were rather fluid due to its sudden implementation and continuous changes. As things began to stabilize however, the process became more standardized and an official SOP was developed to support the organization and the individuals performing the duties. The SOP entailed the steps necessary to conduct screening activities at the door and included options on how to address different scenarios. For example, if an individual comes to an entrance door and the screener determines that they have a positive screening result, then steps are outlined for the screener to appropriately address this situation.

Organization policies and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) were reviewed to ensure the SOP was in alignment with current policies and best practices. Zdorov'u (2018), suggested that the use and development of SOPs in the healthcare setting aid in improving safety and efficiency in patient care.

Review of Job Announcement

A collaborative meeting was completed with HR to develop a job announcement posting for recruitment and hiring. The process first began with completing a recruitment checklist to identify the preferred experience, pay grade, and job duties. The checklist also included an attachment of the official job description. Once this was completed, the information was sent to the designated HR specialist to develop the job announcement. The HR specialist then returned the drafted job announcement to the hiring official for review and any necessary editing. The hiring official reviewed the draft, returned it to HR for corrections, and the job announcement was posted. The position for temporary COVID-19 screeners/environmental scanners will remain posted until all positions are filled, therefore, the hiring official will receive a list of applicants every two weeks to review for hire. The hiring official will then be responsible for using a scoring sheet to identify the top applicants in the listing, arranging interviews, and then selecting applicants to fill the position.

This review of the job announcement was a crucial step in the recruitment process since the job announcement is what initially attracts the applicant to the position. Recruitment is a process that is critical for success in which qualified applicants are pooled to fulfill vacancies that exist within the organization (Bhosle, 2020). According to Bhosle (2020), enhanced recruitment and selection strategies have a positive impact on improving organizational outcomes.

Innovative Changes

Innovation is considered to be vitally important when developing strategies as it aids in the sustainability of the organization by producing a competitive advantage (van der Bijl-Brouwer & Dorst, 2017). According to Walston (2018), innovation along with invention are necessary tools for overseeing the future of the organization. One innovative change that was applied to this field project included the use of touch-free thermometers using infrared to allow screeners to maintain social distancing while conducting the screening process.

A screening application was also developed for those entering the facility to use. The application asks all the screening questions on the mobile device of those seeking to enter the facility. After the individual completes the screening questions, if screening is negative, a green checkmark appears which allows the individual to present this information to the screener and gain entrance to the facility. This process makes it faster to enter the facility and improves the flow of people at the entrances. If the screening is positive or requires further information, then the individual addresses this with the screener at the door and is either directed to the appropriate location such as the emergency room or is denied access to the facility. This innovative change was developed by the national office that governs the facility and was not developed at the local facility during this field project. However, the use of the application was encouraged and applied throughout this process.

Another innovative change that was implemented in this staffing and recruiting strategy is expedited onboarding. For example, once an applicant is selected and submitted to HR, the process to bring them on board is expedited so that they are onsite within 72 hours of selection. However, the employee is still required to complete all standard onboarding requirements within 30 days. Typically, the onboarding process could take months to complete, therefore, the expedited process helps to fill in the gaps in staffing at a faster than average rate. However, this is not without challenges as it makes it more difficult to track and ensure completion of mandatory onboarding requirements because they are now being completed at a later time than they are typically completed.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis was conducted to review current progress and identify changes that needed to be implemented. A SWOT analysis is a tool utilized in the strategic management process to analyze the internal and external environment and determine what strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats the organization is facing (Gurel & Tat, 2017). Additionally, the SWOT analysis provides an opportunity to assess and choose appropriate strategies for the organization (Gurel & Tat, 2017).

The first step in the SWOT analysis was to determine the strengths of the recruitment and staffing strategy. The identified strengths include data-driven supporting documentation for positions, development of a standardized SOP, and continuous collaboration efforts with internal and external stakeholders. Additionally, a strength of this strategic plan is that implementation will allow for current staff to return to their permanent work stations to perform their duties, allow for full operations in these areas, and reduce overtime use.

The second step of the SWOT analysis was to identify weaknesses in the implemented strategy. The weaknesses of the strategic plan were determined to be the length of time taken to obtain results such as recruitment and hiring. Another weakness was identified as difficulties in meeting new employee orientation requirements. As previously mentioned, there are mandatory onboarding requirements that must be completed to ensure successful onboarding that include gaining computer access, privacy training, and several other necessary orientation modules. Due to the expedited onboarding process, temporary staff that have been hired are onboarding at staggered times rather than the start of a pay period as previously done. This has resulted in disjointed onboarding training making this a weakness in the recruitment and staffing strategy.

The third step taken in the SWOT analysis was to determine opportunities. The opportunity that was identified was the potential outlook for converting temporary staff to permanent staff. However, several considerations must be examined before the conversion, such as the upcoming fiscal year budget. However, it was determined that beginning to think about such an opportunity is important for strategic planning. This was also identified as an opportunity because employees will already be on onboard in these positions and will therefore spare the time and cost of recruiting, re-hiring, and training. This allows the organization to capitalize on human resource investments that have already been made and reduce turnover costs. With operating costs and employee lay-offs on the rise all signs point to healthcare programs and facilities operating at a negative.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).

Healthcare organizations, nearly every other industry, and families around the globe are facing financial troubles in the face of this pandemic. There are great concerns for the health of each and every individual, including the healthcare professionals who are on the front lines on a daily basis. It is important to keep in mind that a large majority of these professionals began their career paths looking to be of service to their fellow man and to ensure that they are able to receive the proper care and treatment whenever they require it. These are the wishes of the Lord, for us to help one another in a time of need, that time is now and how we respond to it as a society says a lot about us. Although there are financial troubles, we can push through them and place health and safety at a premium during this time so that this pandemic may pass.

The fourth and final step of the SWOT analysis was identifying the threats of the staffing and recruitment strategy. The first threat that was identified is the unknown duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. This unpredictability is a notable threat that makes it difficult to effectively plan for future needs. The impending flu season coupled with West-Nile concerns in the local area presented another threat to the established staffing and recruitment strategy.

Training and Competencies

Training and competencies were determined based on the job duties of the position, the developed SOP, and current policies. Currently, five of the 29 staff have been hired and training has begun. There are several more temporary employees expected to begin within the next couple of weeks. Training and assurance of competency are essential for ensuring job duties and processes related to the job are performed at a satisfactory level.

Training and competency development is an important component to consider when implementing a new position as well as when hiring new staff. According to Bell et al. (2017), training must be designed to support learning so that the employee being trained can perform the tasks correctly. Interestingly, Bell et, al. (2017) stated that the shift from passive to active learning has facilitated better adaptability of skills in more complex and dynamic work environments, such as healthcare. Therefore, training for new employees hired as screeners and environmental scanners were provided using a hands-on approach. Training activities included donning and doffing of gloves, cleaning surfaces utilizing disinfecting wipes, use of a wheelchair, use of a thermometer, familiarization of the screening application for mobile devices, and a tour of the facility to ensure accurate way-finding when assisting patients.

From a Biblical worldview, the Bible reminds us that in all we do we should work willingly as if working for the Lord. When helping others develop and thrive in their jobs, we must remember to remain focused on God and fulfill our duties as though we are doing them for the Lord. Performing our job roles in a manner that is reflective of the Lord allows us to be a witness of what God can do in an individual’s life when they are Spirit-led. The Bible states “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people” (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019, Colossians 3:23).

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is referred to as a corporation’s duty to generate profit by methods that prevent harm to, safeguard, or boost societal assets (Avramchuk, 2017). Therefore, issues such as environmental safety, social development, and workplace issues such as health and job safety are included in an organization’s CSR (Avramchuk, 2017). According to Senay and Landrigan (2018), the connection between the mission of health care delivery, sustainability, and CSR activities are noted to have a natural synergy as they all strive to improve the well-being of humans, better the environment, and enhance social welfare. This staffing and recruitment strategy supports the organization’s CSR in that it aids in providing a healthy workplace environment by establishing appropriate staffing to adequately cover all entrance screening and ensures environmental cleanliness.

The organization also enforced visitor limitations, mandated mask wearing for both staff, patients, and visitors while in the facility, encouraged teleworking for those eligible, and promoted the use of telehealth as an alternative to face-to-face appointments. This staffing and recruitment strategy supported these efforts to keep the employees and the public safe and therefore was successful in ensuring the facility was able to maintain its commitment to CSR.

From a Biblical worldview, we are instructed to care for one another be looking out for not only the interests of ourselves but for others as well. As Christian healthcare leaders, ensuring public safety and workplace safety is a way in which we can demonstrate looking out for others’ interests. The Bible states “Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019, Philippians 2:3-5).

Strategic Impact

There is a significant strategic impact that this staffing and recruitment strategy plan has had on meeting the strategic goals of the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic. The healthcare organization’s mission through the pandemic is to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 infection among staff and Veterans, care for those who become infected with the virus, and provide non-infected Veterans with continuity of care (Veterans Health Administration - Office of Emergency Management, 2020).

Another way in which this project has had a strategic impact on the organization is by allowing permanent full-time staff to return to their duty areas which reduces strain on the organization in several ways. First, it allows the organization to function at a higher level operationally. As the various phases of the pandemic progressed, the facility moved from phase I which was 25% operations to phase three which was 100% operations. Therefore, it was essential to get permanent staff back to their duty areas. The second way in which the project has reduced strain and supported a positive strategic impact is by allowing permanent staff to return to their work stations, the use of overtime will be reduced significantly and will allow for better budget management.

Having a strategic staffing and recruitment strategy has a positive effect on the strategic impact of the organization. According to Willis et al. (2018), effective workforce planning is challenging but imperative to ensuring “the right people with the right competencies are in the right jobs at the right time” (p. 250). However, the strategic impact of this staffing and recruitment strategy must be continuously monitored due to the regular changes in the healthcare setting and now more specifically, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results of the strategic impact on the organization are directly correlated with the strategic planning process. The process must be carefully planned and implemented to ensure optimal success. As Christian leaders in healthcare, we are reminded that taking time to establish a thorough plan produces the positive outcome that is hoped to be achieved. Whereas poor planning and shortcuts lead to failure. Proverbs 21:5 states “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty” (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019).

Recommendations

An interview was conducted with the Resource Pool coordinator to discuss updates and progress toward the staffing and recruitment strategy. Findings suggested that there continues to be a strain on the Resource Pool concerning the number of staff available to fulfill the needs for screening duties at the entrance doors. Since there have only been a total of five temporary staff that have been onboarded, there is still an urgent high demand to recruit and hire the remaining positions that were identified as necessary to perform these duties. Therefore, recommendations that could have assisted in deterring this issue would have been to begin the process to hire temporary staff earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic when it was apparent that it would be some time before the pandemic would resolve. The process began in June but could have possibly been initiated in early May.

Recommendations moving forward are to begin evaluating the need to convert the temporary one-year contract hires to permanent positions. This would also entail re-examining the budget when the upcoming fiscal year budget is approved. Essentially this would require the utilization of a forecasting model to determine the needs and relevancy of the position. Safarishahrbijari (2018), suggested using a workforce forecasting model to determine where there are gaps in the current workforce and the future workforce demands to establish a baseline for recruitment needs.

Another recommendation is to conduct a gap analysis that assists in determining the distance between the current position of the organization from the position it wants to be (Walston, 2018). While a gap analysis was not formally conducted in the planning phase, it could be helpful in the planning phase moving forward in determining the long-term needs for screener/environmental scanner positions.

A final recommendation would be to establish incremental follow-ups with the newly hired temporary staff to determine what is going well and what barriers they are facing. This aims to provide an opportunity to make any necessary changes that are needed to ensure staff can perform their job and reduce turnover which could impact any progress that has been made. Additionally, Walston (2018) stated that evaluating the progress of strategic efforts ensure the organization is meeting the needs of its stakeholders and moving toward fulfilling their mission and vision. Monitoring and updating the strategic plan measures and determines if objectives are being met (Fry & Baum, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, a staffing and recruitment strategy was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic support the organization’s mission and meet the needs of the Veterans it serves. The strategy included multiple steps to achieve successful implementation including the development of job duties, a calculation of needs, the development of standard operating procedures, a review of the job announcement, the establishment of innovative changes, a SWOT analysis, and the development of training and competencies. As a result of this staffing and recruitment strategy, the organization was able to maintain its commitment to CSR.

Assessment of the strategic impact was determined to have a positive effect on the organization. Recommendations in hindsight and looking-forward include taking action sooner to begin the process for establishing new screener/environmental scanner positions for temporary hire, evaluate and determine the need to convert temporary positions to a permanent position with consideration for the fiscal year budget, and establish and implement a follow-up plan to determine where changes may be necessary to ensure sustainment.

With the implementation of strategy comes challenges and commitment to diligence is needed in pursuing the achievement of goals. The Bible reminds us that we are not to get tired of doing good and should seek it at every opportunity. Galatians 6:9-10 states “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith” (New Living Translation Bible, 2008/2019).

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