7 Tips to Help Your ASC Recruit and Retain the Right People

An ASC will only be as successful as the teammates it employs. Hire and retain the right people and reap the benefits: great physician and patient satisfaction, better teammate engagement and positive surgical outcomes. Hire the wrong people and watch out: risks include wasted time and money spent on onboarding, disruption of a positive culture and a poor patient experience.

Follow these seven tips provided by Christy Mosqueda, RN CASC CNOR, director of clinical services for Surgical Care Affiliates (SCA), to improve the likelihood that you employ and keep teammates who will help your ASC achieve its mission.

Recruitment

1. Rely on those you know. Job candidates may look good on paper and sound good during an interview. It may only be during the onboarding process that you discover the person you thought you were bringing on board is not the person you hired.

   "Getting referrals from people you know, and who themselves are positive teammates, is so important," Mosqueda says. "When we have a position to fill, I ask our physicians and teammates if they know anyone we should consider. If they recommend someone, I can go into an interview with some validated knowledge of the candidate. I find quite a few candidates through referrals."




2. Evaluate carefully. Before you begin the interview process, make sure you know exactly what skill set is needed to effectively fill the position. Also, don't overlook the importance of your culture.

   "What I look for in candidates goes beyond whether I think they are competent to perform job responsibilities," Mosqueda says. "SCA is recruiting an entire team for an ASC in a a particular market. We know that broad and diverse teams perform well. We are looking for candidates whose values align with SCA's: clinical quality, integrity, service excellence, teamwork, accountability and continuous improvement. I structure my interviews around those values. I think doing so tells me a lot about a person."




3. Don't hire just to hire. The longer an open position remains unfilled, the more an ASC is likely paying for overtime and/or part-time teammates. But that's not a good reason to try to rush through the recruitment and hiring process.

   "You never want to hire fast because you have to fill a need," Mosqueda says. "There's a good chance that if you do, you will regret the decision at some point down the road and need to go through the hiring process again. A warm body is not better than nobody.”

   Retention




4. Remind teammates of their importance. People want to feel valued, Mosqueda says. If they don't sense they are valued at your ASC, they will find a place that shows them that appreciation.

   "As a leader, I make sure I'm not on the outside of my team looking in," she says. "I work alongside my teammates, listening to their needs and concerns. I strive to understand what they're going through daily and how I can make sure my teammates have the resources needed to succeed in their positions."

   Don’t forget to say thank you, Mosqueda adds. "I write personalized thank you notes to teammates who have gone above and beyond their daily job duties. I also send thank you notes for catching potential opportunities for improvements and acknowledge the team’s deep commitment to patient safety.”




5. Make keeping teammates a team responsibility. Team members are more likely to remain at your ASC if they feel like an important, welcomed member of the team. This is not just a leader's responsibility, Mosqueda says.

   "We have what we call an employee engagement team," she says. "I count on the individuals on this team to help me know what the entire group is feeling, what they need, how they want to receive thanks and how they want to be recognized. Using such a group provides diverse, valuable, ongoing feedback and helps create a culture of openness and transparency."




6. Monitor the market. "Everyone wants to get paid appropriately for the work they do," Mosqueda says. "That's why I always keep an eye on what's happening in the market. We know we need to be competitive in these areas if we want to keep our teammates long term."




7. Focus on engagement. For those team members identified as top performers and interested in developing their careers, provide opportunities to expand their skill set and education.

   "These individuals need to feel challenged and engaged," Mosqueda says. "I give them special projects, such as serving as our infection preventionist or safety officer, leading a quality improvement project or building a program for a new service line. By helping them grow, hopefully they will remain with us a bit longer and perhaps move into a leadership position at an SCA facility." 

Ongoing Processes

If you want to help ensure that your ASC is always staffed with the right people, recruitment and retention must be ongoing efforts.

"I network with other administrators and directors and share news of potential job candidates with one another," Mosqueda says. "Even if I don't have a position to fill, if someone sends me a referral, I will have a conversation with that candidate and keep their information on file if they seem to be a good fit for us. I spend much of my time working to keep current teammates happy in their positions, but when we have an opening, it's helpful to have potential candidates already in the pipeline."

She says it's critical to find time to celebrate success with your team. "We spend more waking hours with our team than we do with our families. Catch a teammate in the act and give them a personal compliment. It’s important to celebrate and make recognition a part of every meeting and every day."

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