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Network: June/July 2007
A Message to Employees from Dave Bernd, CEO, Sentara Healthcare
 Looking For Gold: Welcoming New Members of the Team
At Sentara, we are not only looking to hire the best, we are looking to keep the best. And experience tells us people are more likely to stay with an organization once they feel connected.
 About one in four new hires leaves Sentara during the first six months of employment. Whatever their reasons, recruiting talented employees is not over when an employee joins our team.
And, we are not alone in this statistic. According to a nationwide survey, conducted by the Florida-based Human Resource consulting firm The Studer Group, 25% of newly hired health care employees in the U.S. quit within their first 90 days on the job.*
As part of our continuing recruitment and retention efforts, we recently introduced Looking for Gold, a program to increase employee retention during those critical first six months of employment. As a part of Looking for Gold, new employees receive a gold, star-shaped badge holder at orientation, imprinted with the message I Chose Sentara. We invite employees system-wide to be on the lookout for those wearing a gold badge and to extend a warm welcome.
We encourage Sentara managers to create a memorable first week for new staff and to surprise them periodically with small rewards as they complete orientation milestones. We ask that managers continue an open dialogue with them to help them grow comfortable and be productive in their new role. As employees reach their six-month anniversary, managers should create a special way to replace the “freshman” badge holder with a regular badge holder in their unit.
As our first group of Looking for Gold team members prepares to “graduate,” I would like to thank each of you for doing your part to help new Members of the Team get off to a solid start. Whether you have worked at Sentara six months, six years or 26 years, we value each Sentara team member for your unique contributions that allow us to realize our mission and improve health every day.
Please keep Looking for Gold.
* Source: “They’re Hired: Now the Real Recruiting Begins” by Joe Mullich, Workforce Management magazine online, January 2004.
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