HLTH 4000 Week 7 Recruitment and Retention Plan Example

Filling the Half-Time Patient Access Position and Keeping the Person Who Fills It: A Recruitment Plan That Treats Hiring and Retention as One Problem

Student Name

Walden University

HLTH 4000: Introduction to Healthcare Management

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Filling the Half-Time Patient Access Position and Keeping the Person Who Fills It: A Recruitment Plan That Treats Hiring and Retention as One Problem

The Position and Why Retention Belongs in the Plan

The practice manager approved a half-time patient access representative position, 20 hours a week, scheduled from 7:15 to 11:15 a.m. Monday through Friday, to cover the morning peak and reduce routine overtime. The position is new, so there is no previous holder whose departure we can learn from. But our team's history is instructive: of the last six representatives hired, two left within six months, and both said in exit conversations that the job was not what they expected. Each early departure cost the team about six weeks of recruiting and training. A plan that treats hiring as finished at the job offer would repeat that pattern. This plan therefore treats recruitment and retention as a single problem: attracting someone who will stay. Research on retention argues that turnover is better managed by understanding why people stay and leave in a particular setting than by relying on general assumptions such as that pay is the main driver (Allen et al., 2010).

Who We Are Looking For

The job requires accuracy under time pressure, comfort with insurance information and calm with patients who are anxious or upset. It does not require prior health care experience; our best current representative came from retail customer service. The morning schedule suits people who need afternoons free, such as parents of school-age children, students with afternoon classes and people with a second part-time job. Writing the posting for those people, rather than for a generic applicant, is the first retention step, because someone whose life fits the schedule is more likely to stay.

The posting will avoid a long list of preferred qualifications, which tends to discourage capable applicants who meet most but not all of them.

Recruiting: Where, How and on What Timeline

Week 1. Post the position on the clinic's careers page and two local job boards. The posting will describe the job honestly: the morning rush, the phone volume, the frequent insurance problems and the support new hires receive. Showing applicants the hard parts of the work before they say yes, sometimes called a realistic job preview, is associated with lower early turnover because people who stay are less likely to feel misled (Allen et al., 2010). The posting will also name the schedule and the fact that it is half-time without health insurance, so applicants who need full benefits do not apply and leave later.

Week 1. Ask current staff for referrals. Employees who refer friends tend to describe the job accurately.

Weeks 2 and 3. Screen applications and hold short phone screens focused on schedule fit and customer service examples.

Week 3. Interview up to five candidates. Each interview includes a 20-minute job shadow at the front desk during a quiet hour, so candidates see the work before they decide.

Week 4. Make an offer, check references and set a start date.

Selecting: Questions That Predict Staying

Every candidate will answer one fixed set of questions, which the lead representative and I will score separately on a short scale, to reduce bias and make comparisons fair. Three of the questions are about the work: describe a time you calmed an upset customer; tell us how you check your work when you are rushed; walk us through what you would do if a patient's insurance card was rejected and the waiting room was full. Two are about fit and staying: what about this schedule works for your life right now, and what would make you leave a job within six months? The last question is unusual, but candidates' answers are often revealing, and a candidate who says a lack of training would make them leave tells us exactly what to provide.

Onboarding: The First Ninety Days

Most early departures on our team happened in the first three months, so the plan concentrates effort there.

Weeks 1 and 2. Paired with the lead representative for every shift. The new hire watches, then works with the lead beside them. No solo phone shifts.

Weeks 3 to 6. Works independently at the desk during the peak with the lead nearby. A short check-in with me each Friday: what is going well, what is confusing, what do you need?

Day 30 and day 60. A longer conversation, about 20 minutes, about whether the job matches what the new hire expected. This is where problems that lead to early departure usually surface, such as feeling unprepared for insurance questions or isolated during the morning rush.

Day 90. A review of performance against clear expectations, including call handling and registration accuracy, followed by a discussion of what the representative would like to learn next.

Retention After Ninety Days

After the first three months, retention depends on the same things that keep the rest of the team: a predictable schedule, working tools, fair treatment and some prospect of growth. For a half-time employee, growth might mean cross-training in insurance verification or eligibility for a full-time opening. Research on job design suggests that variety, a sense of completing meaningful work and feedback on results contribute to satisfaction and motivation (Hackman & Oldham, 1976). I will make sure the new representative has some variety, such as rotating between the desk and the phones, and regular feedback, not only at reviews.

Measuring Whether the Plan Worked

The plan succeeds if the position is filled within five weeks and the person is still in the role at six months. It also succeeds if the 30- and 60-day conversations surface problems early enough to fix them. If the new hire leaves anyway, an exit conversation will ask what we could have done differently, and the answer will go into the next posting and onboarding plan. Our management text treats recruitment, selection and retention as connected parts of human resources management (Buchbinder et al., 2021), and this plan is an attempt to run them that way on a small scale.

References

Allen, D. G., Bryant, P. C., & Vardaman, J. M. (2010). Retaining talent: Replacing misconceptions with evidence-based strategies. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24(2), 48-64. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.24.2.48

Buchbinder, S. B., Shanks, N. H., & Kite, B. J. (Eds.). (2021). Introduction to health care management (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Hackman, J. R., & Oldham, G. R. (1976). Motivation through the design of work: Test of a theory. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(2), 250-279. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(76)90016-7