Training Program Proposal

Training is an essential part of customer satisfaction since better-equipped employees would give better services to the customers. The world population has become a consumer of health care, which is considered one of the major necessities for human survival and well-being. This paper aims to develop a training program proposal for the healthcare organization, including company policies, performance, and expectations. Patient confidentiality is also essential, and it would be taken into consideration while formulating the training program. Best practices for employee and customer satisfaction and compliance with employment laws would be discussed in further sections of this paper.

New Employee Orientation

New employee orientation is necessary since it helps the new hires become familiar with the organizational culture and the job duties for effective healthcare service delivery. Job-skill training, performance management, and career planning would be included to comply with the company policies. The new workers know how and when to perform in certain situations (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 17). The expectations in healthcare are high since risks are high. Consumer's life risks are dependable on the performance of these employees. Hence, awareness about the benchmarks and best practices is mandatory.

Orientation about the procedures and systems that work within the organization should be made known to the onboarding workers so that re-employed, transferred, or even promoted staff should be familiar with the functionalities. In delivering standard quality healthcare services to the patients, it is necessary to know about the patient's privacy and safety regulations within the healthcare units. OSHA and HIPAA guidelines would be included in the training sessions. Moreover, the training sessions would emphasize building relationships with co-workers, providing job information, social acceptance within the new working environment, and smooth integration within the organization's healthcare system (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 199).

When training would be conducted for new employees, thorough dissemination of information about the workplace code of conduct, handling of internet and patient's private information, and related discipline policies, such as the prohibition of violence or sexual harassment would be ascertained (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 253). Healthcare employees are sometimes required to sign and acknowledge the handbook given to them to read all the rules and policies of the workplace and certify that they know and follow those instructions in the future.

The healthcare organization must consider that when new employees are recruited, they belong to diverse backgrounds and have various skills that should be suitable for departments and units of the organization. These skills should be properly channelized in the right direction, and for that, purposeful changes should be made with the training sessions. Addressing the recruits' diversity and emotional intelligence needs are momentous for the healthcare industry so that the right talents should be utilized for this profession, and the best healthcare services are provided to the patients. Designing of faultless training plans is noteworthy for the deliverance of quality healthcare service.

Organization mission

A hospital's mission statement depicts its values and ethics in providing healthcare services to the community. Its role towards humanity and inherent responsibilities are portrayed in its mission. These values should be transferred to the recruits during the employee orientation programs to know what they are becoming a part of. They should teach those model principles in their daily work routines to deliver patient safety and quality healthcare service. The following is the healthcare organization's proposed mission statement that will be taught to the new employees during organizational orientation. They should be well familiarized with the organization's values that are highlighted in this mission statement.

"The organization aims at providing the best consumer health care service delivery for the patients of all kinds. Achieving business excellence by assisting the psychological, social, and spiritual well-being of the consumers regardless of race, age, ethnicity, or gender would be the main emphasis of the healthcare institute. The use of innovative technology, for both training work staff and provision of medical services, is ensured so that leading position in the healthcare market is sustained and meeting current and future needs of medical science. Constant quality improvement, for maintaining service standards and employee safety is prioritized, so that customer satisfaction and employee engagement are certified."

Vision

The vision is the broader perspective of the mission that the hospital would be following. The principles and strategies involved in the accomplishment of the mission are cited in the vision statement. Good practices are observed with an ethical culture, and each individual connected with this profession must be aware so that service quality is delivered in line with human dignity. The following is the proposed vision statement for the healthcare organization instilled within the new employees during their orientation session. It would help establish a favorable firm impression on the recruits.

"The organization envisions providing unprecedented healthcare services to the patients at reduced costs by an uncompromised quality, employee safety, and customer satisfaction."

Summary of the strategic plan

After considering the struggle towards achieving the mission and vision or the organization, there would be a need to determine effective staffing levels. For this, the organization would assess what activities are currently being done by how many staff members, what roles and responsibilities are being fulfilled, and whether there is overtime completed by employees so that new hires could be taken in for reduction of this workload (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 48). The benchmark for productivity would be analyzed, such as reliability in safety measures, staffing, and competencies on workable structure within the organization. Some of the benchmarks for hospital productivity can include direct care hours (hours spent on observing the patients, diagnosing and their treatments, etc.), productivity hours (hours spent in direct care along with management), education and orientation hours (these can be identified as production or non-productive hours based on the organization's priority), non-productive hours (vacations, sick leaves, etc.) and total paid hours (Compass Clinical Consulting, n.a.).

Employee training and development for anticipating and meeting the organization's current and future needs is crucial since it would be setting a baseline for retaining current employees and improving their skills that are vital for healthcare. There are certain best practices for employee training and development, such as devising training programs for each employee different learning style (Becker's Hospital Review, 2012). Employees belong to multilingual and multicultural populations these days; hence, comprehension of information at equal levels of the hierarchy plays a role in effective training (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 53). Making programs interactive by using quizzes and group work can be beneficial for retaining information among the employees. Integration of computer-based learning cannot be ignored since, in today's technological advanced times, healthcare has made leaps in medical progress. Computer-based training would be best suited for this purpose. Personalizing information, even if it is related to training, can reap great benefits for the organization; for instance, compliance training data can be stored within documents following the policies and procedures to be specified for this intention only. Ensuring that the training reflects a change in skills and improvement in service delivery should be impactful. Amidst all of these practices, it is imperative to notice employees' demands as they have several responsibilities towards the patients. In the end, evaluation of the training sessions would be pivotal for estimating how resourceful the training proved to be in quality improvement and customer satisfaction.

The summary of the strategic plan includes classroom sessions for the new trainees as well as the managers, which are as follows:

Internal training: Internal training can be organized depending upon the budget of the organization. These training can include informal training, classroom session, case studies, audio-visual aids, simulations, role play, and skill practice and skills demonstration sessions. On-the-job training is also necessary since it is the most commonly used training method for healthcare organizations where employees learn essential job duties and actions for the medical providers to patients (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 202). In-house training can be broadly given in a classroom or workshop-style teaching settings (The Health Foundation, 2012).

E-learning: Online methods are useful for distance learning when cost-saving and access to numerous employees are indispensable (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 204). Healthcare employees can use computers or television to conduct classes online where the trainers can promptly answer questions of the trainees. If the budget allows, mobile phones can be made for training where employees can access instruction manuals for hardware and software equipment. Blended learning that syndicates face-to-face and e-learning methods can be useful for health professionals for producing positive results in patient health outcomes (Lawn, Zhi & Morello, 2017)

Simulations: Simulations can be computer-based; however, it would be beneficial if employees are trained on mannequins that also work as computerized patients for accurate skill practice (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 204). Medical simulation is proved to produce positive results in employee training compared to apprentice-style training (Al-Elq, 2010).

Safety training would also be provided to the employees so that their working at the healthcare facility is made safe. Organizational orientation would also cover patient rights and general safety guidelines for the employees to make these perspectives clear in the workers' minds that both the employee and patient safety prioritized by the organization. It is not only required by the healthcare organization but also by the law. Once the workplace safety guidelines are clarified for all employees, performance and efficiency would be increased automatically. Consequently, if accidents do not take due to observance of the safety instructions and precautions, then costs would be reduced across the...

…employees, compensations, benefits, job security, reliance between employees and senior management, and scope for using talents and aptitudes at work (The Society for Human Resource Management, 2016). These can be set as benchmarks for a manager to ensure employee satisfaction and retention. Today's workforce mostly consists of millennials whose enthusiasm for work might be considered arrogance and ego problems. They are quicker in making progression leaps than their multi-generational counterparts within the organization and hence need more frequent encouragement to keep them engaged. There should be promotions and compensations by the healthcare facilities once or twice a year.

Employee absenteeism and turnover should also be reduced for better job satisfaction and retention (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 164). These should also be included in the benchmarks to measure accurately; these measures would depict how engaged the employees are towards their healthcare firm. If employee engagement is low, then absenteeism can fall into the category of voluntary absenteeism of the workers stay absent for long periods in a week, such as more than three or four days a week. Similarly, employee turnover can be voluntary if their engagement is low, and they leave by their own choice. If a leaving employee is a high performer, it can cost the healthcare organization greatly, which is known as dysfunctional turnover. To avoid this, the healthcare business needs to give employees monetary or non-monetary compensations to keep them satisfied with their jobs.

Procedures to Ensure Employee Satisfaction and Retention

When an employee enters an organization, an interaction is created between that individual and the business entity. The interaction results in a psychological contract, commitment, engagement, loyalty, and employee satisfaction (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 160). To maintain and retain that connection, healthcare organizations must find ways to keep the employees constantly engaged in their jobs. The unwritten psychological contract consists oftwo parts: tangible and intangible rewards. Tangible rewards can be wage, benefits, performance in terms of employee output, and daily attendance. Intangible rewards can be in the form of loyalty, fair treatment, and job security (Flynn et al., 2015, p. 161). Moreover, non-tangible rewards have also been accepted as the new norm for augmenting employee motivation and engagement. Non-tangible rewards include training and development, favorable working environment, pleasing office furnishing, lunch hours, offering business cards, having one's secretary, etc. (Habib et al., 2017).

Through employee orientation, coaching and education programs, and opportunities for personal development, various positive results can be observed in employee retention, improved staff morale, efficiency in practice skills, enhanced job competency, and ultimately patient satisfaction (Gesme, Towle & Wiseman, 2010). Procedures to enhance employee satisfaction and retention can be enlisted as follows:

Management training for first-line supervisors so that they know how to supervise and treat their subordinates. If subordinates are treated fairly, they must remain engaged with their jobs in the healthcare department.

Employment regulations should be taken into account regularly since the laws keep changing with time. Legal aspects of the healthcare practice should be taught within the human resource practice.

Staff development by conducting educational programs without costs such as journal clubs, hospital programs, and vendor-sponsored education.

Employee satisfaction would be guaranteed if they gain occupational advancement opportunities, and professional association membership can be beneficial in this regard. These are attained by paying an annual fee to certain professional associations' membership to assure their performance and success. These memberships are in the form of free publications, approach to industry surveys, and networking prospects.

Employees can be retained in the healthcare sector by investing in human capital in rewards and compensations. At any level of performance, the healthcare organization's HR leaders must compensate their employees for their rendered services (Taufek, Zulkifle & Sharif, 2016). These services can be in the form of time, effort, and skill that they provide to their jobs, and hence, feel connected with the organization. Human resource strategists' responsibility is to formulate accurate compensation plans for enhanced job engagement, organizational commitment, and retention.

Conclusion

The significance of employee training and education cannot be ignored since it directly impacts patient outcomes in the healthcare industry. The health professional, specifically the human resource professionals, need to take extra care in devising training programs for the new employees and the existing ones. All levels of hierarchy should be included for training so that legal compliance, in terms of equal employment opportunities for the employees and the legal compliance in terms of safety and security of patient's private information, should be made known. It is also substantial to train the healthcare employees so that compliance with the state and federal laws is ascertained. It would be equally valuable to train employees, from top to bottom, about the safety precautions in a risky profession like that of healthcare.…