New Hope Hospital, a 400-bed community hospital, was struggling with recruitment and retention issues. These issues were occurring despite area labor statistics that indicated that there was a sufficient supply of skilled healthcare workers to meet their needs.

New Hopes HR director undertook a comprehensive analysis of the recruitment and retention issues with the support of the board and senior management of the hospital. The HR director utilized information from a recent employee satisfaction survey and exit interviews. From those sources she learned the following:

• Current employees believed that New Hopes benefit program is not competitive in comparison to other hospitals and companies in the area.
• For the employees who voluntarily resigned from New Hope in the last 12 months, benefit issues were critical. A critical issue they reported receiving employment offers that included lower healthcare insurance premiums, employer-paid dental insurance, higher accruals on paid time off, and sign-on bonuses.
• New Hopes healthcare competitors were aware of New Hopes less-competitive benefits package and would aggressively recruit New Hopes employees, noting the differences when interviewing New Hope employees.

Questions

1. Given the findings from the HR director, what additional benefits plans should be considered by New Hope Hospital?
2. What would be the advantages and disadvantages to increasing the competitiveness of the benefits plan at New Hope Hospital?