Personal Stress Solutions: Case Studies: Company F

Personal Stress Solutions: Case Studies: Company F

Identifying and retraining "stress carrier" managers reduces turnover from 40% to 20% in six months

The Situation: High turnover is expected at human services organizations, but 40% to 50% annual turnover in some departments at this 350-employee hospital was both unmanageable and unproductive.

The Organizational Stress Audit: In their confidential Stress Navigators, the workers revealed problems with the boss and workload as their major stresses at work. Their responses were broken down by supervisory units, and data analysis showed the problem was significantly worse in some departments than in others. The nature of the work did not impact the levels of stress as much as the supervisor’s management style.

The Resolution: Once the problem had been narrowed to the supervisors with the most stressed employees, retraining programs were initiated to change supervisory styles. Retraining these "stress carriers" cut stress in their departments to the level of the general hospital and helped cut turnover in half, while increasing morale in departments that had been miserable before the intervention.

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