Strong Success in Reducing Staff Turnover Using Arena's Data Science Solution Reported at Healthcare Human Resources Event

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Oct 02, 2018, 10:00 ET

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A senior leader of Regional One Health, an integrated delivery system in Memphis, told an audience at the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) Annual Conference here how her system dramatically reduced staff turnover after adopting advanced data analytics to screen job candidates.

Regional One uses the Big Data solution of Arena, a company that works with hundreds of healthcare providers across the country to reduce turnover and improve staff engagement. "Arena has helped us move from merely hiring people based on resumes, interviews and our best guesses to data-based predictions on who is really most likely to stay on the job," said Carol Farris, Regional One's director of Talent Acquisition and Management. She co-presented at ASHHRA with Myra Norton, Arena's president and COO.

Farris described how prior to hiring Arena, Regional One had overall 360-day turnover in excess of 40% in several key roles and departments. More than half of the housekeeping hires left in their first year.

The situation was made worse by the fact that Regional One is in a competitive market, with several hospitals in a 5-mile radius vying for the same talent.

"Our leadership was seeing how high turnover was negatively impacting financial performance and patient care, and wanted new solutions," Farris said.

Having met Norton at a previous ASHHRA event, Farris implemented the Arena solution, which uses artificial intelligence to predict the likelihood that a particular prospective employee will stay, be engaged and show up to work on time in a particular role, building and/or department. The solution replaces subjective analyses based on resumes and interviews with predictions based on a wide range of data.

Arena helped Regional One reduce 90-day turnover by 39% in the first 6 months; by one year, turnover was down 22%, Farris said.

One of the strongest arguments for using Arena was revealed when Regional One was forced by a need for more staff to hire some people who were not predicted by Arena as likely to be retained. The turnover rate for those employees was a full 10 percentage points higher as Arena's recommended pool. "It really confirmed for us that the Arena predictions were on track," Farris said. Regional One is now using the tool to effectively increase the size of its applicant pool by routing passive candidates to roles where they are likely to be retained and engaged.

Success in the project was heavily dependent on having strong champions in the system's top leadership. "Managing stakeholders and adoption is critical, so when your CEO and CFO are firmly on board, the job is easier," Farris said.

About Arena
Arena collects, analyzes and incorporates robust data to predict a given applicant's likelihood to succeed in a particular healthcare organizations' culture. Instead of individual judgements and hypotheses, Arena develops and applies models that align most closely with the everyday realities on which a prosperous and pleasant work culture depends. Its proven solutions lower turnover at client institutions by a median of 38%, resulting in better care and higher patient satisfaction.

Media contact
Todd Sloane
224-515-0320
[email protected]

SOURCE Arena