Work–life balance as a strategy for health promotion and employee retention: Results of a survey among human resources managers in the nursing sector

Abstract

Background: The high demand for nurses necessitates effective strategies for recruiting and retaining nursing personnel. One of these strategies is the promotion of work–life balance, which simultaneously helps to reduce employee turnover and to keep nurses healthy. Objective: The objective is to analyze the current and potential success of steps implemented to improve work–life balance. Methods: Data were collected in a survey among human resources managers in nursing institutions (n = 59) in the region of Upper Swabia in Germany and analyzed using chi-square tests and Spearman correlation analyses. Results: The difficult nature of the job, overworked staff, a shortage of qualified nurses and the resulting challenges of shift scheduling are all major problems in nursing institutions. Human resource managers generally consider measures promoting work–life balance to be successful in retaining nurses. The greatest future potential for staff retention is seen for measures that improve the consistency and the flexibility of shift schedules. Currently, the implementation of these measures is very heterogeneous. Several correlations were found between the implementation of work–life balance measures and challenges in nursing institutions. Conclusion: Although awareness of work–life balance measures has increased in the nursing sector, they are still implemented relatively rarely. This points to hitherto underutilized potential which could allow a double benefit in terms of employee retention and health promotion: Nurses could be healthier and more satisfied and employers could enjoy higher levels of employee retention.