Generational diversity: impact on recruitment and retention of registered nurses.
The aging of the registered nurse indicates that as nurses retire, there will be insufficient replacement numbers. Many shortages linked to increased demand and the solution was simply to increase the supply. Education was made more accessible, salaries were increased, and within 3 to 5 years the problem was solved. Unfortunately, today's nursing shortage is more complex than earlier shortages. One of the biggest concerns related to the supply issue is the average age of practicing registered nurses is 44 years. Approximately 50% of nurses will leave the work force to retire in the next 10 years. In addition, 50% of school of nursing faculty will retire by 2010, compounding the problem of not only recruiting people to nursing, but having enough teachers. By the year 2020, the registered nurse work force will fall short of demand by 20% or nearly 500,000 nurses; this will come when the first wave of baby boomers celebrate their 65th birthday. The study also indicated that some of this shortage is related to a shift of careers from nursing school to medical school. The research indicated that an average nurse's salary tops out at $47,000; when young women see their growth potential, they opt for careers with higher income possibilities. Salaries are not the only factor decreasing the supply of nurses. As the nurse work force was downsized in the 1990s, many nurses left hospital nursing for positions that offer normal work hours with no weekend and holiday work. When people are faced with making career choices, nursing is often perceived as unstable, high risk, and demeaning. With these facts in mind and decreasing reimbursements, healthcare administrators are challenged to not only attract people to their facility, but also retain current staff. Simply increasing hourly wages or offering sign on bonuses do not seem to be providing incentive, This is leading to study of the value of nonmonetary benefits that recruit and retain staff. Although nursing salaries are only one of several factors that influence recruitment, it does have a direct impact on retention. So to retain staff, working conditions of a 24 hour, 7 days a week operation require some modifications reflective of identified needs of the work force. The present nursing work force has an interesting make up, involving 4 distinct generations, often with different needs. This generational diversity is an important issue in designing a work environment that attracts both the younger generation and, hopefully, retains the present generation of nurses as long as possible. Today's nursing work force is compromised of primarily 3 of the 4 generationsVthe Traditional Generation, the Baby Boomers, and Generation X. The Generation Y group is in the process of choosing their careers. Generalizations have been made about each generation and what has shaped them. In examining generational diversity, we see the following.
The Journal of nursing administration