1. Skip to content

Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Health Care

They are talking about this topic: General Skills

 

Your Selection:


The quotes below are about this issue:
As health care moves toward a more team-oriented approach, employees need to be able to communicate effectively with other professionals, such as doctors, nurses, and social workers. Interpersonal communication and conflict resolution are frequently cited as crucial skills that are often lacking in new hires. Some employers attribute this to the younger generation having less experience with face-to-face communication.

Employer Quote Region
"I think one more skill deficit that we see both in new workers as well as incumbent workers is the ability to manage conflict in a respectful manner. I don't think in our programs they're doing that. Being able to successfully manage conflict will help in their day-to-day lives. That seems to be a thing that, as management, we're spending a fair amount of time trying to help them manage." Southeast
"It comes down to mutual respect. In talking to my colleagues, who have the pleasure of working with our employees who are having issues, quite often it comes down to respect. Somewhere along the line we need to explain to people that we all come to the table with our own values, and it's not about who's right or wrong, but about respecting that we have different values and beliefs but we can still work together as a team. Team-working exercises are needed to meet the mission at hand and still respect the differences that we have." Southeast
"Communication skills. I think that will always probably be on the list as something that's really important. And the team piece of it. That's the model that we have. That's working with physicians or other clinicians—there are nine clinicians on teams and everybody has a piece of how care is delivered. And I think the old way was that the doctor was the head of the pyramid, and we didn't challenge different things. That's not how it is today. So, that's a little bit of a transition. And some of our older staff might have trouble breaking habits because, before I couldn't talk to a doctor that way, but now I can actually challenge them. And we're really trying to build more of that culture where everybody is on the team and each voice is important. But you have to be able to communicate what you want, what you need, or ask questions. Things like that." Southeast
"Communication is one issue that we have because, especially with the younger generation, there is more emailing, texting, and different things like that. A lot of times there isn't that face-to-face communication." Southeast
"We don't have any of the nursing nurses on staff at our place, but even with the techs—a lot of them are exercise science majors at [MnSCU college]—they have that clinical background but they struggle with the communication skills. And we work with the public, so every day you work face-to-face with multiple people. You have to have those skills when you interact with staff and patients." Southeast
"Question: Assisted living must have some younger employees that are working with people who are many generations removed from them. How is that communication piece and those soft skills?

Employer: I think there are some challenges there. Sometimes between the clients and the staff, and sometimes between the staff and other staff. One of the challenges with communication in senior services is the volume of people working in smaller teams in one setting—and often in clinical settings in the nursing schools. But when they get into, for instance, an assisted living facility or long-term care facility, one RN might need to oversee lots of work. It isn't just, 'I've got three or four people,' it's 'I've got maybe 30 people that I have to think about, and I have to oversee the care that everyone else does. I'm responsible for that.' So, that person needs to be able to figure all that out and prioritize and be able then to communicate what needs to be done. Prioritizing, communicating, and feeling comfortable with that. There is—especially for young people—understandably, a lot of angst about that. So, communication sometimes becomes, 'How comfortable do I feel not only communicating with people face-to-face, but also being able to prioritize, being able to say the right things, and making sure that right things are being done?' And that is challenging in that work setting for new people. We expect a lot out of our nurses. And, you know, if someone is experienced and you've developed personal confidence in them, it's a little easier. But for new people that are coming onboard—and often times we're hiring new people—it seems that's a challenge for them. And we really have to support them along the way, walk alongside them as they grow those skills."		 Southeast
"I'd say verbal communication skills are important, because the newer grads are good at the written communication because of the tests." Southeast
"The issue would be mostly with the verbal communication." Southeast