Introduction
Most Americans access better oral healthcare; however, not all people do. COH exists to improve oral health for susceptible populations via dental education, services, advocacy, and research. The organization has operated for 40 years (“Oral Health Organization,” 2018). The corporation has continuously emphasized offering quality dental care services and supporting the development of its employees.
Nonetheless, there is a need for COH to transform its organizational policy, procedure, or objective to fulfill better the needs of its staff members and patients (Comeaux, 2020). The recommended change at COH is the execution of a psychological wellness and health program for its workers, which may reduce burnout, improve staff retention rates, and support general job satisfaction. The essay discusses change implementation at COH to improve employees’ mental health and well-being.
Change Objectives at COH
Enhance Employee Retention Rates
Providing employees with a mental health and wellness program will reduce staff turnover and increase their satisfaction to a higher level. Staff retention is now more critical than ever in COH. Workers with good psychological health may depict positive working positions and commit to work activities with more compassion and enthusiasm (Sija, 2022). However, poor psychological health can result in inactivity at work and deteriorations in interpersonal correlations, which, in return, adversely influence the work of employees at COH.
In this competitive labor market, human resources and managers hyper-focused on attempting to retain staff and increase headcount substantially. Talent attrition widely affects team morale and productivity and may be expensive for the organization. It costs an organization an average of close to five to ten months’ salary to replace a worker who leaves.
HR leaders at COH sought innovative ways to increase staff retention rates in this modern work landscape. Studies have revealed that workers are ready to leave or stay at the organization based on the quality of psychological health and well-being benefits they receive (Sija, 2022). Implementing a psychological wellness and health initiative may aid in decreasing the number of workers at the organization who leave because of stress, burnout, and other psychological health-associated problems.
Reduce Burnout
Burnout is a typical problem in the healthcare sector, and it influences workers’ mental and physical health. The labor force has transformed dramatically in the last few years. With organizations moving to virtual workplaces, workers have become more mobile and experience high burnout often (Kamynina et al., 2020).
The organization has noted that increased incidents of staff burnout have devastating effects on patient safety and care. The leadership and management at COH have realized an increasing trend in reduced time spent between patients and health providers (Kendrick, 2022). In addition, there is a growing case of medical errors, staff shortages, and hospital-acquired infections among patients.
Furthermore, HR leaders at COH have noted that dentists and other employees have a low quality of life, reduced performance levels, and reduced organizational commitment. Further, their intent to leave work has increased (Toussaint & Barnas, 2020). Thus, COH leaders have resolved that the psychological health and well-being program may assist staff in managing their stress levels, supporting self-care, and improving their resilience.
Promote Employee Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction is related to employees’ general well-being in the healthcare industry, with enhanced quality of care, patient satisfaction, dedication to work, and minimized medical errors. If workers are delighted and have improved job satisfaction, they will most likely operate well in their work activities and stay longer in the organization (Garza & Taliaferro, 2021). Increased employee job satisfaction improves loyalty and inspires workers to buy into COH’s goals and missions to support vulnerable populations.
Moreover, delighted workers generate high profits by contributing to increased sales revenue, reduced costs, and a strong bottom line. Therefore, job satisfaction at COH is key, and organizational psychology relates to multiple preferable outcomes (Dai & Akey-Torku, 2020). Thus, the organization wants to ensure its workers have access to psychological health and well-being (Toussaint & Barnas, 2020). Workers who have access to mental health and well-being initiatives are most likely to be contented with their work, which will enhance their performance and increase patient outcomes.
Followers
The organization’s staff members will benefit from the psychological health and wellness programs. They will also be the people who follow this program and ensure that it is being exploited most efficiently and effectively (Kamynina et al., 2020). The group members will get training on dealing with mental health issues and improving their well-being when faced with life or work challenges.
Transformational Leadership Model
This leadership style is appropriate for the plan because it emphasizes the motivation and growth of followers. Hence, the leadership model will be applied to implement the change at COH. Transformational leaders motivate and inspire their followers to accomplish their goals and establish a sense of respect and trust with them. A transformational leader’s followers are offered a unique vision and a list of goals.
In addition, the leader makes the required resources to achieve the set goals or objectives available and accessible to the followers. Therefore, it will be necessary for transformational leaders to identify and reward the efforts of their subordinates because it will go miles towards supporting COH staff members to attend to the psychological health and well-being programs appropriately (Bakhshandeh, 2023). The transformational leadership model is essential since it promotes worker empowerment, which is crucial for successful change management at COH.
Implementation Plan
Carry Out a Needs Assessment
This need assessment will gather data and information on the psychological health and well-being needs of COH workers, including their burnout rates, stress levels, and job satisfaction. The first phase in executing the plan is determining COH employees’ needs and prospective areas for enhancement (Comeaux, 2020). Therefore, it entails getting information from the staff and analyzing employee data to find areas that need enhancements to support their mental health and well-being.
Designing the Psychological and Well-being Program
The second phase is establishing the program after determining the needs of employees. The program may include exercise, yoga, mindfulness, and psychological health counseling. In addition, it will involve educational resources on self-care, resilience, and stress management (Toussaint & Barnas, 2020). Therefore, for COH to achieve this, the management must select suitable areas and places to carry out this program.
Program Implementation
Provide the leaders facilitating the program with training on managing psychological health issues or outsourcing well-trained coaches to carry out the program. However, at COH, this program will need to be executed in phases, commencing with the pilot program for the selected team of workers. The pilot program may be assessed for effectiveness, and changes may be made before the program is rolled out to all staff members (Kamynina et al., 2020). For COH to attain this, managers should give an overview of this program and illustrate its benefits to workers.
Monitoring and Measuring the Effect of the Program
It is the final stage of this plan for employees’ psychological health and wellness program. It involves measuring and monitoring the program’s effect on staff members. The employees’ feedback needs to be examined to gauge their improvement toward general mental health and wellness at the organization (Toussaint & Barnas, 2020). This will ensure that the leaders and managers understand whether the program is practical and relevant to enhance staff retention rates, reduce burnout, and promote workers’ satisfaction.
Conclusion
The execution of a psychological, mental health, and well-being program at COH will enhance its staff members’ physical and mental well-being and significantly and positively influence patient outcomes and vulnerable populations in society. The recommended change aligns with COH’s organizational goals and core values of supporting worker growth and offering quality patient care to the vulnerable populations in the community. The transformational leadership model may be applied to execute the change, which may facilitate employee empowerment and develop a positive corporate culture.
References
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Comeaux, A. (2020). Change (the) management: Why we as leaders must change for the change to last. Lioncrest Publishing.
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Garza, J. A., & Taliaferro, D. (2021). Job satisfaction among home healthcare nurses. Home Healthcare Now, 39(1), 20-24. Web.
Kamynina, N., Korotkova, E., & Skulkina, Y. (2020). Trust in the healthcare system: Review. City Healthcare, 1(1), 87-95. Web.
Kendrick, A. (2022). Compassion fatigue, burnout, and the emotional labor of educational workers. The International Journal of Health, Wellness, and Society, 13(1), 31-55. Web.
Oral Health Organization , Dental Care Services & Clinics. (2018). Web.
Sija, A. (2022). Determinants of employee retention in private healthcare. European Journal of Human Resource Management Studies, 5(4). Web.
Toussaint, J., & Barnas, K. (2020). Becoming the change: Leadership behavior strategies for continuous improvement in healthcare. McGraw-Hill Education.