Tacoma Lutheran Home in Tacoma, Washington began implementing a Workforce 21 Recruitment, Selection and Retention (RSR) program early in 2001. By September they completed hiring their own staff and eliminated the use of any temporary agency workers in their facility. Additionally, by following the program's guidelines they achieved many of the other goals for absences, tardiness, quality and census they had established for themselves.

The following images show some of the things they used to achieve their success.

Know the Numbers Sandwich Board

Knowing the numbers you are trying to change is the first step to achieving your RSR goals. To get the ball rolling Tacoma's Talkwalkers Superteam made a sandwich board that showcased the numbers. Every morning a team member wears the board while walking through the buildings. As the person visits the various stations he or she passes out incentive prizes.

Suggestion Box

Getting employee input on solving the problems they thought were important was another way that built excitement at Tacoma Lutheran Home. In order to avoid becoming a complaint box, all suggestions placed in the box were given consideration as long as they met the criteria of: "No problems without solutions."

Spread the News

Sometimes luck can lend a hand... When a competing facility couldn't use the space they had purchased in the specialty want ads section of the city newspaper Tacoma Lutheran Home had four hours to pull together all the information to tell the story of the great things they were accomplishing with their Workforce 21 program. The resulting half page story gave the home valuable exposure directly to the people they were hiring.