HERE TODAY, HERE TOMORROW: Retaining Funeral Home Professionals

BY JULIE JUDGE

What’s the secret to attracting and keeping great team members? The answer isn’t what you think.

Regardless of the industry, recruitment and retention are two areas of vulnerability for today’s businesses, large and small. Financially, it costs twice the annual salary of a current employee to replace them. And from a human perspective, a company with a high churn rate creates a negative-energy workspace as fewer workers are forced to take on more work.

There is no golden ticket to achieving steady recruitment and retention rates. In today’s competitive workplace, attracting and keeping the best employees involves several factors, including salary and benefits, healthy work/life balance, and open, two-way communication between team members and their managers.

Recruiting and retaining funeral directors, embalmers, crematory operators, and other exempt workers in the funeral service industry has particular challenges. While attractive salary and compensation packages will always be necessary for successful recruitment and retention, they’re not the only factors that make or break a company’s attrition rate.

A recent Forbes article revealed that salary isn’t the No. 1 reason people leave their jobs. In a survey of over 2,200 workers, more than 62 percent of respondents cited a toxic work environment as their primary reason for quitting. Salary was the second most common answer, but most responses had nothing to do with wages. Many respondents cited poor management and a lack of a healthy work-life balance.

Funeral professionals dedicate their time and talent to making a difference on the worst day of a person’s life. The toll on team members’ personal lives can be tremendous. Like first responders, final responders seek employers that offer a holistic balance between work and relaxation.

Employees Seek a Healthy Work-Life Balance

Like other companies, fluctuating labor levels and worker availability have affected Foundation Partners Group. Unlike other businesses, the deathcare business has specific requirements unique to the services and products it offers families. Funeral directors must be trained and licensed. So do crematory operators and embalmers. And even before the COVID-19 pandemic, front-of-house funeral professionals were stressed by the emotional and physical demands inherent to the industry.

The funeral business is not a nineto-five weekday-only job. Funeral providers who understand the risk of burnout and act accordingly tend to keep team members longer. Train and educate managers about staggered shifts and other methods to help prevent burnout.

A healthy work-life balance is particularly attractive to recruiting the younger and more diverse workforce that will sustain the funeral industry’s growth. This leads to another factor in effective recruitment and retention: cast a wide net to ensure your company has a diverse and inclusive workforce.

Remove Bias in Employee Screening

For decades, funeral directors were almost exclusively men. Today, more women are entering mortuary science programs. LGBTQ+ representation matters in the funeral industry, too. Building a culture of engagement and inclusivity depends on removing bias at the beginning of the hiring process. Create a hiring process based on an individual’s skill set.

In addition to aptitude tests for job openings, there’s value in personality assessment testing. Before a company invests time and resources into a candidate, determine whether a candidate is compatible with the firm’s values early on. Companies often use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator during hiring, but other assessment tools exist and can be deployed to assess personality and aptitude.

Continuing Education with Loan Forgiveness & Scholarships

Another perk that companies might consider to help recruit and retain employees is an attractive continuing education package. The deathcare industry has specific educational, training, and apprenticeship requirements that can be a financial barrier. Helping employees attain required licenses and degrees can improve retention, loyalty, and productivity. An incentivized or mandatory training program for managers is also a good idea.

Talk, Listen & Survey

Employees leave for many reasons, but one of the leading contributors is a poor relationship between themselves and their managers. To combat this trend, ask new hires if they are willing to complete a survey within their first 90 days about how they prefer to be motivated and developed. The funeral industry tends to have higher-than-average attrition within the first 90 days. Offering a voluntary survey within that time can help management to avoid losing a new hire.

Encourage continuous, two-way conversations between team members and managers to reduce friction and attrition. Most people aren’t motivated to work at higher levels after a single performance review. Regular feedback and communication help build a stronger team. When a team member leaves, it’s wise to conduct exit interviews. Our human resources team uses that information to improve relationships and communications.

In Conclusion

Finally, retaining exceptional team members starts with recruiting. Look for every opportunity to promote your company’s positives through organic search terms, community events, and philanthropy, such as a scholarship program.

Julie Judge, a 25-year human resources professional, is senior vice president of human resources for Foundation Partners Group. She oversees all aspects of recruitment, training and implementation of resources and benefits.