Nicole Vullo
on
Staffing and employee retention has been an issue for various sectors in recent years. In particular, the funeral and cemetery profession has experienced the effects of this business pain point. We asked Jared Tanke to share his insights as to what owners and operators can implement into their business models now to retain good employees.
Question: How do I retain good employees?
Jared Tanke: I recently attended the NFDA Leadership Conference in Ponte Vedra, FL. As a first-time attendee at this event, I was excited about networking with so many different funeral home owners, state association executives, and others. Throughout my time I was involved in many conversations around the biggest challenges facing the funeral profession. A question that kept coming up was “how do we retain talent?” This falls right in line with our 2024 Funeral & Cemetery Consumer Behavior Study that shows 26% of those surveyed within the profession who believe staffing to be the biggest threat to funeral service in the future.
The last day of the event there was a speaking panel that discussed this very topic. Everyone agreed that there is a significant change in the future of the profession, as many students coming out of mortuary school now do not have any experience with funeral homes. Typically, in the past, a vast number of the students had been the next generation who grew up at their family funeral home, so they already had some knowledge about what it’s like working in and being around a funeral home.
While finding talent is one challenge, retention of your staff may be just as difficult. A few items that we would recommend are:
- Constant communication – Employees want to feel valued, and they want to know that they are making a difference. Whether it be a recurring scheduled event, or just casual checking in, we believe that the relationships you have with your employees are fuel for a successful company culture. If your employees are not happy and excited to come to work each day, there may be some issues that need to be addressed.
- Setting the right expectations – Times change, peoples livelihood changes with that. What do your employees actually want? For some, it may be time over money, and others the opposite. Making sure to manage job responsibilities with each of your employees is a way to avoid any confusion with what they should be doing.
- Stay up to date with salary ranges – There are annual labor reports that allow you to see what median salaries are for most areas in the country. Being connected to other local businesses and other funeral homes will help keep you informed about the current labor markets and what your employees might be seeing as well. If you provide health/dental/vision insurance, it may be worth while to contact an insurance broker to see if there are any better plans you could be on that would be beneficial to everyone.
- Education Opportunities – When was the last time you asked an employee if they wanted to attend a training program or pursue further education to develop new skills? Many times, the annual conventions are hosted in destination cities where one can enjoy a mix of good vacation and also reap the benefits of all the education and training given. This is a great way to recognize a top performing employee.
There are always going to be new challenges that every profession faces, and certainly employee turnover is not unique to our profession. However, we believe that there are ways to set yourself apart from the rest by always striving to have a work environment where every single person is proud to walk in every day, gives their absolute best, can be rewarded, and keeps coming back.