Every industry has its share of employee turnover and unhappy workers remaining on the job because they feel they have nowhere else to go. Human resources experts have developed something they call "worker engagement" to deal with the problem. One of their target areas just happens to be dialysis employment -- a field they have chosen because of its high turnover rate and the rapid pace at which dialysis treatment is changing in America.

According to surveys, nearly 50 percent of all workers across all industries recruited in 2012 will leave their jobs within the first two years. In the area of dialysis employment, a mere 25 percent of the total workers in 2012 will be in the same position four years from now. Another 25 percent will quit within the first year of being hired. These are difficult numbers to accept in an industry desperately in need of qualified caregivers. Worker engagement aims to discover why turnover is so high so dialysis centers can begin reversing the trend.

The Stepping Stone Syndrome

The first thing to consider is the idea of using dialysis as a stepping stone for other jobs. Keep in mind that when speaking of dialysis employment we’re not just talking about nurses and certified nurse assistants. We're also talking about dialysis technicians who typically earn their certification and get into the job market within 12 months of beginning the process. Many of these technicians work in dialysis centers even as they go to nursing school.

The problem is that many of them don't remain in dialysis once they complete their nursing education. The perception that there are more lucrative positions and much more challenging environments works against dialysis employment.

Government Regulation

Worker engagement experts also see a problem with government regulation in terms of contributing to employee turnover. It's not that regulation is necessarily a bad thing, but many believe there has been too much coming too quickly at America's dialysis centers. In an effort to standardize dialysis treatments and overall patient care, the industry has been hit with one wave after another of new regulations and policies.

This tends to be very frustrating to dialysis workers, who feel as though their work environment and daily tasks are constantly in flux. Some experts believe that a slowdown in the pace of regulatory changes might go a long way in easing the burden of stress on dialysis workers. Perhaps technicians and nurses alike would feel less like slaves to regulation and more like caring individuals who want to do what's best for their patients if there were fewer policies in place.

There are other reasons experts say are included in the high turnover rate for dialysis employment. Some of those factors include a misunderstanding of the dialysis environment, the difficulty of dealing with individual patients for such long periods of time and a certain amount of monotony in a clinical setting. Hopefully the industry can address all of them and return dialysis employment to a place where turnover is low and work environments are stable.