Grant: DRA : Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral Program (CGRS D)

Health and social services (HSS) workers provide critical services in institutional and residential settings across Canada, supporting the elderly and people with chronic mental and physical conditions in various ways to nurture holistic health and well-being. However, services are threatened by ever-increasing turnover, which is at a near-critical point in Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada and around the world. High turnover is costly for individuals, agencies, and the overall healthcare system, and the problem is only expected to worsen as the population ages. Traditionally, we have turned to financial solutions to increase retention. While appropriate wages are imperative, they may not be enough to solve the issue; furthermore, most HSS agencies in Manitoba rely heavily on government funding and can do little but engage in slow, complex advocacy to increase wages. Thus, an innovative approach is needed to retain staff. The objective is to address this need by investigating how to encourage greater organizational commitment (OC) among HSS workers by identifying the individual, job/work, and organizational factors that may support OC and potentially moderate the relationship between OC and turnover in the unique context of HSS in Manitoba. Findings will be used to create practical, evidence-based retention strategies to reduce turnover, thereby decreasing costs and facilitating high-quality client services. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design will be used. In phase 1, a purposive sample of HSS workers in Manitoba will be recruited to participate in a quantitative online survey to measure demographics and levels of OC. In phase 2, a subset of respondents will be invited to participate in a qualitative interview to discuss perceived factors influencing OC in their experience as HSS employees. The data will be analyzed, synthesized, and used to produce a meaningful retention strategy to increase OC and reduce turnover among HSS workers in Manitoba.