Suppose you are the newly hired Vice President of Human Resources for the Bayside Regional Health System. You have the responsibility for all of the usual human resources functions, including retention plans, the training and development function, and the recruitment process. In addition, you have the additional departments of volunteers and the hospital chaplaincy services.

You've identified a number of serious organizational issues. Turnover is high, there are many job vacancies, and a very high number of positions are considered hard-to-fill positions because of national workforce shortages. There are also a very high number of EEOC complaints over the past 5 years for an organization of this size. Employees were blunt in their criticisms of the organization and its management in an employee survey conducted just prior to your arrival.

The board of directors and the president know that they have serious human resource issues. They understand that management practices have to change in order to compete in the local healthcare market as an employer-of-choice. As in any healthcare organization, fiscal resources are limited, but the board is firmly committed to investing in a well developed human resources plan that will decrease the turnover and stem the ever-growing turnover and vacancy rates. The president has asked you to attend the next board of directors meeting to share your plan for addressing these serious issues. What will you tell them? Outline the focus of your presentation and include the issues you have identified, as well as the recommended strategies for turning this around.