State of Healthcare 2024: Making up for lost labor

Like many hospital dining teams around the country, the onset of COVID-19 caused a massive staffing disruption for the foodservice team at The University of Toledo Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio. 

“During COVID, we had up to 50% of staff missing to the point where we couldn't deliver trays to the rooms,” says Director of Food and Nutrition Services Josh Krupinski. “We  had to utilize nursing staff to deliver trays in bulk while we would wash dishes, get the food up to the floors and then have [the nurses] deliver and collect.”

While the team’s labor situation has improved since the pandemic, it remains a major challenge for Krupinski, and he’s not alone. Sixty-one percent of respondents to FoodService Director’s 2024 State of Healthcare survey said that they are experiencing a staffing shortage. 

As the dining team’s staffing challenges continue for the foreseeable future, Krupinski has implemented a multi-pronged approach that includes a series of changes the team’s operations as well as a series of initiatives centered on recruitment and retainment. 

Strategizing recruitment and retention 

Many of recruitment strategies that Krupinski uses today were introduced during COVID-19 and focus on spreading the word about the benefits that come with working for the foodservice team. 

“The University of Toledo offers a tuition waiver to other part time and full-time staff members,” he says. “They have half off tuition for their part time staff, eight free credits per semester for full time staff, and they even extend that to people's immediate family.”

Not many people knew about those great benefits, adds Krupinski, so he began reaching out to the university community as well as local high school advisors to spread the word. 

“I just Googled Toledo Public Schools, and I looked up senior advisors, and all the information is public record,” he says. “So, I started emailing them like, ‘Hey, would you mind if I sent you this information in this link?’”

The strategy has paid off, Krupinski says, and he’s seen an uptick in younger employees coming to work for the team in recent years. 

In addition to spreading the word about opportunities within the dining program, the hospital also allowed the dining team to raise its hourly wage during COVID.  

“We bumped up to $15 an hour to start more in line with the Taco Bells and the fast foods of the world and that really helped us out,” says Krupinski. 

While the jump in salary did offer a boost in new employees, that has slowed in recent years as other businesses in the community have continued to raise their wages, Krupinski says, so lately during interviews, he’s been homing in on how working for the dining team would allow potential new hires to feel more connected to their community. 

“I really focus on the community piece. You're here to make a difference. You have an opportunity to do something great for the community and yourself in the process,” he says. “So that's really what I'm focusing on, is really trying to connect them to that mission, not the money.”

Alongside focusing on new recruitment efforts, Krupinski has also introduced a series of retention initiatives over the past several years, such as his Shining Star of the Month program. 

“It's an employee of the month program where we give out free, complimentary meal tickets to our cafeteria. We give out a plaque. We post our picture in our cafeteria main entrance for everyone to come that comes through to see,” he says 

Krupinski also takes the time to try and personally connect with each one of his staff. Each month, 10 employees receive a hand-written note from him. He keeps track of who has received a note recently and makes sure that he rotates through each of his 70 employees so that they all receive a note thanking them for their efforts. 

“I think the biggest thing is trying to make it so that the staff are connected to the leadership and connected to the mission of the university,” he says. 

Making the most of cross-training 

Cross-training has been crucial for Krupinski and the team as they continue to deal with labor challenges. Prior to COVID-19 team members were only trained in the skillset they were hired for.  

“The old mindset was, ‘Well, I was hired for this, and this is the one thing I'm going to do.’ And we kind of went along with that for a little bit, because, you know, that's the union mentality, but we had to really pivot with COVID to more of a restaurant mentality, which is, the hosts or the people that deliver the food really need to know how to dishwash, and our expeditors really need to know how to cook the food,” says Krupinski. 

Today, employees are trained in the dish room, the host stand and kitchen, so that they can jump in where needed at a moment’s notice. 

“If we're short on cooks, for example, we can pull somebody into that area and keep the operation going,” says Krupinski.

There have also been changes made to the front of house. Previously, stations in the cafeteria used to be manned by an employee. Now, they have shifted to a self-serve model to free up an employee who may be needed elsewhere.  

“We used to have a person that would serve breakfast, and they would serve lunch, and then they would break those stations down, and they would also clean our tables, says Krupinski. “We immediately pivoted to self-serve post COVID.”

In addition, the team has transitioned from a la carte sales for its self-serve stations to charging by weight.

“That's helped us as well, not necessarily with increasing our revenue, but just making sure we're accounting for all the product that's actually being taken,” says Krupinski. “Most people like it, because, if they're being mindful, they're actually paying less money.”

The hospital’s menu offerings have also been impacted by the staffing shortage. Prior to COVID, there used to be a full service entrée and also a wellness meal for both patients and guests, now there’s one “really nice entrée” for diners to select from, says Krupinski.  

“That's allowed us to have our one cook not be overwhelmed,” he adds. 

While the recent years have been challenging from a labor perspective, Krupinski is grateful to his team and is proud of how they’re able to make a difference in peoples’ lives. 

“We have a lot of challenges, but we're also doing a lot of great things,” he says. “It's easy to forget that when there's five call-offs and the cashier doesn't show up and you got to clean the smoothie machine. But when you see the patients that are having the worst day and they can smile a little bit because they get fresh food, that makes a big difference.”