Workforce Accelerator Solutions: Tidelands Health Focusing on First Year Experience

(Photo credit: Tidelands Health)

This series highlights the 11 hospitals and health systems in North and South Carolina participating in CaroNova’s Healthcare System Workforce Experience Accelerator project. This week, we showcase the First Year Experience Program at Tidelands Health, the largest health care provider in South Carolina’s coastal region.

Tidelands Health links the success of its organization to the well-being and belonging of its workforce. When the organization sought ways to reduce employee turnover, focus turned to aligning Tidelands Health’s recruitment and retention strategies.

An analysis of its top 10 departments with the highest turnover found that nearly one in every two employees left within their first year of employment.

To address this turnover rate among new employees, Tidelands Health participated in CaroNova’s Workforce Experience Accelerator program to launch its First Year Experience Program with funding provided by The Duke Endowment.

The initiative includes restructuring the onboarding process and introducing a formalized mentorship and advocacy program for the first year of employment and beyond. The program focuses on social support and a sense of belonging, strategies that are aligned with the U.S. Surgeon General’s Five Essentials for Workplace Mental Health & Well-Being.

The First Year Experience Program includes three components:

1. The Shoreline Experience redesigns the orientation process. It includes an Onboarding Liaison role to provide new hires with a consistent point of contact and support.
2. The Tide-In Program provides a mentor and preceptor package. This gives first-year employees a guide to help them in their new roles.
3. The TidePool Package provides managers with digital resources for engagement tracking and professional development. It includes templates designed to equip leadership to support employees through regular check-ins or stay conversations at regular intervals throughout the first three months and annually.

“At Tidelands Health, we know that our employees are the backbone of our community,” says Vice President of Human Resources Busy Kimball. “We wanted to move beyond standard orientation and create a true sense of belonging. By focusing on connection and mentorship during those first critical months, we are ensuring that every team member feels supported and valued from the moment they walk through our doors.”

While focusing on employee experience, the program is also producing operational and financial results. Since implementation began, first-year turnover at Tidelands Health decreased by 30.6 percent, and the time to fill vacant positions dropped by an average of five days. Once fully implemented, the program has the potential to reach up to $10 million in estimated annual cost avoidance by reducing turnover rates below national benchmarks.

Coastal Carolina University’s CoBE Institute and the South Carolina Hospital Association partnered with Tidelands Health on this project, providing research support, technical assistance, and data analytics.