Relationships among leadership practices, work environments, staff communication and outcomes in long-term care.

Aim: To examine the role that work relationships have on two long-term care outcomes: job satisfaction and turnover intention.

Background: It is easy to overlook the impact that human relations have in shaping work environments that are conducive to organizational effectiveness. Employee job satisfaction and retention are important organizational outcomes.

Methods: Six hundred and seventy-five nursing and other staff from 26 long-term care facilities were surveyed about their work environments, work group relationships, observed leadership practices, organizational support, job satisfaction and turnover intention.

Results: Higher job satisfaction was associated with lower emotional exhaustion burnout, higher global empowerment, higher organizational support, higher psychological empowerment, stronger work group cohesion and higher personal accomplishment. Higher turnover intention was associated with lower job satisfaction, higher emotional exhaustion burnout, more outside job opportunities, weaker work group cohesion, lower personal accomplishment and higher depersonalization.

Conclusions: No relationship was found between leadership practices and job satisfaction or turnover intention. Stronger work group relationships, stronger sense of personal accomplishment and lower emotional exhaustion have direct effects on increasing job satisfaction and lowering turnover intention.

Implications: To retain long-term care staff, attention should be paid to fostering positive work group cohesion, supporting and acknowledging staff accomplishments and minimizing staff burnout.