Care staff turnover in long-term care services for older people: how does the effect of relative wages on turnover vary by tenure?

Abstract

We aimed to clarify the effect of relative wages on turnover varies by tenure among care staff working at long-term care facilities in Japan. First, we assessed whether a greater sensitivity to wages in other occupations is likely among workers with shorter job tenure than among those with longer tenure. We used matched employer-employee data from 1,633 long-term care facilities in December 2007. Care staff turnover was defined as the number of employees leaving each institute and was classified according to tenure (less than 1 year of tenure or 1 to 3 years of tenure), type of service (at home nursing care or institutional care), and type of employment (full-time or part-time). We found that, only among full-time workers in institutional care facilities, wages relative to other occupations had a significantly negative effect on the turnover of workers with less than 1 year of tenure; in contrast, no significant effects were observed on the turnover of workers with 1 to 3 years of tenure. This suggests that, for full-time workers in institutional care facilities, wage increases may be an effective way to retain workers with less than 1 year of tenure, but not for those with 1 to 3 years of tenure.