The Key to Staff Retention – Embrace Cremation (Part 2)

In our last post, we reviewed some consumer data on what they’re looking for in their cremation arrangements. Now, it’s time to talk about making sure that your team is ready when those consumers choose you.

Individual employees bring their own perspective – positive and negative experiences with cremation included. What training do they receive to navigate the disconnect and overcome biases? How are they recognized and rewarded for their success?

CANA asked the best how they accomplish it.

Trend 3 – Cremation Competencies

CANA brought together high performing funeral directors from all types of cremation providers for a focus group to identify what makes them so successful in winning calls as well as revenue per call. They showed us the skills needed to achieve their success.

CANA discovered the success that these funeral directors had with cremation families isn’t any different than they would have to any other family – the skills are the same. Plus, the steps they take with cremation families are generally the same with any other family from initial notification to aftercare. The gap between the professional and meeting the family where they are is cremation-specific and cremation-positive training to overcome biases.

Seven Areas of Success

CANA research with members and their star staff revealed seven key domains of care for families from initial notification all the way through aftercare. Then, we further identified knowledge skills and actions required to master each domain – the work that takes to be great at that step with families. From there, we could define what proficiency looks like – what makes someone good in an area and how to identify where to improve. Add to that, the cremation positive attitude that takes employees to the next level.

Then, professional development can move beyond meeting basic CE requirements. Continuing education becomes a targeted investment in professional development to gain knowledge, skills and actions. CANA offers courses, but so do others. Once you identify the needs of your employees, invest in them and target their development with relevant continuing education. A simple low-cost way to start is to incorporate debriefs into your staff meetings. Ask your staff to share an experience they had since the last staff meeting and how they handled it. This can build trust within your team and share alternative responses that promote peer learning.

For our part, CANA combined the cremation positive perspective with training that targeted the domains. One results of this work was the CANA-Certified Cremation Specialist credential. Professionals who go through this program complete 11 hours of online courses focused on skill development within the seven domains plus two hours of interactive education focused on developing softer skills like empathy. Graduates reported feeling more engaged and connected to their work. They reported “AHA” moments that connected the classes to why they were interested in funeral service initially.

Why is it so hard to find good people?

What we’ve been hearing from our members and conversations on the Convention floor is more than conflict about cremation assumptions, but also generational conflict, expectations not matching up between employers and employees, and work ethic. This is more important than ever for the future of this profession to bridge these disconnects through better communications around expectations.

Knowing the specific skills and actions that go into each domain makes it easier to write job descriptions, to set expectations for staff to succeed, to create staff evaluation forms, to target weakness with training. When you understand what proficiency looks like, it is easier to adjust and discuss expectations. This framework gives managers and employees a common language to identify areas of growth.

When hiring, the position description can communicate your expectations clearly, beyond “holds a license and has a pulse.” A well-written job description not only describes work they’ll do and managers’ expectations for success, but also the company’s goals and values to find people that they resonate with.

Align Expectations

Families have expectations for their provider, so employers have expectations for staff. The key is to make sure that they’re communicated clearly, reinforced in from annual evaluations and quarterly reviews all the way to weekly check-ins. Staff should know from the beginning what their goals are and the values of the company and, if they don’t, who to ask for clarity. Plus, employees crave feedback and reinforcement of why they are doing the work they are doing. Put together, clear expectations, reinforcement of the path to meeting goals, and aligned values helps ensure individual staff are good fit and keep making the right choices in family interactions.

Employee Expectations

Don’t forget that employees have expectations for their work, their work environment, and their success, too.

Employers want many of the things their employees want, of course, but managing people is hard work. The administrative workload of being the boss and the power differential creates a distance that is hard to bridge. Bosses want their employees to do their work, the work they are passionate about and trained to do. But bosses also forget, amongst the paperwork and deadlines, to remind their staff why this is so important.

This image from the Good Jobs Institute mimics Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs but translated for the workplace. Starting from the top, working in death care is inherently meaningful, serving the community during some of their most difficult moments. Supporting opportunities for personal growth by identifying and targeting areas for greater success is why there are CE requirements and why CANA works so hard to provide valuable (yet affordable!) professional development programs.

How you measure and recognize achievement is important when communicating expectations and having them met. Beyond building rapport and trust among your team, helping them each find their place in the larger profession forges that sense of belonging as they connect with people who have similar experiences at live trainings, in-person conferences, peer support meetings, or the like.

Employers seek loyalty in employees but often experience quick departures. If that is your situation, then ask how well you are meeting employees’ higher needs. These capture the “why” of work and – in a service profession like cremation and funeral service – should be easy to articulate if harder to practice. Try not to let the urgent tasks crowd out the important connections.

But don’t neglect the Basic Needs of a good job, either. When the basic needs aren’t met, an employee will quit.

PAY & BENEFITS: In recent years, the shortage of licensees has forced pay increases across the country. When thinking about pay and benefits, here are a few useful tools.

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Funeral Director
  • 2023 Median Pay $60,580 per year; $29.13 per hour
• www.livingwage.mit.edu – this calculator helps you determine the living wage for your community. Rather than paying what you can afford or think is fair, use this tool to ensure you are competitive and offer pay that covers your employees’ basic needs.
  

SCHEDULES: The key here is predictable scheduling with as few last-minute changes as possible. That might mean cross-training for flexibility or setting clear standard operating procedures to make work as predictable as possible.

CAREER PATHS: Here’s that expectation setting again – how will someone know when they’ve achieved the goals of their role and will advance in responsibilities or pay? What are the opportunities for advancement, and how are they communicated?

SAFETY & SECURITY: More than just basic compliance with local, state/provincial, federal regulations, this is about giving people the time for paperwork and PPE, for empowering employees to speak up when they have a question or concern, and responding to needs as they arise.

Good Job Retention Strategies

There is no one strategy to solve our workforce development crisis. There are many strategies to try and here are a few to consider:

• Fairness in scheduling may look different depending on the employee. I heard the owner of a trade removal and embalming service share that she schedules all twelve of her employees for every holiday, including herself. Everybody works Christmas or Labor Day, etc. but in two-hour increments. If the employee gets the call on their short shift, they do the work. If not, they get the rest of the holiday off. It is fair, if not equal. She has other benefits in place, including overtime pay, to promote equality among her employees.
  

• Answer questions – The question – Why? – may be annoying, however it isn’t necessarily challenging. Your employees are less likely to have grown up in funeral service and genuinely don’t know why things are done the way they are. Answer them and ask them why they think things should be as they are. Generational interaction need not be adversarial.
  

• Consider pairing up employees from across generations. Parents and children experience more conflict than grandparents and grandchildren, and this age gap could have benefits in the workplace. Consider matching your youngest and oldest employees for mentoring if not supervision. Or employees of the same age, but different tenure, so your 30-year Gen X veteran is mentoring your Gen X career-changing apprentice. This may help reduce generational conflicts.
  

• Support continuing education and outside interests. Encourage employees to share their experiences at staff meetings and share information about the communities they serve.
  

In summary, bridging disconnects in cremation assumptions can lead to more engaged employees.

It may seem like quite the leap to think about cremation trends impacting staff retention, but keep in mind: clear is kind. If we can meet families expectations and align their needs with our goals, then communicate them with staff, we unite everyone in the meaningful work of funeral service – including cremation services.

This is part two of a two-part blog post on cremation trends and staff retention. Read part one here.

This two-part blog post inspired by the Wilbert EDU webinar on October 31, 2024, titled Cremation Trends & Staff Retention: A CANA-Inspired Approach with Barbara Kemmis & Brie Bingham. To watch the recording, contact your local Wilbert representative to learn more!

Barbara Kemmis is Executive Director of the Cremation Association of North America where she promotes all things cremation through member programs, education and strategic partnerships. After more than 25 years of experience in association leadership, Barbara knows that bringing people together to advance common goals is not only fun, but the most effective strategy to get things done.

Brie Bingham joined the CANA staff in 2015 as Membership Coordinator with little experience in associations of funeral service. Now, she is a proud Certified Funeral Celebrant, CANA Certified Crematory Operator, and continues to grow her knowledge of the profession and her role in CANA. Brie coordinates CANA's blog, The Cremation Logs, manages member benefits, and that things keep working behind the scenes so CANA Members can stay focused on their business and their communities.