I was doing some training in the office area of my facility, and due to lack of space, one of the higher ups was having a virtual meeting with several head people at other facilities in the organization within the same office I was in. Something that that was brought up is that employee turnover is extremely high, with 80% of employees leaving within the first 90 days. That was a "wow" worthy statistic on its own. So, everyone on the call came together to brainstorm how to fix this.

A frustration they had was that they paid for and trained people to become CNAs, but a lot of them would leave within a few days of orientation or just until they can get a job at a hospital. Apparently, a lot of people wouldn't say this was their intention until they got their certificate. Nonetheless, a woman on the call suggested something that brought her "great success" with her facility, which is to have the to-be CNAs sign a contract that they'd have to work with them for at least a year or they'd have to pay the company back for the training. From what I heard, in Oregon, the state pays employers 75% of the training costs, and the contract is likely not legally enforceable. The most they could do is bring CNAs to small claims court for a few hundred bucks.

She sounded very proud and even referred to it as a "scare tactic" herself. I find this extremely manipulative and definitely not ethical to even consider. It's absolute brain rot. If employees feel chained to their employer, any sane person knows how that will turn out. The employees will become bitter and angry because they feel they are under the control of their employer, and there will be certain higher ups that abuse this knowledge to make the employee experience miserable because they think they won't leave.

The key to employee retention is good pay and benefits, respect, and a sense of belonging. Trying to force people to stay only backfires.