Shepherd senior leadership and middle management lean heavily on the notion of "Shepherd Culture" and "We are Shepherd" to engender the warm-fuzzies from their staff. However, they do not adequately communicate an understanding of how changes to the economic, educational, and industry landscape influence how their entry-level and early-career workforce experience its demands. Many in senior leadership and middle management have built their careers entirely at Shepherd, so they are invested in this idea of workplace-as-family. They espouse the ideals of purpose-driven work, which their staff also values. However, purpose does not offset rising cost-of-living; higher educational threshold to entry (doctoral level programs to enter clinical practice when it was once a bachelors degree); and demands to work-life balance. There is little in place to prevent employee burnout in any meaningful way and often "Shepherd Culture" is a driving force accelerating it. There are always more committees, projects, and tasks--"for the patients"--and the family-style culture makes boundary setting complex/difficult at times. When someone does leave a position due to a life change that makes Shepherd unsustainable--financially, time-wise, emotionally-- it is always discussed in terms of that individual's personal circumstances and never in terms of how perhaps Shepherd's demand is not sustainable systemically. There is often a tacit subtext (or, sometimes overt statement) that people are lucky to work at Shepherd, and yet the 1st year turnover rate is above 30%. Shepherd is equally as fortunate to have the talented staff that they do.
