Better Retention Through Investment in Workers
Turnover for healthcare providers is detrimental in many ways, from patient satisfaction and local brand image to the bottom line. According to the 2017 National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, turnover for bedside registered nurses in the United States results in the average hospital losing US$4.4 million to US$7 million annually.8
Burnout, or feeling “exhausted, detached, and overworked,” is one acknowledged cause of turnover in healthcare.9 As in other industries, high employee engagement provides a resolution.
Certainly a more natural fit in healthcare than in other sectors, health and wellness programs are becoming more common. In addition to cost savings—for both the company and the employee paying into healthcare plans—wellness programs have been proven to boost productivity.11
Thankfully, advanced HR cloud solutions offer modules specifically designed to support corporate health and wellness strategies. In deploying one, a healthcare organization can:
- Launch wellness challenges that also serve as team- and morale-building exercises, and track their effectiveness on productivity, employee satisfaction, and other factors
- Integrate programs with employees’ existing devices, such as Fitbit©, for better work–life balance and support of healthy lifestyles
- Measure the effects of wellness perks, such as gym memberships, on recruitment and retention
Training as a selling point.
Aging populations demand a paradigm shift in care, with more focus on “disease explanation, treatment explanation, quality of life, rapport, and emotional support,” according to a recent patient-care report.12 At the same time, expectations of talent across the board are changing: Training and development is now three to four times more important than pay, and 87 percent of millennials rate professional or career-development opportunities as important to them in a job.13,14
This was confirmed within the healthcare sector by a recent study from the Catalan Health Institute in Barcelona.
The primary healthcare professionals in our study viewed continuous education as a professional necessity and would like to translate the knowledge acquired to improving the health of the population. Nevertheless, professional, structural, and organizational issues impede the process.”15
Catalan Health Institute, Barcelona
Investment in continuous training can be a competitive differentiator for providers. This explains why more organizations are deploying HR cloud solutions that have the functionality to facilitate continuous career development through on-demand training, career pathing, and continuous coaching with one’s manager to replace the limits of annual reviews.
Succession planning functionality is particularly necessary in healthcare, and can preempt disruptive openings in key provider positions or essential insurance roles that manage payouts. If a top performer leaves, even unexpectedly, your real-time view of employee data will enable you to be ready to identify those ready for the role now—and a few years from now.
A platform for the future of healthcare.
Another huge reason healthcare organizations are deploying HR cloud solutions is the speed with which new technologies can be implemented. On a cloud platform, for instance, you can quickly equip your staff with the latest artificial intelligence functionality available from your vendor. And the willingness of even older patient-consumers to communicate digitally makes this a prudent investment (see Figure 2 below).
In healthcare, according to Deloitte, the notion of the augmented human worker presents a hopeful future.
2013
2017
16%
30%
65+ years old
Percentage of consumers who said they'd be somewhat or very likely to have a live visit with a physician via an application on their smartphone if it cost less than a traditional option.
40%
45%
65+ years old
Percentage of consumers who said they'd be somewhat or very likely to have a pacemaker or defibrillator checked at home wirelessly by a physician if it cost less than a traditional option.
42%
47%
65+ years old
Percentage of consumers who said they'd be somewhat or very likely to send a digital photo of a rash or skin problem to a dermatologist for an opinion if it cost less than a traditional option.
- 8 2018 National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, NSO Nursing Solutions, Inc., March 2018.
http://www.nsinursingsolutions.com/Files/assets/library/retention-institute/NationalHealthcareRNRetentionReport2018.pdf - 9 Joy Plemmons, “Two Remedies for Reducing Burnout Among Healthcare Workers,” Gallup, March 13, 2018.
http://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/228305/remedies-reducing-burnout-among-healthcare-workers.aspx - 10 Ibid.
- 11 Alexandra Black, “Five Reasons Employee Wellness Is Worth the Investment,” health.gov, May 17, 2017,
health.gov/news/blog-bayw/2017/05/five-reasons-employee-wellness-is-worth-the-investment/. - 12 Mariusz Jaworski, Marta Rzadkiewicz, Miroslawa Adamus, Joanna Chylinska, Magdalena Lazarewicz, Gørill Haugan, Monica Lillefjell, Geir Arild Espnes, and Dorota Wlodarczyk, “Primary Care Patients’ Expectations Regarding Medical Appointments and Their Experiences During a Visit: Does Age Matter?” Dove Medical Press, July 14, 2017,
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5522818/. - 13 “2017 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends: Rewriting the Rules for the Digital Age,” Deloitte, 2017,
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/About-Deloitte/central-europe/ce-global-human-capital-trends.pdf. - 14 Joy Plemmons, “Two Remedies for Reducing Burnout Among Healthcare Workers,” Gallup, March 13, 2018.
http://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/228305/remedies-reducing-burnout-among-healthcare-workers.aspx - 15 Xavier Mundet-Tuduri, Ramon Crespo, Ma. Luisa Fernandez-Coll, Montserrat Saumell, Flor Millan-Mata, Àngels Cardona, and Núria Codern-Bové, “Expectations and Perceptions of Primary Healthcare Professionals Regarding Their Own Continuous Education in Catalonia (Spain): A Qualitative Study,” BMC Medical Education, January 2017,
bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-017-1061-6. - 16 2018 Global Health Care Outlook: The Evolution of Smart Health Care, Deloitte, 2018,
www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Life-Sciences-Health-Care/gx-lshc-hc-outlook-2018.pdf. - 17 Top Health Industry Issues of 2018: A Year for Resilience amid Uncertainty, PwC, 2018,
pwc.com/us/en/health-industries/assets/pwc-health-research-institute-top-health-industry-issues-of-2018-report.pdf.