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The medical industry has always been tasked with overcoming significant obstacles: new and frightening diseases, rapidly changing insurance mandates, overwhelming regulations, increased operating costs, just to name a few. But, the greatest challenge many healthcare organizations face today lies in their ability to attract and retain top talent, and it’s having a devastating impact on companies across the nation.
Let’s take a closer look at why this is the case, as well as what businesses within the healthcare industry can do about it.
Our Current State of Affairs
Hospitals and healthcare organizations are facing an epidemic when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent. While this is true for all positions, the effects are overwhelmingly clear when it comes to nurses. Nurses are burning out at an alarming rate, which is bad news for healthcare organizations and even worse news for patients.
Did you know that the engagement level of a nursing team is the number one predictor of mortality variation? Burnout also leads to an organization losing their top talent. An astonishing 83% of nurses say that hospitals are losing good nurses because other employers are offering them a better work-life balance. Many of whom are leaving the industry entirely, hindering other healthcare organizations from attracting top talent in the future.
This high level of turnover costs hospitals a fortune. In fact, New York University found that nursing turnover alone can account for 5% of a hospital’s total budget. This equates to millions of dollars in lost profit each year.
Luckily, there are steps the healthcare industry can take to prevent these actions from continuing — invest in employee engagement and recognition.
Attracting & Retaining Top Talent
Enacting a comprehensive employee engagement and recognition program can dramatically increase your organization’s ability to attract and retain top talent. First, let’s look at a few ways these solutions can help your organization attract ideal candidates.
In today’s workforce, top talent across all industries are placing a higher emphasis on workplace benefits and perks. They want to know that they will be engaged and rewarded for their hard work before even agreeing to an interview. While this is most true for millennials, study after study has concluded that workers of all ages are trending in this direction.
Additionally, when you treat your current workers well, this has a direct impact on your ability to hire quality workers in the future. Engaged employees are not only more likely to make quality job referrals, but the individuals they refer are more likely to have higher levels of engagement and increased retention rates than other hires. Further, current employees who feel valued by your organization often leave positive reviews of your company on occupational evaluation sites like Glassdoor, which an increasing amount of prospects are reviewing before making employment decisions.
Employee engagement and recognition programs have an equal impact when it comes to retaining top talent as well.
One of the major complaints nurses and physicians issue when leaving an organization is that, while they love their career, they do not feel valued by management. The right engagement and recognition program will ensure your healthcare team realizes their contributions are acknowledged and appreciated, through the use of continual feedback and instant values-based award cards.
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing healthcare workers is burnout and exhaustion. The missed lunches, skipped breaks, and long hours take their toll. But, with the right employee engagement and recognition strategy in place, your employees will begin focusing on their own wellbeing and wellness. In addition to improving their work-life balance, this will also considerably reduce burnout.
Selecting the Right Employee Engagement and Recognition Program
As you can see, an employee engagement and recognition program can have a tremendous impact on your organization’s ability to attract and retain top talent. But, it’s important to remember that not any plan will do. Check out our article, Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Employee Engagement & Recognition Company, for tips on selecting the right plan. For even more information on the power of engagement and recognition, be sure to review our free SlideShare, 27 Staggering Stats About Employee Engagement in the Healthcare Industry.
If you have any question about what you’ve read, reach out. We’d love to show you why C.A. Short Company believes People Are Everything.
