Securing and retaining healthcare staff is an increasing pressure in a competitive environment where the pool of skilled workers is decreasing.
It is not only
clinicians who are hard to get and keep on board. HIT professionals are in high
demand as the digital hospital environment expands and related security issues
and data breaches dominate healthcare headlines.
One of the oldest
healthcare systems in the U.S., Geisinger Health System has just launched an
ambitious recruitment drive for 1, 500 staff members across departments. In a
FierceHealthcare report, Human Resources execs speak about how they are
succeeding at this in the seriously competitive world of healthcare recruitment.
Julene Campion, Geisinger’s vice president of talent management, says getting and keeping the best goes beyond job postings.
“We are going back to
our referrals and boomerangs. The person who was here who left a year ago and
reaching out to see how the new job is going and tell them about all the great
things that have been going on here,” she says.
See Also:10 Principles of Strategic Leadership And How to Retain Leaders
A culture of care is
one of the most important factors in making a healthcare facility a place where
employees want to work. Campion says that Geisinger President and CEO David T.
Feinberg, MD has made it his business to let staff know their experience is
just as valuable as patients’.
“You can give out
bonuses, trinkets, t-shirts and key chains. But at the end of the day people
want to be listened to and feel valued, respected and cared for by their
colleagues and the leadership team.”
One of the first
things Feinberg did was to give out his personal cell number to every staff
member and let htem know they could cal him any time. They do and Campion says
this has made staff feel more empowered in decision-making.
Long-term workplace
planning strategy also makes a difference says Campion. A five-year pilot financial
and talent programme at Geisinger is taking into account expected growth,
market share, number of patients and future needed volume of providers.
This predictive model will help determine future employee need and how long it will take to get them on board.
Campion adds that by bringing in both human resources and chief talent officers into planning discussions, Geisinger will become more strategic in securing and keeping top professionals.
Source: FierceHealthCare
Image Credit: lamdasolutions.net
