A few weeks ago, I attended ASHHRA’s Annual Conference in Chicago. The main theme of the conference was “Connect-Innovate-Transform” and this was heard, seen and felt throughout the presentations and many conversations I had. Here are some of my takeaways that support this theme:
- 4,000,000 more employees are being added to the U.S healthcare industry over the next 10+ years. With this growth comes even more cultural diversity in both the employee base and patients served.
- With evolving populations, it is even more important for leaders to grow in their leadership skills and to coach employees to increase their abilities. With this, I want to emphasize the importance of coaching vs. directing/bossing.
- Healthcare organizations need to assess how they are onboarding new employees. The first three years makes a significant difference in retention and building more positive workplace cultures.
In his keynote presentation on “Patients Come Second” Britt Berrett, PhD, FACHE, from the University of Texas-Dallas said, “As part of hiring, organizations also need to take note of and be able to weed out the whiners, losers and jerks.” Separately, another speaker emphasized Berrett’s point by saying every hire you make adds either positively to your culture or takes away from it.
Dr. Berrett then talked about leading change by changing how you lead. The key to this, he says, is to have a leadership strategy to take care of your employees first, and in return, they will take care of the patients.
Now the question is—what is your strategy to take care of your employees?
When your employees feel supported and have the necessary resources available to address their stressors, they’ll come to work and be more productive, have lower rates of absenteeism and stay at the organization longer. In turn, retention rates increase, and the organization will save money while patient satisfaction and safety improves.
I’ve been attending ASHHRA for several years now, and this year I noticed many more staffing and executive search firms in the exhibit hall. Increasingly, the attendees of this conference are presented options to either strategically support their employees or look at further hiring to support their organizational goals.
I can’t help but think about how important all of this is with four million new employees coming into the healthcare industry over the next 10 years. With evolving populations and a struggle to onboard employees, this highlights the importance of having a well being strategy in place to help you, the organization and individuals thrive.
We Can Help
We offer a variety of solutions to support the well being of organizations and individuals, from proactive subscription solutions including our Employee Assistance Program and Physician Well Being Resources, to fee-for-service offerings such as consulting or training sessions (on a wide range of topics), or support services after a disruptive event. Contact us online if you are interested in learning more about our solutions.
