Physicians out of residency are great resources for your organization. They’re starting their careers energetic, committed and anxious to please. But, as Bob Leschke, MD writes in our latest article, they come to you with particular needs, expectations and concerns. To recruit and retain them, you need to understand them.
They want to be team players, Dr. Leschke writes, but they are often insecure about what they know, fearing that you’ve made a mistake hiring them. They aren’t yesterday’s practitioners, for whom medicine was all-consuming; they want work-life balance. Accustomed to technological change and other forms of innovation, they are impatient with procedures and policies stuck in the past—“the way we’ve always done it.”
They are far more informed about their own well-being—about the dangers of heightened stress and burnout—than previous generations. They seek an organizational commitment to their well-being and its absence can be a deal breaker. When it comes to utilizing well-being resources, they’re far more likely to be proactive in getting support—long before a crisis.
And if you’re not willing to be flexible with them such as trying new things, adjusting scheduling and other policies to their needs—they don’t think long about leaving your organization more readily than their elders might have.
For more on these characteristics of young physicians, along with actionable suggestions for meeting their needs, check out Young Physicians—the Keys to Recruiting, Onboarding and Retention here.
