Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a major shortage crisis in the healthcare sector. From the people in the cafeteria to physicians and surgeons, all have been affected by the inability of healthcare HR professionals to reinvent options to retain staff.
In this article, we will talk about the different ways in which professionals from different medical jobs can be retained, and the reasons why it is important to ensure the comfort of the staff. Keeping healthcare staff engaged in their jobs can be a difficult task. However, it is necessary to maintain the welfare of society and save money for the healthcare sector.
- Why it is important to retain medical staff?
- How can healthcare HR professionals control the turnover crisis in the healthcare sector?
- How can our company help you find the best medical job vacancy and the best healthcare staff?
1. Why it is important to retain medical staff?
To begin with, retaining staff from the healthcare sector is important to keep up with the needs of citizens. Since 2020, there have been more than 500,000 workers from different medical careers who have left their jobs. According to a survey carried out in 2022, workers from different medical jobs leave the hospital after five years or less.
This large desertion has projected that for the next decade, the healthcare sector will not be able to meet the health requirements of society. This is particularly worrying at a time when most of society is an aging population.
On the other hand, the crisis in the healthcare sector has cost millions to hospitals. According to studies carried out in recent years, turnover costs could reach $7 million annually.
Retaining employees from the various healthcare professions not only saves hospitals money but also saves employees’ stress. It also increases patients’ trust in the hospital.
If you are looking for a job in any medical career, this is the best time to apply. Currently, there are different medical jobs available, and you can find the one that best suits your needs. Additionally, healthcare HR professionals are looking for solutions to keep their employees engaged and happy at work.
2. How can healthcare HR professionals control the turnover crisis in the healthcare sector?
To improve the turnover crisis in the healthcare industry, HR professionals must focus on three important points:
- Obtain new employees: to improve the medical turnover crisis, it is not only necessary to keep existing employees engaged. measures must also be in place to attract new and talented employees. The medical job vacancy you offer should be interesting. It should offer the applicant what they need to feel comfortable at work.
- Engage current employees: the next important point is to find ways for employees to be satisfied with their work and feel more engaged with the organization. Later, we will talk about some ways that healthcare HR professionals can ensure this.
- Retaining employees: retaining employees means offering incentives that motivate them to keep working or even work more.
It is important to pay attention to these points in all healthcare professions and not neglect any of them. Both nurses in the UAE, physicians, and professionals from other medical careers generate expenses when they decide to leave the organization. The healthcare sector must take measures to maintain both its medical staff and its blue-collar and administrative staff.
We are going to see some of the most effective measures that hospitals and other organizations can take to avoid a turnover crisis:
2.1Â Proper training
When working in a healthcare facility, training new employees is of the utmost importance for all medical careers. Many professionals in the healthcare sector feel overwhelmed in a new job if they do not receive effective training. This is because, without training, they do not know how to do the job properly, leading them to make mistakes or feel stressed.
Proper training makes employees feel confident and increases comfort at work.
2.2 Meet the needs of employees
A job in the healthcare sector has many hidden costs. For example, medical staff usually work long hours and must eat all their meals in the hospital. Therefore, they will feel more incentivized if their employer guarantees them a stipend to cover their meals. Likewise, a transportation stipend incentivizes employees to go to work.
One of the main reasons why nurses and other healthcare professionals leave healthcare facilities is because they find a medical job vacancy in an agency or company that offers extra incentives. With incentives or stipends that meet their needs, employees feel more financially secure.
2.3 Paid time off
One of the biggest incentives you can offer employees is paid time off. All health professionals have the right to paid time off. However, many times they decide not to use it because they feel that their work is too important to accept the time off.
Now, everyone needs a break from work. This is particularly important for jobs with long hours and as tiring as healthcare professions. Encourage your employees to use paid time off when you think it is necessary. This way, they will feel more comfortable and rested. Also, they will make fewer mistakes and feel more engaged at work.
You should also ask the opinions of your employees about whether the vacation time is enough for them and if they are satisfied. Based on that, analyze your paid time off policies and decide if you should change them.
On the other hand, make sure that paid time off and sick days are separated into two categories. Many times, employees decide not to take their vacation because it coincides with their sick days, so they prefer to reserve the days for when they are sick. Having these days in different characteristics ensures less stress for your employees.
2.4 Bonuses and extra payments
The main objective of the healthcare sector is to help the population by providing them with a better quality of life. However, like all other jobs, individuals in healthcare professions seek financial compensation for their efforts.
When looking for a medical job vacancy, pay is one of the factors most professionals consider. Therefore, you must offer competitive pay. Otherwise, your employees may decide to look for another job where they get more pay for the same effort.
This is the case for nurses. Many nurses prefer to look for travel nursing jobs. Travel nurses are considerably better paid than nurses in a healthcare facility. This can strongly impact your organization, considering that nursing is one of the most in-demand medical careers.
Just like yours, many other facilities in the healthcare sector are looking for nurses, and one of the few things that can set you apart is a competitive salary. Offering monthly or frequent bonuses to those employees who want to stay with your organization is one way to motivate them.
2.5 Sign-on bonuses
Another good incentive is to offer bonuses for new hires. That is a fixed amount of money that you will divide as small extra payments during the month. In this way, new employees will be attracted to the job knowing that their starting salary will be higher.
However, it is a good idea not to pay the entire bonus from the first month. It is preferable to divide it into equal parts per month. In this way, employees will seek to stay at least until the full payment of their bonus is completed.
2.6 Longevity bonuses
The next thing to think about is how to keep your employees engaged after you have paid them their initial bonus in full. You certainly do not want employees to stay on the job just to obtain a bonus for the first few months and then leave. This would not be profitable or advantageous for your organization.
An idea that has been applied to many sectors is longevity bonuses. That is an increase in an employee’s salary depending on how long he or she has been working for the organization.
Longevity bonuses are considered a way to show appreciation for your loyal employees. It is time to start applying them in the healthcare sector and notice the rise in employee happiness.
2.7 Show that you care about the opinions of your employees and be open to feedback
How heads of an organization think that it is working is not the same as how the employees see the functioning and development of the organization. The heads of an organization can be so busy that it is difficult for them to notice the deficiencies that could be in the work.
To avoid this and be aware of what is happening in your facilities, it is a good idea to ask employees for feedback. Ask everyone about their needs, anything they are unhappy about at work, and things they think the organization could improve on. You can perform a statistic to find the most important or most repeated opinions and commit to looking for a possible solution.
Remember that, when it comes to the healthcare sector, unhappy employees, understaffing, or overlooked organizational problems can cost a life. Being open to feedback makes your employees feel like you are listening to them.
2.8 Work-life balance
In the same way as workers in other professions, workers in healthcare professions also have a personal life that they seek to balance with work. Family life, childcare, and leisure activities are difficult to balance with the long hours that the medical staff must often face.
Whenever you can, try to offer your employees more weekly or monthly time off. This can be even more motivating than a monetary incentive because employees feel more energized to get the job done.
2.9 Give positive recognition
Everyone likes to feel recognized for their hard work, and this is no exception for those in the healthcare sector. Congratulate and recognize your employees when they do an outstanding job. This boosts their morale and keeps them loyal to the organization.
On the other hand, hearing positive recognition towards other employees also gives employees an idea of ​​what the expectations of the organization are and how they can improve their work.
2.10 Connect your employees
One of the best ideas is to make your employees feel like a team. Try to enable spaces and activities where your employees can get to know each other better. That your employees see each other as colleagues or friends and not just as unknown individuals working together, increases retention.
Some of the things you can try for your employees in different medical careers to meet and connect is to host a monthly lunch or dinner. You can also invite them to participate in charity events in different groups.
Carry out special activities on the holidays. For example, you can give away Easter eggs, organize a Christmas gift exchange, or a Halloween costume contest.
Although these may seem like small details, they are of great importance to your employees. Remember that a professional is also a human being who has much more in his life than his work. You must recognize them as good workers, as well as people who need rest, have families, and have other responsibilities.
3. How can our company help you find the best medical job vacancy and the best healthcare staff?
The healthcare sector has been experiencing a turnover crisis since 2020 that has led healthcare facilities to look for ways to retain their employees and attract new ones. New measures, such as offering more competitive salaries, respecting free time, and creating a friendlier environment, increase employee retention, and save money for the healthcare sector.
If you are a health professional and you are looking for a job, at Connect Health, we help you find different medical jobs. You can enter our website and find the best jobs. We also offer consulting services and help you to know the top qualities that employers look for in a medical professional.
Furthermore, if you are an employer looking for the perfect candidates for your vacancies in any medical institution. You can take some time to post a new job on our website. We guarantee that you will have access to a wide candidate pool to choose from in no time.
Would you like to know more about our services? We are available by our email at info@connecthealth.ae. You can also call us at +971 43 316 688 and one of our advisors will help you get the best medical job vacancy for you.
Moreover, you can also visit thetalentpoint.com and easily apply for a job that catches your eye. You just have to create an account, send your CV to contact@thetalentpoint.com. And The Talent Point will take care of finding available medical jobs for you.
