Understanding the Current Workplace
The healthcare industry has been struggling with staff reduction, worker burnout and challenges to the quality of patient service. Ensuring the well-being, satisfaction, and productivity of healthcare workers is undoubtedly one of the largest hurdles faced by managers in the industry.
Despite these challenges, there are still lives to be saved and protocols that need to be followed. So how can managers adapt to the changing trends in the workplace and the shift in workers’ expectations of their work life?
Meeting Today’s Challenges
Recently, Screen Cloud, a digital signage company, addressed this issue of employee well-being in today’s evolving workplace. In recent years, there has been a tangible shift in how businesses in the private sector manage their workers. Workers are increasingly concerned about their work/life balance. The younger generations especially are more aware of the value of their own mental and physical health. So, what can the healthcare industry learn from the business sector?
- Focus on mental health and wellbeing - Because stress for healthcare workers can be exceptionally high, a more proactive approach to mental health has become essential. Burnout and fatigue contribute heavily to decreased productivity and increased staff turnover, which directly affects patient care. Offering healthcare workers support, whatever their role in the workplace, is key to managing the effects of stress on mental health.
- Enable remote working - While healthcare has traditionally been an on-site job, certain back-end functions such as administration, data entry, billing, HR, staff training and health consulting can and often have transitioned to remote work. Even some roles which might be seen as more hands-on can offer work from home by offering remote support or telephone consultations.
- Adopt digital learning and development - Especially in healthcare, where the knowledge landscape is constantly evolving, digital L&D platforms allow employees to stay updated and engaged. Access to online training is one of the most obvious ways to give staff members access to a learning resource.
- Personalize the employee experience - Within healthcare, this might look like focusing on a stronger teamwork culture, looking at how to be a more inclusive workforce or giving frontline staff greater autonomy and decision-making powers. Seeking feedback from the workforce can help with optimizing the workplace experience.
- Improving leadership within the healthcare industry - Nurturing positive leadership skills isn't just for your management team. Improving the leadership skills of healthcare workers can improve team performance and nurture more autonomy.
- Adopting AI - AI is forecast to change everything from how patient centered care is structured and delivered, to the roles of the healthcare worker in the workplace. This could contribute to an improvement in services support and a reduction in overwork, stress and burnout.
Recognizing Your Workers in your New Workplace
Our long and successful track record at some of America’s premier healthcare organizations can help you achieve an employee recognition system that totally adapts to your changing workplace and specifically meets the needs of your people, brand, patients, and culture. Give us a call.
Here are some related blog posts:
Healthcare Workers Appreciation Ideas
Healthcare Recognition and Hiring Trends
