Graham Lowe and his research team surveyed over ten thousand employees from sixteen of Ontario's hospitals varying in size and characteristics—from small and community hospitals to teaching hospitals and non-acute facilities—in order to evaluate how job, workplace environment, management, and other organizational factors played a role in how engaged or disengaged a healthcare employee may be. The study stresses the significance of “closing the engagement gap” for a number of reasons, including how disengaged employees can pose a significant risk to patient care, negatively impact staffing budgets and affect internal service quality.

1. HEALT H C A R E
EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
THE STUDY REVEALS the 5 key
outcomes for individuals and the
organization at health care institutions
with high levels of engagement.
have strong emotional, rational
and behavioural attachments to
their job and their organization.
They experience pride, values
congruence, and job and
organizational satisfaction, and
they feel enthusiastic and
inspired in their work.
INDIVIDUAL
OUTCOMES
Engaged and
Capable Employees
and Physicians
Employee and physician
health, safety and quality
of work-life.
KEY DRIVERS
OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
ORGANIZATION
TRAINING &
DEVELOPMENT
WORK TEAM
JOB
CHARACTERISTICS
IN COMPARING organizations with high
levels of engagement and low levels of
engagement, the study reveals that
institutions with high levels of engagement
have less employee turnover, provide
better patient-centered care and higher
quality of services.
ONTARIO HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION (OHA) —
NRC Picker Employee Experience Survey
(EES, 2012) involved over 10,000 employees
in 16 Ontario hospitals.
ORGANIZATIONAL
OUTCOMES
THE TOP TEN drivers of employee
engagement fall within the four categories:
organization, training and development,
work team and job characteristics.
I feel I can trust this
organization.
The organization values
my work.
My organization promotes
staff health/wellness.
I have an opportunity
to make improvements
in work.
Senior management is committed
to high-quality care.
I feel I belong to a team.
My supervisor can be counted on
to help with difficult tasks.
I have clear job goals/objectives.
I have a good balance of
family/personal life with work.
I have adequate resources/
equipment to do my work.
1
2
3
1
1
2
3
1
2
3
ALMOST 70%
OF EMPLOYEES
believe that they are always providing
top quality patient-care at organizations
with highly engaged employees.
ONLY 20%
at organizations with low levels of
employee engagement believe that
they are always providing top quality
patient-care.
40% OF EMPLOYEES
2/3 OF EMPLOYEES
FOLLOW THROUGH ON FEEDBACK
Only 30% of employees believed
that senior management act on
staff feedback.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
Almost 75% of employees feel like they
are constantly working in crisis-mode.
SENIOR
MANAGEMENT
WORK TEAM
FOR HEALTHCARE LEADERS AND
POLICY MAKERS, HIGHER LEVELS OF
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT MUST BECOME
A STRATEGIC GOAL FOR ALL
HEALTHCARE ORGANIZATIONS.
Quality and
patient safety
Retention, recruitment,
and employer reputation.
Employee productivity
and costs.
at institutions with high levels
of engagement will be likely to
look for a new job in the next 12
months compared to the 50%
of employees at institutions
with low levels of employee
engagement.
in organizations with highly engaged employee
scored highly on the Patient-Centred Work
Environment Scale (PCWE).
ONLY 1/10
EMPLOYEES
DATE
PRES. NO.
PATIENT
HOSP. NO.
46% OF EMPLOYEES
at low engagement organizations scored in the
lowest quartile of the PCWE score.
The Patient Safety Culture Scale measure the
organization's ability to inform and improve upon
patient safety. At highly engaged organizations,
scored highly on their organization's ability to
inform and improve upon errors, near misses
and incidents.
SYMPTOMS
AREAS FOR
IMRPOVEMENT
Only 17% of employees believed that
they had the opportunity to advance in
their career.
HIRE MORE STAFF
PROVIDE MORE SUPPORT
Only 30% of staff believe that the
organization has enough staff to
manage the workload.
IMPROVING EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION
Only 22% of employees believe that
they are recognized for good work.
PROVIDING MORE TIME FOR EMPLOYEES
BOTH AT WORK AND OUTSIDE OF WORK
22.8% have the time to carry out
their work.
ALLOCATING ADEQUATE RESOURCES
Only 30% have the resources or
equipment that they need to do work.
TRAINING &
DEVELOPMENT
JOB
CHARACTERISTICS
HIGH LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT
LOW LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT
From the survey, it can be seen that
there are many ways to improve
engagement levels.
ENGAGED
EMPLOYEES
VISIT WWW.SOAPBOXHQ.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION.
INFOGRAPH SOURCE http://www.grahamlowe.ca/documents/274/HQ_vol15_no2_Lowe.pdf
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