Top Workforce Trends Impacting the Healthcare Industry in 2020

Top Workforce Trends Impacting
the Healthcare Industry in 2020

TABLE OF
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 3
THE POWER OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IN HEALTHCARE .................... 4
Why Engagement Matters
What Does an Engaged Healthcare Employee Look Like?
HEALTHCARE’S TOP WORKFORCE CHALLENGES ...................................... 6
Fast-Growing Demand
A Lack of Skilled Employees
Widespread Employee Burnout
Employee Turnover and Workforce Mobility
Mass Retirements
Workplace Transparency
New Technology and A.I.
WORKPLACE TRENDS SWEEPING THE
HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY .............................................................................. 12
Companies are Investing in their Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
Employee Recognition
Giving Employees a Voice
Learning and Development
Companies are Investing in Healthcare Tech Innovation
Empowering and Connecting the Workforce
Improving Productivity in Patient Care
Tech to Recruit and Retain Top Talent
WHERE TO GO FROM HERE? ........................................................................ 18

INTRODUCTION
Like most businesses, the healthcare industry is dealing with a surge of organizational change due to
technological innovation and a generational shift in the workforce.
But healthcare organizations need to navigate one other challenge that’s unique to its industry: a staggering
talent deficit. With this comes a heightened sense of competition among healthcare businesses to recruit the best
talent and to encourage them to stick around. As a result, employee engagement is becoming top-of-mind for
healthcare organizations across the board.
This white paper will identify the unique workforce challenges healthcare companies are facing and reveal how
leading organizations plan on tackling them.
Find out:
• Current trends and innovations that are helping companies evolve their people management strategies
• Which workplace technologies effectively increase efficiency and attract talent
• Where companies are investing in their employee engagement and recognition programs
• How to bolster EVP, align employees with company values, and elevate your employer brand
TOP WORKFORCE TRENDS IMPACTING THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY IN 2020 3

THE POWER OF EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT IN HEALTHCARE
Why Engagement Matters
It’s been proven time and time again
that when organizations make it a
priority to ensure their workforce feels
empowered and supported in their roles,
employees will give back by working
harder and better.
The challenge is, everyone’s different. It’s
tempting to believe there’s one blanket
engagement strategy that works for
everyone, but the struggles and triumphs
your employees experience in hospitals or
other healthcare facilities are very different
from those experienced by retail workers
or those in finance. And the effects of
disengagement in healthcare have unique
consequences and causes.
The top variable correlating to patient mortality
in hospitals is the engagement level of nurses —
topping even the ratio of the number of nurses to
total patient days.1
While employee engagement is a
vital business strategy for all companies competing in
a tight talent market, the consequences of employee
disengagement in healthcare can be dire. Healthcare
professionals interact with customers, often face-
to-face, on a daily basis. The healthcare workforce
endures incredible physical and emotional strain,
which is unique to the nature of the services it
provides. Disengaged healthcare professionals have
a direct and real-time effect on patient care — one
that can mean life or death.
For companies in the healthcare industry in particular,
engaged employees have a direct impact on your
organizational performance and financial health.
Several studies show that engaged healthcare
employees have a direct correlation to:
Higher-quality patient care2
Lower rates of patient mortality3
Safer workplaces for patients and employees4
21% higher productivity5
Higher net revenue for hospitals from
every patient6
Higher HCAHPS ratings7

What Does an Engaged Healthcare
Employee Look Like?
An engaged healthcare employee feels an emotional
commitment to the company they work for and its
goals. Engaged employees in the healthcare industry
are more proactive, enthusiastic, caring and go the extra
mile for patients, the team and the organization overall.
You can see this embodied in the following actions:
• Listening to patients and answering questions
regarding medications and discharge orders,
unrushed
• Taking a final round to check patients before
their shift is over
• Making eye contact with patients and making
visitors feel welcome8
• Escorting patients to their destination or helping
family members find their loved ones
• Remembering to wash their hands frequently
• Ensuring food is hot when delivered to patients
• Caring to avoid making mistakes when
administering medications9
While healthcare organizations can’t change the
stressful nature of the job, they can help employees
feel engaged and better able to cope with the
stresses that come with such a demanding role.
Enabling healthcare staff to show their appreciation for
one another, and feel recognized themselves, is a key
factor in fostering healthy workplace environments.
An Advisory Board study found that every 1%
increase in hospital employee engagement,
HCAHPS ratings increased .33% and patients’
willingness to recommend increased by .25%.10
It’s important to note that healthcare employees
aren’t limited to medical professionals. They include
staff working at the hospital cafeterias and workers
responsible for maintenance and administrative tasks
for medical staff. In fact, administrative jobs – like
receptionists and office clerks – account for most
of the growing need for healthcare employment
(not physicians).11
Showing all employees they are
appreciated is fundamental to increasing overall
engagement and empowering employees to
tackle tough challenges that ultimately mean better
business. An Advisory Board study found that every 1%
increase in hospital employee engagement, HCAHPS
ratings increased .33% and patients’ willingness to
recommend increased by .25%.12
The good news is that investing in employee
engagement is a direct way to improve your business
results. The bad news is, healthcare is currently
facing some critical challenges that make engaging
employees difficult — but they also make engagement
all the more imperative.

1. Fast-Growing Demand
A large portion of the American population is growing
older and living longer.
By 2060, nearly a quarter of the population (98M
people) will be aged 65 or older.13
Baby boomers
are continuing to retire and will gradually require
more healthcare support. Chronic diseases like heart
disease, cancer, bronchitis, stroke, diabetes and
Alzheimer’s disease will grow more prevalent.
In 2017, the number of healthcare workers surpassed
those of both manufacturing and retail.14
The Bureau
of Labor Statistics anticipates that to address this
increased need, healthcare jobs will need to grow
18% or by 2.4 million between 2018 and 2026.15
In addition to recruiting new employees, healthcare
organizations are under stronger pressure to retain
existing employees. The pressure is especially hard
on hospitals, as one study shows that more than
1.1 million new jobs are expected for home health
care aides between 2016 to 2026.17
This means the
competition for talent expands even more outside of
the hospital walls.
“The entire healthcare sector is projected to
account for a third of all new employment.” 16
- DEREK THOMPSON
THE ATLANTIC
HEALTHCARE’S TOP WORKFORCE CHALLENGES
So what are the biggest obstacles facing healthcare organizations? Here are the seven most urgent workforce
challenges in 2020.

2. A Lack of Skilled Employees
Through May 2019, the U.S. unemployment rate has
hovered around 3.6% and continues to shrink.18
While
this is fantastic for job seekers, it places a heavy strain
on companies looking for talent since there are fewer
candidates available for job openings.
For the healthcare industry, this problem is
exacerbated. Healthcare has the highest
percentage of job openings, and those openings
are the toughest to fill. CareerCast, a job search
portal that examined data from the Bureau of Labor
and Statistics, published a list of jobs that are hardest
to fill in 2019. Of the top eight jobs, six were in
healthcare.19
In 2017, Good Samaritan Hospital in Nebraska shut
down its Transitional Care unit because they couldn’t
fill open nursing positions.21
Mayo Regional Hospital in
Maine closed its clinic in 2019 because of a physician
shortage.22
This lack of available professionals is only
expected to get worse.
Research cites that growing STEM opportunities
are steering students away from medical school or
recruiting them upon graduation. Another theory
is that new physicians, particularly millennials, are
reluctant to start residencies outside of urban hubs.
Meanwhile seasoned physicians – burned out and
fed up with bureaucracy – are leaving the field early.23
Finally, in most industries new employees can be
trained internally if they are lacking specific skills.
This means recruiting is a little more flexible to
those without extensive experience. For healthcare
positions, that’s not possible; healthcare workers must
come to a job already trained in the major skills.
Application Software
Developer
Construction
Medical services
manager
Medical technologist
Nursing assistant
Personal care aide
Registered nurse
TOUGHEST JOBS TO FILL AND PERCENT
PROJECTED GROWTH20
“I began to feel like an easily replaceable cog in
the healthcare machine.” 24
- DR. AMY BAXTER
13%
12%
20%
14%
11%
39%
15%
Home health aide47%

3. Widespread Employee Burnout
With so many unfilled positions, existing healthcare employees must work harder or longer in jobs that are
already physically and psychologically demanding. Many healthcare employees work long shifts on their
feet. They must adjust to spikes and drops in adrenaline that naturally occur during a trauma. Add to that the
psychological pressure of being responsible for life-saving actions, and interacting with staff as well as with
emotional and vulnerable patients and family members.
Among physicians, burnout is described as a loss of enthusiasm for work, decreased satisfaction,
increased exhaustion, cynicism and detachment.25
Burnout can result in high rates of depression, substance
abuse and suicide.
A 2019 Medscape report found that 44% of physicians are burned out. The survey of 15,000 physicians
within 29 specialties also found that 11% of respondents were colloquially depressed and 4% said they were
clinically depressed. The top reported factors for burnout were bureaucratic tasks (59%) and long work hours
(34%). In last year’s report, 42% of physicians reported being burned out, 12% were colloquially depressed and
3% were clinically depressed.26
Top 10 specialties experiencing burnout in 2018 and 2019 are:27
Burnout, or chronic stress, is not limited to physicians. One report showed that 41.5% of nurse care managers,
32% of licensed practical nurses and 35.7% of administrative clerks experienced burnout.28
Another report
indicated that one third of nurses are burned out.29
When so many employees across a hospital are burned
out, you have an organization with employees who are primed to leave or who may stay but “quit in place.”
SPECIALTY BURNOUT RATE
2018
Critical Care 48%
Neurology 48%
Family Medicine 47%
OB/Gyn 46%
Internal Medicine 46%
Emergency Medicine 45%
Radiology 45%
Physical Medicine Rehab 44%
Urology 44%
Allergy Immunology 44%
SPECIALTY BURNOUT RATE
2019
Urology 54%
Neurology 53%
Physical Medicine Rehab 52%
Internal Medicine 49%
Emergency Medicine 48%
Family Medicine 48%
Diabetes Endocrinology 47%
Infectious Diseases 46%
Surgery, General 46%
Gastroenterology 45%
Medscape National Physician Burnout, Depression Suicide Report 2019

4. Employee Turnover and Workforce Mobility
In 2017, the average hospital turnover rate was 18.2%30
— the highest recorded turnover in healthcare in
almost ten years. According to one study, certified
nursing assistants, patient care techs and registered
nurses were the most likely to turn over.31
Younger physicians (45 and younger), particularly
those in rural areas, are leaving hospitals at nearly
twice the rate of older physicians.32
Nearly one
quarter (23.8%) of all new healthcare hires left within a
year and more than half (53.3%) left within two years.
Unfortunately, since 2014 the average hospital
has turned over 87.8% of its workforce.33
And
replacing an employee who has left the company
is more complicated than just filling the job. There
is a financial cost, which can add up to 33% of the
employee’s salary34
— and that’s at the low end. When
you consider subsequent delays in innovation and
productivity, the cost of turnover is even higher.
Josh Bersin of Deloitte said that many studies put
the upper end of that cost much higher — 1.5 to 2
times the employee’s salary, and that includes cost
of hiring a new employee, onboarding and training,
lost productivity and lost engagement.35
Add to that
intangibles of the cultural impact and the loss of the
institutional knowledge the former employee gained
and then took when they left, and it’s easy to see the
significant burden turnover has on an organization.
Employers are now more willing to overlook multiple
short-term jobs for a strong candidate. The stigma
of job hopping has diminished, even within the
healthcare industry. One report found that 45% of
employees who had been on the job less than a
year applied for a new job after a bad day at work.36
With low levels of unemployment and the skills gap,
the employee, particularly in healthcare, is likely to
find opportunities.
“Unlike other industries that struggle with
recruitment and retention, the talent shortage
in healthcare isn’t just an HR problem: it’s a
public health and safety issue.” 37
The median tenure of hospital
employees has decreased from
6 years in 2012 to 4.9 years in
2018, a decrease of 18.3%.39
Today, it’s as easy to shop around for a new job
as it is for new socks. The decision to pursue new
employment can be made on a whim—after a trying
day at work, after a negative encounter with a
coworker, or after a bad performance review.
Dissatisfied healthcare professionals may leave
organizations, but even newly hired employees may
not have a long tenure. “Ghosting”38
– the practice
of ending a relationship suddenly and with little
communication – has now officially entered the
professional arena. Candidates who have interviewed
for a job, accepted a job or even started a job may
suddenly disappear without a word, leaving the
organization to restart the recruiting process.

5. Mass Retirements
In addition to employee turnover, the healthcare
industry is facing a looming shortage of experienced
professionals as baby boomers retire. Approximately
10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day.40
According
to the Society for Human Resources Management
(SHRM), by 2020 nearly half of the current
registered nurses will reach retirement age.41
The same dynamic affects physicians, where one-
third of all currently active doctors will be older
than 65 in ten years.42
Not only will hospitals lose
employees but they will lose a vast amount of
institutional knowledge.
6. Workplace Transparency
Not too long ago, companies benefited from universal
discretion when it came to employee salaries, hiring
processes, employee benefits, employee experience,
and quality of leadership.
Today, companies like Glassdoor have placed
the power back into the hands of workers. These
anonymous job review sites provide employees a
megaphone to share every – granted, subjective
– detail of their experience working at a company.
Prospective employees make employment decisions
based on company reviews and ratings — sometimes
never making direct contact with the company.
One survey revealed at least 50% of candidates
look at workplace reviews from sites like Glassdoor
before making a career decision.45
HR and recruiting
teams today invest time and money in ensuring their
company pages are attractive. They also respond
to employee and/or ex-employees comments —
especially negative ones to mitigate damages to the
employer brand.
“Technology has changed the entire recruitment
and job search process — for better or worse.
For recruiters and hiring managers, it’s easier
than ever to find candidates to suit niche skills
or even sway candidates who might not be
actively job searching. Job seekers can even
reach out directly to employers, create online
profiles to attract recruiters and apply for jobs
with the click of a button.” 44
- SARA K. WHITE
CIO MAGAZINE
“Since 2014, the average hospital has turned
over 87.8% of its workforce.”43
- NURSING SOLUTIONS INC
2019 NATIONAL HEALTH CARE RETENTION
RN STAFFING REPORT

7. New Technology and A.I.
Companies across industries are being disrupted by a surge of technological advances. For healthcare
organizations in particular, the overhaul of old systems with new ones is particularly crucial and challenging.
As hospitals compete for patients and employees, they turn to technology to make processes more efficient.
From using technology to schedule nurses and maintain electronic health records (EHR) to performing robotic
surgery, organizations are feeling the urgent need to keep up with new technologies that enable healthcare
professionals to do their jobs better.
But there are two major challenges. One: it’s unrealistic to expect healthcare organizations to continually update
the tech stack as innovations hit the market. However, falling behind on one’s tech stack – from implementing
tablet and smartphone technologies on the floor to incorporating augmented reality in physician training – has
dire implications for a business’s ability to deliver the best patient care and employee experience. Finding the
balance is a challenge for every healthcare organization.
The second major challenge is implementation. Incorporating technologies like 3-D printing, EHRs, and remote
patient monitoring doesn’t happen overnight; businesses must make sure their health information technology
(Health IT) is well integrated with existing systems, and train users to understand how to operate the technology
correctly, efficiently, and safely. This is a complex process that – done well – will boost productivity and patient
care within the organization.46
Companies have the opportunity to invest in the right technologies and tools to adapt to a changing work norm.
Next, we’ll explore what trends are emerging from efforts to overcome these challenges by some of the leading
healthcare institutions.

WORKPLACE TRENDS SWEEPING THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
Companies are Investing in their Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
An Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is a reflection of what value candidates and employees think they will gain
from working in an organization. In order to stay competitive in a tight talent market, healthcare organizations
are allocating more resources to developing and communicating a strong EVP to current and prospective
employees.
According to Gartner,47
EVP includes:
1. Opportunity: career development and advancement opportunity, organization growth rate
2. People: manager, coworker and leadership quality, leadership reputation
3. Organization: market position, social responsibility, product and service quality
4. Work: aligning employee interests with their role, work/life balance
5. Rewards: compensation, health and retirement benefits and time off.
According to SHRM, 84% of the top 100 most attractive companies in the world have a defined EVP.48
Improving an EVP is not just about defining what the organization is and promoting its employer brand to future
hires; it is also about thinking about current employees. To maintain high EVP, employers must actively engage
their workforce.
Here are three ways companies are beefing up their EVP.
1. Employee Recognition
Peer-to-peer recognition is a powerful lever for improving employee engagement across an organization.49
It is
also invaluable for training employees on specific behaviors — like living company values or achieving milestones
— that can greatly boost the success of your organization. For companies making it onto the “top places to work
in healthcare” lists, a commitment to employee recognition and engagement is a common denominator.50
Unfortunately, 77% of healthcare professionals don’t feel valued for their contributions.51
In 2017, 66% of
employees said they would quit a job where they didn’t feel appreciated, and in 2012 that percentage was
51%.52
Considering retention is a growing challenge for healthcare organizations across the board, it’s time
employers invested in employee recognition technologies.
For a recognition program to be effective, it should follow
these guidelines:
• Recognition should be given frequently
• Recognition should not exclusively be top-down,
but should be multi-directional
• Recognitions should be tied to organizational values
• Recognition culture must be championed by
senior leadership
Employees want to feel their work matters; having purpose and being recognized for helping their company
achieve its mission is a huge driver of productivity, morale, and overall job satisfaction. Employee recognition is
one of the most effective ways to give employees purpose and also tie that purpose back to organizational
values.53
HR engagement leaders who believe always-on feedbac
77%
Healthcare
professionals who
say they don’t feel
valued at work.51

LEVERAGING RECOGNITION BEYOND
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
1. Encourage Employees Referrals
Employee referrals are one of the most effective
ways to hire smart and well. Employee referrals
mean less time to hire, less cost, improved
quality of hire and, interestingly, reduced
turnover and improved engagement for both
the candidate and the employee.54
Employee recognition programs are a perfect
way to incentivize and recognize employees
for bringing you the best talent out there.
Given the unique challenges around recruiting
and retaining healthcare workers today, it’s
worth noting that referral hires have higher job
satisfaction and stay 70% longer at their jobs
compared to non-referral hires.55
For 51% of
recruiters, referrals are a less expensive way for
recruiting.56
Launching a referral program as part of your
overall recognition strategy streamlines the
referral process and creates a consistent
experience for employees. Referral bonuses
can be integrated with recognition by setting up
tiers of recognition points that are distributed
depending on how long the referral hire has
remained at the company or the level of the
employee being referred. This approach can
significantly reduce the cost-per-hire and ensure
strong hires for the long-term.
2. Promoting Compliance Training
There are continuously changing laws and
regulations in healthcare – including tax reform,
pricing transparency to suppliers and other
regulations – that require time and resources to
stay on top of. Medical professionals must take
time to take compliance tests, and HR must find
ways to oversee this. A mistake in compliance
could compromise the credibility of the hospital
and cause the organization to be fined.
Leveraging employee recognition to drive
compliance training is a great way to engage
employees, align them with your organization’s
values, and ensure the credibility of your
company isn’t compromised. Recognizing
employees for being compliant helps establish
a culture of integrity, where employees are
encouraged to do the right thing; Gallup
research showed that business units with high
employee engagement have 28% less internal
theft or shrinkage than their bottom-quartile
counterparts.59
Engaged workplaces also
make for safer environments for patients and
employees.
“Employee referral programs are known to have
the highest ROI of all recruitment methods.” 57
“How should rewards be integrated into
the compliance and ethics program?...[It]
helps remind employees that compliance
and ethics is valued, and that it is a part of
everything that matters in the company.” 58
- JOSEPH E. MURPHY
JD, CCEP, COMPLIANCE STRATEGIST

2. Giving Employees a Voice
Understanding what your employees value out of work and the organization’s vision is a huge advantage for
building strong EVP. In an increasingly competitive talent market, healthcare employers must build cultures of
strong employee feedback that educate them on what their employees need to be successful in their roles.
Otherwise, there’s no stopping workers from shopping for new opportunities.
Getting feedback isn’t a new concept for healthcare organizations. Patient satisfaction surveys are sent out
regularly, if not daily. Now, a similar cadence for getting frequent employee feedback is becoming common place.
So what are the benefits of continuous employee listening?
• It takes a frequent pulse of
the workforce
• Fluctuations in employee
attitudes are better captured
• Realtime listening allows
issues to be addressed quickly
• Addressing employee
concerns increases employee
satisfaction and greater
patient satisfaction.
Most healthcare workers operate under highly stressful situations and – as we covered earlier – are very prone to
employee burnout. Taking a regular pulse of employee sentiments, engagement, and mental wellness is key
to ensuring the team as a whole feels empowered to do their best work every day.
When evaluating engagement technologies to support this, it’s best to find a solution that not only enables
manager to understand employee sentiment frequently, but also equips the manager with tools to take
action on the feedback. Feedback doesn’t just benefit employees or the employee-manager relationship. It
empowers employees to share their ideas with organizational leaders directly — including how to improve EVP or
operational efficiency.
CASE STUDY:
Healthcare organizations might gain insights from John Deere, an agricultural equipment manufacturer. Deere
began measuring employee morale every two weeks, typically asking team members how they felt about the
value of their contribution on an on-going project. Deere managers call this question the motivation or happiness
metric. One manager noticed that a star employee’s self-rating decreased two periods in a row, although the
employee’s performance had not changed. The manager asked the employee about it and found the employee
was concerned about career development. The manager was able to address these issues and resolve them.
Because performance had not yet been affected, the feedback tool was the only way to recognize the employee’s
growing dissatisfaction at an early point.61
64%
20%
HR engagement leaders who believe always-on feedback
is essential to an engagement program
Companies that have this type of tool in place.60
77%

3. Learning and Development
Millennials – now officially the largest working generation – highly value development. Forty-two percent of
millennials say learning and development is the most important benefit when deciding where to work, yet
58% say their current companies aren’t providing it.62
Furthermore, 86% of millennials say that training and
development would keep them from leaving their job.63
Millennials aren’t the only ones who value continued learning. Employees across generations say that they
would leave a job that didn’t provide training.64
Employees recognize their skills can become obsolete
quickly, and they want to prepare for it—with the help of their employer.65
In healthcare, continuous learning is all the more important as new regulations and new treatment options
are constantly developing. Medical professionals need to continue learning to stay certified in technical skills
and to develop managerial skills. By building training into the budget, incorporating career development and
continuous learning as part of performance reviews and exploring learning options, such as microlearning,66
employers can assist healthcare employees in progressing in their careers.
When an organization provides learning and development opportunities for an employee, it demonstrates
caring and a long-term view of the employee’s value. This goes a long way in building employee engagement
and loyalty.

Companies are Investing in Healthcare Tech Innovation
For healthcare employees to succeed in their roles, they need to do their jobs quickly, efficiently and accurately.
This greatly depends on having access to the latest technologies. This not only touches patient experience;
investing in the right employee engagement technology connects the workforce and aligns workers to the vision
and goals of the organization.
There are three key areas in tech that healthcare companies are investing in.
1. Empowering and Connecting the Workforce
Boosting In-Hospital Connection: Wireless technology enables several moving parts of working hospitals,
from patient monitoring to nurse/doctor communication to EHRs to sync for accurate and real-time data. This is
especially critical for short-staffed work environments and ensures patient safety. Workflow automation through
these devices allows for fewer transcription errors, less administrative tasks, and real-time data analysis.
Enable Manager / Employee Feedback: Implementing reliable digital communication channels between
employees and managers allows for frequent rounds of feedback that not only make workflows more efficient,
but also creates an improved experience for employees and patients. Negative employee relationships with
their managers is one of the top reasons workers leave their jobs, and often these misunderstandings can be
mitigated through regular, efficient check-ins.
Support Employee Recognition: Employee recognition is a key element of building a positive and healthy work
environment for employees. Healthcare specialists, operating under high-stress and always on-the-go, are very
prone to feeling like their contribution to a business aren’t recognized. Employee recognition technology helps
build positive work culture, boosts teamwork, and promotes transparent communication.
2. Improving Productivity in Patient Care
Telehealth: Telehealth not only allows remote patient to get clinical services, but with a shortage of physicians,
it allows healthcare specialists to serve more patients in a given time. In 2017, 71% of healthcare providers were
already using telehealth or telemedicine tools to offer virtual treatment to patients.67
Incredibly, home monitoring
of chronic diseases has reduced hospital visits by as much as 50%. Use of telehealth technology by Intensive
Care Units has helped reduce mortality rates by 15 - 30%.68
Health IT EHRs: By 2017, 96% of all non-federal acute care hospitals had acquired certified health IT.69
EHRs
allow for improved communications between physicians, gives physicians access to a patients’ full medical
history, and reduces data errors during transcription.70
Through improving information security, increasing
efficiency in information transfers and analysis, healthcare organizations use Health IT to reduce costs and deliver
better patient care.71
Augmented Reality (AR): A 2019 analysis by
Research and Markets predicted that the AR and
virtual reality (VR) market in healthcare will grow at
a compound annual growth rate of 23.13% between
2019 and 2025.72
Physicians are able to leverage
AR and VR technology to perform precise surgeries,
see through skin to plan for complex procedures
and create detailed 3D medical images, among
other actions. Healthcare companies are already
actively implementing this technology, and these
forms of treatment and procedures will only grow
more common.73
“Across industries, consumers have become
accustomed to using virtual technology for both
real-time and asynchronous interactions. Health
care providers can no longer wait to catch up.”74
- TOM CASSELS
NATIONAL STRATEGY PARTNER AT ADVISORY BOARD

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Robots: A.I. is already well-embedded in the everyday procedures of healthcare
organizations – from helping healthcare professionals understand the regular habits of patients and arming
physicians with better data to give medical advice. It allows for faster and more accurate diagnosis, early
detection, and treatment.75
In fact, 54% of healthcare professionals believe there will be widespread adoption of
A.I. by 2023.76
By implementing technology tools, finding and updating patient records becomes more secure. Creating
employee schedules takes less time. Other administrative tasks – like screening drug candidates, streamlining
finance processes and adverse event reporting – can be done faster to save time and money.
3. Tech to Recruit and Retain Top Talent
Up-to-Date Tech Stack: Healthcare organizations armed with the latest technologies not only benefit from
operational efficiency and security. They empower employees to be more productive and – above all else – set
employees up for success in their roles. Stressed employees that feel ill-equipped to provide top-quality care are
the ones most likely to taking calls with outside recruiters.
Employee Recognition: Healthcare employers are abandoning inefficient, manual legacy recognition programs
for streamlined, digital recognition platforms. The truth is, many companies offer recognition programs; whether
they are used is another story. In a 2018 Achievers’ report, 36% of North American employees noted “lack of
recognition” as the number one reason they consider switching jobs.77
Recognition platforms offer greater
transparency, increased employee adoption, and offer employees a consistent experience. Superior platforms
enable frequent recognition, are aligned with company values, and have mobile capabilities for employees on-
the-go.
Employee Listening Technology: Healthcare institutions are implementing technologies that allow teams to
communicate openly and clearly with their managers. When employers empower employees to have open and
fluid communication, it not only impacts patient safety, but also improves employee job satisfaction. Organizations
have noted a reduction in nurse turnover when responsibilities and tasks are communicated clearly because it
creates an environment of mutual support and greater feedback between employees and managers..78
Strong Corporate Values EVP: Employer efforts to create strong EVP means they not only need to build
on meaningful corporate values but also make sure those values stick. Healthcare companies are investing in
recognition technologies that reinforce organizational values and encourage employees to feel their successes
through their company’s values.79
The fact is, “76% of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental
commitments before deciding where to work,”80
Without offering employees a vision to get behind, healthcare
organizations are passing by a golden opportunity to boost retention and engagement.

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE?
Changes in the workforce are inevitable. And for organizations across the board, those changes are only going to
become more dynamic.
While the prospect of constant change can be daunting, there is good news. These are exciting times—
opportunities for forward-thinking organizations to advance their culture and gain competitive advantage. The
evidence repeatedly shows that an engaged workforce is vital to overcoming these obstacles. They stay with
their organizations longer, perform better, have higher levels of patient engagement, and higher levels of safety
and compliance.
Now more than ever, it’s important for healthcare organizations to create environments where employees feel
valued, appreciated and supported. Soliciting regular feedback from employees (and acting on it), supporting
career development, investing in up-to-date technology, and recognizing employees frequently are proven ways
to get there. Soon, the benefits of that engagement will be felt throughout your organization and those it serves.
Achievers Employee Success Platform delivers proven tools for organizations to empower every
employee as an owner of organizational culture and engagement. Built on over a decade of engagement
science leadership, hundreds of global customers rely on Achievers’ dynamic employee recognition,
coaching, and continuous listening tools for their people to feel valued and heard, to align on
strategic values and goals, and ignite a positive organizational culture.
94%
89%
87%
CLIENT RETENTION MEMBER SATISFACTION USER ADOPTION81
Want to learn more? Visit www.achievers.com/demo
www.achievers.com | 1.844.418.5972

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©2019 Achievers Corp. All rights reserved. All product and company names and marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

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