Human Resources

HR professionals remain busy in 2023 as they grapple with a tight labor market, economic uncertainty, rapidly changing technology, and more.

Explore three trends healthcare HR leaders should track as they manage their workforce this year and beyond.

1. Automating HR Processes

Many organizations across industries run on legacy systems, and healthcare is no exception. Many of these outdated systems keep healthcare organizations running and help them manage patient information.

HR technology continues to revolutionize and streamline the entire employee life cycle, including recruitment, background screening and employee management.

Three years into a post-COVID world, it looks like remote work is here to stay. Some organizations have employees who work remotely full-time, while others spend part of the time remote and part of the time in the office.

Either way, a remote workforce presents particular challenges that require careful management. Here are some best practices to mitigate the risks and challenges for remote workers.

The purpose of employee onboarding should be setting new hires up for success and decreasing the time it takes for them to become comfortable in their new roles and this works best if onboarding processes are designed strategically with the end goal in mind. However, the rise of remote and hybrid work, along with an increase in globally dispersed teams, has complicated the global employee onboarding experience.

According to a press release from Indeed, beginning July 18 of this year nearly every position on Indeed’s site now has a salary — either entered by the recruiter or estimated by Indeed’s algorithm (as long as Indeed has enough data to provide a salary estimate). Before July 18, large employers could opt out of this process, but being a large employer no longer exempts you from having to post a salary range or prevents Indeed from estimating one for you.

In the United States, most clinicians must be licensed in each state in which they intend to practice and serve patients. This can limit the availability of health services, contribute to provider shortages, and restrict job opportunities for providers. It can also be a financial burden for nurses, due to the fees associated with licensing.

A labor shortage in the healthcare industry, from front desk workers and medical technicians to doctors and nurses, means that healthcare organizations are fiercely competitive in this new talent acquisition environment.  Successful healthcare talent acquisition requires a strategic and comprehensive approach to ensure that the right employees are hired and retained.

Healthcare systems are still reeling from changes spurred by the pandemic, progression in healthcare technology, and evolving patient needs. But the healthcare industry isn’t immune to external trends in employment, especially when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, supporting employee well-being, and providing a fair workplace culture and practices. 

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it may come as no surprise that increased job stress and patient frustration have resulted in an increasingly hostile environment for nurses. Nursing is a profession that requires long hours in a high-stress environment, with a heavy workload thanks to the current nursing shortage. 

These factors create a workplace that is ripe for nurse bullying. 

WHAT IS NURSE BULLYING?

Over the past few years, 27 states have participated in the National Background Check Program to develop screening programs for long-term-care facilities. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently completed its fifth in a series of six reports on the program. This report focused on Idaho and Mississippi, the two states continuing the program. Twenty-seven states have completed their participation in the program.