Ways to Increase Employee Engagement in Healthcare Industry!
The medical industry is known for the workers it keeps. Right from the doctors and nurses to the medical staff, receptionists, and others, everyone needs to be coordinated and work in an organized manner to work things out in a better way, thereby enhancing the patient experience. With the ultimate motto of building a better experience for the world of patients, the healthcare sector inches further every day with the advanced tools, software, diagnostic methods, experienced doctors and nurses, and innovative ways for patient care.
Gone are the days when the healthcare sector reflected the hospitals and the traditional ways of diagnosis and checkups, with the emergence of medical practices, health care today is at an arm's length for the patients. Besides, the health care services have also been diversified to contain a wide range of categories and specialties for the convenience of the patients of today. However, the medical sector is one of such industries that are never clear of challenges.
These challenges, in fact, form a part of the industry's daily set of activities. For instance, the invasion of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the recently faced challenges primarily by the healthcare sector that had to deal with it from right upfront. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted many lives for sure ever since it broke out across the globe at the start of 2020 and has gnawed the healthcare sector from within.
It is the healthcare employees that had to bear the major brunt of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak because the healthcare workers are the ones who had to deal with it face to face along with all the patients infected by it. They surely saved hundreds and thousands of innocent lives and went far and wide to restrain the disease among the numbers that we are aware of but in this process, the industry of healthcare lost many skilled healthcare workers. Along with falling ill and succumbing to the illness and the ensuing infection, many of the healthcare employees also chose to quit their job roles.
According to recent reports, around 1 in every 5 healthcare workers left their job after the pandemic outbreak. This way the US healthcare industry has lost around half a million healthcare employees. Besides, when it comes to healthcare employees, they seem to be lacking the interest or the passion for their work, as it can be described.
Why is employee satisfaction drooping down for health care services?
Employee satisfaction is something that is crucial whether it comes to health care services or any other services or industries. However, some industries often witness quite the lack of it and the reason are countless. Employee engagement is one of the top reasons for the same followed by low compensation, multiplying burden, toxic culture, dipping market value, changing structure of the industry and the list can go on. Here the healthcare industry is one of such sectors where employee satisfaction is at stake really. The number of employees resigning from the industry and the medical offices are a prominent example of how the industry is lacking healthcare employees.
The healthcare industry has gained an ill reputation of witnessing a huge number of burnouts. 1 out of 3 physicians has reported being severe burnouts and want to have a respite from the same at least for some time. Medical burnout is entirely common and it has been faced by healthcare employees right from the very foundation of the industry. Employee satisfaction is majorly dropping down in health care services. Besides, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is something that multiplied the resigning of the healthcare workers even further. According to the recent statistical data, over 55% of the front-line healthcare employees have reported that they are burned out due to the chronic physical and mental stress that they have to undergo.
Here is a list of some of the primary factors that play a major role in reducing job satisfaction when it comes to healthcare workers:
COVID-19 aftermath
The COVID-19 pandemic played a huge role in changing the lifestyle, the work, the way, and the opinions for the healthcare workers along with the staffs of other industries as well. Though things have been much more stable after the third wave started mellowing, the coronvirus pandemic has definitely left a scar that is yet to heal.
Many people lost their lives and many lost their near and dear associations once and for all, and these also include the healthcare employees, however, the latter need to persist and carry on with their work. This sometimes becomes a bit too tiring if not impossible, for many also fear the circumstances of bearing the dreaded disease or becoming prey to the same. The pandemic has certainly taken its toll and as per the recent records, around 20-30% of the healthcare workers are considering leaving their professions even now after a significant amount of workers left their jobs already.
Physical interactions
The healthcare industry consists of a whole lot of physical interactions not only with the patients but with their family, friends, and relatives too. The industry comprises a process of patient appointment bookings, patient check-ins, patient intakes, and more. Interactions all the time in public are surely tiring all the way for the employees. Though these interactions are now being cut down lately through the implementation of improved medical software and systems from GrowPractice, physical interactions are still a significant part of the industry and the employees detest that.
Nature of the work
The nature of the work for the medical workers is concerned about patients, their illnesses, wounds, infections, morbidity, and co-morbidity, all of which entangles the employees so much so that they often turn out to be mentally depressed too along with being physically tired.
Reduced incentives
The medical sector is one place where there are many scopes of introducing incentives but only a few of the medical providers manage to implement the same. Besides, with the coronavirus outbreak, the incentives even in many of the practices have been put to a screeching halt. This is a big disappointment for the employees of the industry, who are turning away from their jobs lately.
Lack of a decent work-life balance
A good work-life balance is what we always pursue but only rarely achieve. The lack of a decent work-life balance is what spurs the healthcare workers to change their stream and therefore leave their own jobs. This has doubly increased after the onset of the pandemic, which not only burdened the healthcare employees present but also led them seriously embrace multi-tasking in order to survive.
Low increment
As employment is increasing each day and competition is rising regardless of whatever the industry is, the increment of the employees is a serious hassle that they need to undertake. This raise in the salary of the employees is something that the hospitals, clinics, and practices consider less important when compared to the services that they demand.
Negligible employee engagement policies
Employee engagement is a major virtue to develop for any organization, belonging to any sector and region. Engaging the employees properly is growing to be more of a challenge for the healthcare practices and other medical foundations. However, if proper employee engagement policies are called to action, then that would necessarily be a huge boon for the industry and its workers and others.
Major Advantages Of Healthcare Employee Engagement Policies!
Making decent employee engagement policies to work is most rewarding at all times for the health care services along with other industries and services. Some of the major benefits for the healthcare employees if they manage to attain impressive employee engagement means are:
Smart and Effective Hacks to Boost Healthcare Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is fundamental in the healthcare industry. This is because it is the patients and their problems that the sector addresses. The patients make the industry and thus, they are central to it, which requires the healthcare employees to be completely focused on the patients and their work to make for an impressive patient experience. This is why employee engagement is essential in the healthcare industry.
According to a recently conducted study by HR Solutions, 85% of the engaged employees that are working in the healthcare industry genuinely care for their patients, putting them first. However, when it comes to the disengaged ones, only around 38% of them cared for their patients. Therefore, disengaged employees can significantly influence the patient experience and patient satisfaction ratings.
Now, if you are wondering how to boost healthcare employee engagement, then here are some easy tips to do so effortlessly:
Hire able managers and experienced leaders
The healthcare industry comprises healthcare workers and other staff along with the physicians/doctors and nurses but when it comes to practices, it requires adequate leadership staffing as well. This is because an experienced practice owner/manager can steer the practice employees to the right path and they can do so via interesting employee engagement policies to boost the overall morale and extend appropriate medical care services for the patients. Therefore, hiring able managers and experienced leaders will certainly help your practice engage their employees and retain them to quite an extent.
Streamline the workflow
As the healthcare sector is comprised of one too many departments it is important that it has a smooth, working workflow that will be beneficial both for the patients and the practice. This workflow previously pivoted on a single model, however, with GrowPractice here beside you now, your practice need not worry about their workflow because the leading medical office software providers also have unbelievable options for customized workflows to benefit the patients.
Take off the added burden
The healthcare workers are not only exhausted but are often found to be burned out because of their rigid workplace and the mounting pressure, courtesy of the COVID-19. This is why practice has to ensure that their employees are not overtaxed. You can easily avoid this and gift your employees with some job satisfaction by putting digital software solutions from GrowPractice to use and revamping your medical or dental office.
Offer mental support and counseling
In line with the previous section where we talked about the frequency of burnouts in the case of healthcare employees, it is important that they are properly addressed before they grow to be severe issues and hamper the practice performance.
As per RACGP's recent surveys, more than 70% of healthcare employees are reported to be under a high level of stress, anxiety, and other symptoms of seriously health-related disorders like insomnia and more. This is why the practices need to be more focused on their employees and offer adequate mental support and arrange doctor's visits from time to time to monitor their mental health and improve the same.
Review their performance and reward them
Reviewing the performance of the employees is important for a healthy working environment and is valid for any industry including that of healthcare. Analyzing the performance of the healthcare workers and adding suggestions to improve the same is rewarding indeed. Furthermore, if the performance of some of the employees turns out to be extremely pleasing, then offering them rewards would certainly delight them and boost their morale so that they can work the next day with a rejuvenated spirit.
Recognize the talents
Talented employees are ought to be true assets to an office of any industry. The same goes in the case of healthcare practices. Here, it is always great if the practice owners and managers define some strategies to recognize talented employees and reward them fittingly. Recognizing the talents would not only help attract experienced employees but also draw in fresh talents, thereby improving patient experience and multiplying the practice revenues.
Ease communication
The communication between the patients and the practices matters the most and this is followed by the communication between the employees and their managers in a practice. Enhanced communication channels and transparency would certainly give an edge to practice and improve their patient satisfaction ratings along with the morale of the healthcare employees.
GrowPractice promises excellent employee engagement in health care services
GrowPractice is one of the leading software solutions providers that extends the best possible medical office software, and systems to offer a digital experience to patients. In this way, GrowPractice also solves crucial employee engagement problems for healthcare providers. Here's how GrowPractice is improving employee engagement when it comes to health care services:
Reducing the volume of phone calls
The increasing volume of phone calls in the healthcare industry sometimes creates a tremendous rush on certain days and during emergencies, which consumes a significant amount of the work time of the healthcare employees. However, you can always get rid of it by implementing GrowPractice's improved digital ways at your workplace to reduce 70% of the phone calls.
Cut down the paperwork
Paperwork is not only detrimental for the environment and our planet but also a hassle for the employees to deal with along with being costly. The digital systems and software, however, reduce the overall time and the money spent on paperwork. Furthermore, the cutting-edge medical software and systems from Growpractice also ensure that the practice retains all of its sensitive information in a proper and comprehensive way that is easy to handle and manage, and reduce paperwork by 80%.
Easing patient intake
Patient intakes take time and also contain sensitive information that the practices need to precisely safeguard against any frauds. This is why GrowPractice brings paperless patient intake forms that the patients can fill up during their leisure even before they step into the practices. This will not only multiply the new patients' intakes but also increase the retention of the old patients. It has been recently discovered that over 80% of the patients would like to complete their registration paperwork before they step into their healthcare practices.
Streamline other office work for employees
The employees in the healthcare industry have a diverse collection of work to do in the offices. However, all this work can either make things for themselves and the patients' ease or make it more complex. The healthcare employees are required to interact with the patients, book their appointments, check them in, get filled in intake forms, reduce their wait times, paving the way to the physicians and follow them up well.
However, with the emergence of GrowPractice, all of these are much less of a worry. This is because GrowPractice brings a bunch of improved facilities to schedule, reschedule and cancel patient appointments automatically, back up all the sensitive data via secure, HIPAA compliant methods, cut down the wait times, and follow them up easily. Along with all these, Growpractice also lends the practices easy and effective methods to collect patient satisfaction and reviews via an easy online survey and collect the revenues without a hassle.
Reduce time in manual collections
Collections are important for every industry because it is the revenues that lead them to grow. However, when it comes to the collections in the healthcare industry, these were manual and added to the overall fuss that both the employees and the patients needed to undergo. This is largely becoming digital with enhanced online payment collection facilities that GrowPractice brings the practices of today. These digital ways of payments are proven to improve 20% of the collection rates for the practices.
GrowPractice helps the medical and dental practices in more ways than one, fostering excellent employee engagement and enhancing the attraction and retention of patients and employees to pave a way towards growth. The leading healthcare software service provider has already saved 500+ hours per provider and has prominently increased employee engagement for good. So, reach out to GrowPractice if you are planning to bring in a revolution to your practice as well!
