What strategies can healthcare organizations use to attract top talent in a competitive job
market?
Introduction: In today's competitive job market, healthcare organizations face significant challenges
in attracting and retaining top talent. The demand for skilled healthcare professionals continues to
grow, making it imperative for organizations to implement effective strategies to stand out and
attract the best candidates. This essay explores various strategies that healthcare organizations can
employ to attract top talent in a highly competitive job market.
1. Cultivate a Strong Employer Brand: Building a strong employer brand is crucial for attracting
top talent. Healthcare organizations should focus on promoting their unique culture, values,
and mission to create an appealing image. This can be achieved through showcasing success
stories, testimonials from existing employees, and emphasizing the organization's
commitment to employee development, work-life balance, and patient-centered care. By
cultivating a positive employer brand, organizations can differentiate themselves from
competitors and capture the attention of talented professionals.
2. Offer Competitive Compensation and Benefits: Competitive compensation packages are a
fundamental element in attracting top talent. Healthcare organizations need to conduct
market research to determine fair and competitive salary ranges for various positions.
Offering attractive compensation, including performance-based incentives, sign-on bonuses,
and opportunities for advancement, can entice highly skilled individuals to consider
employment with the organization. Moreover, comprehensive benefits packages that include
health insurance, retirement plans, and work-life balance programs can further enhance the
organization's appeal.
3. Prioritize Professional Development: Healthcare professionals are often driven by a desire to
continuously learn and grow in their careers. Organizations should prioritize professional
development opportunities to attract top talent. This can be accomplished through offering
continuing education programs, supporting advanced degrees and certifications, providing
mentorship opportunities, and hosting conferences or seminars. By investing in their
employees' growth, healthcare organizations demonstrate their commitment to fostering a
culture of excellence and innovation.
4. Foster a Positive Work Environment: Creating a positive work environment is essential for
attracting and retaining top talent. Healthcare organizations should strive to establish a
supportive culture that values teamwork, collaboration, and employee well-being.
Encouraging a healthy work-life balance, recognizing and rewarding achievements,
promoting open communication, and providing a safe and inclusive workplace are crucial
steps towards fostering a positive environment. By prioritizing employee satisfaction,
organizations can attract highly skilled professionals seeking a fulfilling and supportive
workplace.
5. Leverage Technology and Innovation: Healthcare organizations that embrace technology
and innovation are more likely to attract top talent. By leveraging advanced technologies,
such as electronic health records, telehealth solutions, and artificial intelligence, organizations
can enhance efficiency, improve patient outcomes, and create an attractive work
environment for tech-savvy professionals. Highlighting the organization's commitment to
innovation and its use of cutting-edge technologies can be a compelling factor for top talent
considering employment opportunities.
6. Establish Strategic Partnerships: Building strategic partnerships with educational institutions,
professional associations, and community organizations can enhance a healthcare
organization's ability to attract top talent. By collaborating with universities and colleges,
organizations can establish pipelines for talent acquisition and create internship or residency
programs. Engaging with professional associations can provide networking opportunities
and access to a wider pool of qualified candidates. Additionally, partnerships with
community organizations can demonstrate the organization's commitment to community
health and social responsibility, further enhancing its appeal to potential employees.
Attracting top talent in a competitive healthcare job market requires a multifaceted approach.
Healthcare organizations must focus on cultivating a strong employer brand, offering competitive
compensation and benefits, prioritizing professional development, fostering a positive work
environment, leveraging technology and innovation, and establishing strategic partnerships. By
implementing these strategies, organizations can enhance their attractiveness to highly skilled
professionals and ultimately build a talented workforce capable of delivering exceptional healthcare
services.
Strategies for Building a Strong Team in a High-Demand Market
Roughly two million new healthcare jobs are expected to be created between 2021 and 2031.1 If
you’re an employer trying to find professionals to fill your open positions, you may be wondering
what you can do to appeal to top talent in this field.
At Ultimate Medical Academy, we are driven to help our healthcare employer partners succeed with
their recruitment efforts. So, we’ve come up with a few strategies to consider – ones that extend
beyond simply paying higher rates (even if you’re facing budget crunches) in an effort to draw in
more talent.
Address Your Applicants’ Pain Points in Your Job Posts
When creating posts for your open positions, you may be thinking about qualification requirements,
which job duties are most important to share, and the deadline by which you want the applicants to
apply. While all of this information helps top candidates better understand the type of employee that
you want or what the job entails, it may not necessarily reach out and grab them enough to make
them decide to apply.
One way to encourage an I-must-apply-today response is to address your applicants’ most
prominent pain points in your job posts. Let them know that you understand the challenges they
face and that you’re willing to help them overcome these obstacles if they should decide to come
work for you.
As an example, if you know that most applicants for an open position are parents of young children,
you may want to talk about any childcare programs you offer or flexible scheduling options. If
they’re recent grads, you might spark some interest by talking about student loan payback initiatives.
Older applicants may be inspired to apply after learning that you offer good retirement benefits.
If you’re not sure which pain points to address, talk to your current employees in that healthcare
position. Ask about the challenges they face and question what makes them want to continue
working for your company. Their responses can provide valuable insight into the outside-the-box
benefits that you may want to point out when posting an open position.
Don’t Forget About Soft Skills Too
It’s not uncommon to share education and experience requirements in job postings. But have you
ever considered sharing the type of soft skills that you’d like your applicants to have as well?
If you’re hiring a medical assistant, for instance, important qualities for someone in this position
include paying attention to detail and being able to effectively interact with patients and other
healthcare personnel.2 If the open position is for a dental assistant, you may request that your
applicants be detail oriented and organized, have good interpersonal and listening skills, and be good
with their hands when working in small spaces.3
Including these types of soft skills in your job posts helps candidates recognize whether they’d be a
good fit for the job, as well as if they’re a good fit for your company when these are the qualities you
desire.
Think Beyond Social Media for Healthcare Recruitment
Almost three-quarters of millennials report that they found their current jobs via social media.4 This
can make purchasing an ad on one of these platforms appealing, especially if your target is this
demographic. But thinking beyond online job search sites may help expand your pool of candidates,
particularly among minority groups.
Research indicates that, while many people have social network accounts, there are differences in
how certain groups interact with these sites when looking for a job. For instance, a 2022 article
published in Information, Communication & Society indicates that ethnic and racial minority groups
in the U.S. are more likely to do their job searches online. However, they’re also the groups least
likely to have reliable Internet access to support extended searches.
Sharing news of your openings offline may be helpful to these demographics. Options to consider
include:
• Holding a job fair at your company if you’re filling numerous open positions.
• Attending job fairs at local universities or medical education institutions.
• Posting the job on a community bulletin board.
• Offering bonuses to current employees for their referrals.
Offer Career Development
Providing career development opportunities can help you attract top talent. Put yourself in the shoes
of a sought-after job applicant. If you’re trying to decide between two employers, one of which
offers the ability to advance your career and the other that doesn’t, which one would you be most
likely to choose?
Career development can come in several different forms. Strategies might involve providing training
or learning opportunities for those you hire. Goal setting, assistance with deciding a career path, and
finding ways for employees to otherwise enhance their skills can also play a role in developing or
advancing your new hire’s career goals.
When deciding what career development opportunities your healthcare organization will provide, it’s
important to think about the barriers that may exist for certain job candidates. For example, research
suggests that individuals of color from rural communities may have limited access to career-related
services and resources. Finding ways to provide these services and resources as an employer may
make you more appealing to candidates from these demographics.
How do you retain talent in a post-pandemic world? 11 strategies
1. Improve training for your people managers
As Gallup research has shown, people managers are an influential factor when it comes to employee
engagement. Gallup calls the manager the “most effective interrupter” of the “self-defeating cycle”
of new hires joining a low-engagement team and then leaving shortly after.
Just as employees quit bad bosses, they stay because of good ones. Gallup found that it takes more
than a 20% pay raise for an engaged employee to leave a manager that engages them, but it takes
almost nothing for a disengaged employee to be lured by a different company.
If you want to attract and retain talent, your managers must reflect the 12 elements of employee
engagement outlined by Gallup, including communicating clearly what's expected of each team
member, equipping them with the resources to do their work right and recognizing and praising
them for the good work they do.
2. Know your values—and stick to them
Robert Half research in 2021 found that nearly one-third of professionals said the pandemic
changed their perspective, and now, they only want to work with employers whose values align with
their own. Further, 71% of employees would leave a company if there’s a lack of value alignment.
The first step in attracting and retaining talent, then, is to define your company values and express
them clearly to your employees and potential job candidates. Consider running focus groups within
your organization, finalizing a set of core values, and publishing them on your company’s about page
so interested candidates can know what you stand for before they apply.
The second step, though, is the most important: Implement a set of behaviors that show you really
mean it when you say something is a value.
Given the new emphasis on personal values, organizations must define company values and stick to
them if they want to attract and retain talent. Lip service no longer cuts it. A real strategy for living
out those company values must be in place. After the trauma of the pandemic and racial justice
reckoning, employees are more discerning of organizations’ reactions to world events and want to
work for an employer that stands by what they stand for.
3. Foot the bill for remote work costs
Working from home full-time means rising internet and electricity bills. Should employers foot the
bill? Some already do. In 2020, HubSpot introduced a $1,000 remote work stipend to offset work-
from-home costs brought on by the pandemic. Boston-based tech company Reggora offers
employees a $500 remote work stipend. Shopify provides its employees with an internet allowance.
Given that employers often save money by switching to a remote workforce (no more rent to pay,
for example), it makes sense to pass on some of the savings to their employees by assisting with
work-from-home bills.
4. Offer flexible and hybrid work
With 29% of Americans saying they’d rather quit their job than be forced back into the office, it’s
clear that employees have come to treasure remote work. Because of this, employers must learn
ways to incorporate it into their workplace: hence, hybrid work. As offices reopen, many companies
are giving their employees a choice when it comes to how and where they’d like to work.
Etsy, for example, is offering its employees three options, as it announced on its blog in July 2021:
1. Flex (in the office two or more days per week and working remotely the rest of the time)
2. Fully remote
3. Fully office-based
“Where we feel most productive and ‘in flow’ varies from person to person,” writes Raina
Moskowitz, Etsy’s Chief Operations, Strategy and People Officer, “so we’re updating our policies to
meet the needs of both our teams and our business.”
5. Try a four-day workweek
In August 2020, software company Elephant Ventures compressed its workweek into four days.
What started as a two-month experiment to prevent employee burnout has now become a
permanent fixture for this software company.
So can a four-day workweek (and a 10-hour workday) really give you a competitive edge when it
comes to attracting talent?
"[Shorter work weeks] absolutely help us win the recruiting battles that you engage in to win top
talent and absolutely is a retention benefit," Elephant Ventures founder Art Shectman told CNN.
"Once you are adjusted to it, it's hard to go to another schedule."
Alternatively, instead of condensing 40 hours into four days, you could do what Unilever is trying
and simply knock off one day of the traditional workweek. That’s right, in a 12-month experiment,
Unilever is paying its New Zealand employees for five days of work while they only work four.
“If we end up in a situation where the team is working four extended days then we miss the point of
this,” Unilever New Zealand managing director Nick Bangs told Reuters. “We don’t want our team
to have really long days, but to bring material change in the way they work.”
Whatever new model of workweek you decide on, the point isn’t to work less—it’s to optimize
productivity and make the workplace more equitable. One day less a week committed to a job means
one day less a week of having to commute. It also means one less day of paying for childcare, and
one more day that can be dedicated to family. There’s no rule that says we all have to work 40-hour,
five-day weeks. That’s just how it’s been traditionally. But if it’s not working, it’s worth changing it.
6. Tackle burnout with extra paid time off
A December 2020 Spring Health study found that 76% of U.S. workers are experiencing burnout.
With employee burnout on the rise, companies are getting creative in how they offer paid time off to
team members who have endured more than a year of uncertainty and tragedy during the pandemic.
In June 2021, dating app Bumble closed its offices to give all of its staff members one week of paid
time off to de-stress.
In summer 2021, Mozilla shut down for a Wellness Week, as did Hootsuite. And in August 2021,
Nike also shut down its worldwide offices for a week to combat burnout.
7. Prioritize new wellbeing initiatives
For the 2021 Employee Wellness Industry Trends Report, Wellable surveyed health insurance
brokers to find out what companies are planning to do regarding health initiatives. Thirty-seven
percent of respondents said their employer clients will be investing more into health and wellbeing
programs in the coming year. The majority of respondents said employers would be spending less
on the typical pre-pandemic perks like free healthy food and on-site fitness classes and more on
wellbeing initiatives for mental health, stress management/resilience, and telemedicine.
An excellent example of this is Salesforce’s B-Well Together, a video series launched during the
pandemic offering “wellbeing breaks” with guest speakers to help cultivate resilience. Sessions have
included "Understanding Black Fatigue" with bestselling author Mary-Frances Winters, "The Secret
Strengths of Introverts" with Quiet author Susan Cain and "How an Uncertain World Puts Mental
Health in Perspective" with singer Jewel.
Top companies around the globe are using our free Vital Wellbeing coaching program with
science-backed tools for boosting wellbeing in individuals and teams.
8. Normalize mental health days
Different from vacation or sick days, mental health days are paid time off for coping with things like
stress over back-to-back deadlines or grief over a breakup—things that can impact work
productivity just as much as a physical ailment.
And if you’re worried that offering mental health days will increase absenteeism, think of it this way:
Your employees are already taking mental health days (without saying so); they’re just calling them
sick days. But for some, that feels deceptive and may even go against what your company policy
defines as a “sick day.” That means that when people need to take time off because they’re
overwhelmed, stressed out or feeling down, it’s compounded by the guilt and awkwardness they feel
for having to “sneak around” the truth.
You, as the employer, have the power to change the culture and de-stigmatize the important issue of
mental health. By clearly outlining in company policy that mental health days are benefits available to
your employees, you show that taking care of one’s body and mind is always a good thing.
Because as it stands, workers don’t feel supported enough in the mental health realm. A late 2020
McKinsey & Company survey found this disconnect between employers and employees: 65% of
employers said they support mental health well or very well, while only 51% of employees agreed.
In Australia, “doona days” are becoming popular, according to reporting by The Irish Times.
(“Doona” is an Australian English term for what's known in the U.S. or UK as a comforter or
duvet.) Muesli company Carman's Kitchen provides its staff with two no-questions-asked doona
days per year. It’s no wonder the company snagged the title of "Most outstanding practice
(Employee wellbeing)" in the AFR Boss 2021 Best Places to Work.
Additionally, you can take it a step further and draft a mental health policy, like content marketing
agency Influence & Co. did. The company even shares its mental health policy publicly here.
9. Provide paid parental leave
In countries like Sweden and Denmark, paid parental leave is mandated by federal law.
In Sweden, both parents (if there are two) are entitled to 240 days each of paid leave when a child is
born or adopted. In Denmark, parents get a total of 52 weeks of paid parental leave.
For parents in countries like the United States, however, where the government does not recognize a
legal right to paid time off for new moms and dads, parents are at the mercy of their employers—
and are often disappointed.
A 2021 YouGov survey found that 68% of Americans believe companies should offer paid parental
leave to both mothers and fathers. But only 55% of U.S. employers actually offer paid maternity
leave, and even less (45%) offer paid paternity leave, according to a 2020 Paid Leave in America
report.
According to NBC News, some companies in the U.S. who offer great parental leave include:
• Netflix offers a full year of paid time off to both mothers and fathers, and have the option
to come back on a part-time basis during that if they wish.
• Microsoft offers five months paid leave to mothers, and three months to fathers and
adoptive parents.
• KPMG offers 17 weeks of paid maternity leave, and four to six weeks for fathers. They also
offer $6,000 for in vitro-fertilization and $20,000 per child for adoption subsidy. They also
offer flexible working hours and formal backup care for children.
• Snap offers 18-20 weeks for mothers at 100% of their pay, and fathers get eight weeks at
100% pay. They also help cover the costs of surrogacy and Fertility Preservation benefits.
• Deloitte offers 22 weeks for mothers and sixteen weeks for fathers. They also offer
coaching programs to help parents balance their new responsibilities, plus flexible
transitioning to full-time and extra financial support for childcare services once you do.
10. Promote work-life balance
In a survey published in April 2021, McKinsey & Company reported that employees' number one
hope for the future is a better work-life balance, with 51% of respondents selecting this option.
However, Microsoft's 2021 Work Trend Index found that 20% of global employees surveyed said
"their employer doesn’t care about their work-life balance.”
So how can you show that you care? In an increasingly remote work world, where the lines between
work and personal life are blurred, it’s essential to communicate boundaries. In 2017, France
implemented a "right to disconnect" law, barring employees from working after hours. And even in
countries where there are no laws regulating it, some companies have chosen to establish their own
"right to disconnect'' policies. Vynamic has a company "zzzMail" policy where team members are
asked to avoid sending emails after hours as well as on weekends and Vynamic holidays.
It’s also vital to become aware of the indirect ways you might be encouraging overworking, even if
you don’t mean to. For example, if your managers constantly praise employees who work long hours
and take on extra projects, their behavior could imply that your company doesn’t actually value
work-life balance.
11. Create policies that combat systemic inequality within your organization
Injustices that have existed for a long time within organizations and institutions, such as racism and
sexism, came to the forefront in 2020. We saw how the burden of childcare and house chores fell on
telecommuting mothers more than on telecommuting fathers. We saw how essential workers, most
of whom are economically disadvantaged people and historically marginalized minorities, bore the
brunt of Covid’s impact, as they did not have the privilege of staying home.
Now, more than ever, savvy job seekers are scrutinizing potential employers’ efforts to combat
inequalities within their own organizations.
As an example, one way to support work-from-home moms is to consider helping to pay for the
costs associated with caring for kids while working from home. During the pandemic, Salesforce
extended its back-up child care program, reimbursing eligible employees for up to $100/day for up
to five days per month for child care.
Why is attracting talent important?
Attracting and retaining talent is good for your business in so many ways. Here are just some:
• It helps you maintain a competitive edge in your industry. As you can see from the data
above, employees are more discerning than ever and are more willing to leave for greener
pastures during this Great Resignation. By implementing strategies to attract and retain
talent, you’ll have a competitive edge in your industry while others falter.
• It reduces costs. The cost of replacing an employee is sky-high (the Work Institute
estimates a price tag of $15,000 per U.S. worker!). If an employee quits, you’ve just lost that
time and money that you invested into recruiting, interviewing, onboarding and training that
employee. That’s why prevention is the best strategy: By defining what type of employee you
want to attract and communicating what your company has to offer before you make the hire,
you can better ensure that you hire the best person for the position and avoid losing them.
• It reduces turnover. As stated above, it’s best for an employee to know what they’re getting
into before accepting the job. If they find out that you misrepresented your company, they’ll
feel disenchanted, disengaged and start looking for a job elsewhere. Reducing turnover
should be a priority for every organization.
• It improves company performance and productivity. Attracting talent is also about the
bottom line: Happier, more engaged employees are likely to perform better. It’s in your best
interest to win over the job candidates who are the most likely to thrive in your company’s
culture.
What does it mean to attract top talent?
Attracting top talent can include practices such as:
• Employer branding
• Showcasing stories from top performers at your company
• Highlighting DEI efforts
• Updating job descriptions to have more inclusive language
• Actively recruiting at job fairs and universities
• Developing a leadership and mentorship program
• Advertising the career development efforts of your company
• Offering competitive pay and benefits
In today's fiercely competitive job market in the healthcare sector, attracting top talent has become a
formidable challenge for organizations. The increasing demand for skilled healthcare professionals
necessitates the implementation of effective strategies to stand out among competitors and entice
the best candidates. This essay delves into a range of strategies that healthcare organizations can
adopt to attract top talent in the midst of intense competition.
To begin with, healthcare organizations must focus on cultivating a strong employer brand. This
entails promoting their unique culture, values, and mission to create an appealing image. By
showcasing success stories and testimonials from existing employees, organizations can highlight the
positive experiences and opportunities available within their establishments. Emphasizing their
commitment to employee development, work-life balance, and patient-centered care can set them
apart from competitors and capture the attention of talented professionals who align with their
values and goals.
Another critical strategy is to offer competitive compensation and benefits packages. Top talent
seeks financial rewards that reflect their skills and expertise. Conducting thorough market research is
essential for determining fair and competitive salary ranges for various positions. By offering
attractive compensation, including performance-based incentives and sign-on bonuses, healthcare
organizations can entice highly skilled individuals to consider employment with them.
Comprehensive benefits packages that encompass health insurance, retirement plans, and work-life
balance programs further enhance the organization's appeal and demonstrate their commitment to
employee well-being.
Furthermore, healthcare organizations should prioritize professional development opportunities.
Healthcare professionals are driven by a desire to continually learn and grow in their careers. By
offering continuing education programs, supporting advanced degrees and certifications, providing
mentorship opportunities, and hosting conferences or seminars, organizations can demonstrate their
investment in the growth and advancement of their employees. This commitment to professional
development not only attracts top talent but also fosters a culture of excellence and innovation
within the organization.
Creating a positive work environment is another pivotal aspect of attracting and retaining top talent.
Healthcare organizations should strive to establish a supportive culture that values teamwork,
collaboration, and employee well-being. Encouraging a healthy work-life balance, recognizing and
rewarding achievements, promoting open communication, and providing a safe and inclusive
workplace are crucial steps towards fostering a positive environment. By prioritizing employee
satisfaction, organizations can create an atmosphere that highly skilled professionals seek in their
pursuit of fulfilling and rewarding careers.
In addition, leveraging technology and innovation can significantly enhance an organization's appeal
to top talent. Healthcare organizations that embrace advanced technologies, such as electronic health
records, telehealth solutions, and artificial intelligence, demonstrate their commitment to efficiency,
improved patient outcomes, and a technologically advanced work environment. Highlighting the
organization's adoption of cutting-edge technologies and its focus on innovation can be a
compelling factor for top talent considering employment opportunities.
Moreover, establishing strategic partnerships can amplify the organization's ability to attract top
talent. Collaborating with educational institutions, professional associations, and community
organizations can yield numerous benefits. By partnering with universities and colleges,
organizations can establish pipelines for talent acquisition and create internship or residency
programs. Engaging with professional associations provides networking opportunities and access to
a broader pool of qualified candidates. Additionally, partnerships with community organizations
demonstrate the organization's commitment to community health and social responsibility, further
enhancing its appeal to potential employees.
Attracting top talent in a competitive healthcare job market requires a multifaceted approach.
Healthcare organizations must focus on cultivating a strong employer brand, offering competitive
compensation and benefits, prioritizing professional development, fostering a positive work
environment, leveraging technology and innovation, and establishing strategic partnerships. By
implementing these strategies, organizations can enhance their attractiveness to highly skilled
professionals and build a talented workforce capable of delivering exceptional healthcare services.
