Talent shortages in healthcare are increasingly common. Combined with naturally high turnover rates, the healthcare industry’s organizations must take more initiative to enhance employer branding now than ever.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects there will be a deficit of 195,400 nurses in 2031, which is a staggering statistic. The Population Reference Bureau states there will be about 82 million elderly individuals living in America by 2050, which is a 47% increase from the 58 million that lived in the nation in 2022. Hence, the growing elderly population and the alarming shortage of nurses can hinder patient care for individuals who need it the most during their latter years.
Hence, the increased need for hiring the best talent in this industry means that healthcare organizations must highly prioritize employer brand in healthcare. Strengthening this branding activity with strategic approaches will retain existing employees, keep turnover rates low, and encourage continued patient care.
What Is Employer Branding?
First, let’s define employer branding. This marketing activity entails enhancing an organization’s reputation as an employer to job seekers. Enhancing employer branding means recognizing the company’s culture, values, and overall employee experiences to create a unique story. An organization with strong employer branding attracts high-quality candidates while enhancing employee loyalty and engagement through a high-stakes healthcare hiring landscape.
The Importance Of Employer Brand in Healthcare
Fierce competition in the healthcare industry means your organization must set itself apart from all its competitors to draw in the best talent. In an industry that usually experiences staffing shortages and high turnover rates, it’s essential to streamline your company’s recruitment process. Here are the key points that contribute to the importance of employer branding in healthcare.
Attracting Top Talent
Healthcare professionals will be researching what your organization’s company culture and values are as they browse open requisitions. It’s in your organization’s best interest to enhance the About Us section by stating the company’s mission and vision statements with attractive language.
Note any special engagements your company participates in such as community outreach initiatives and patient-centered care. Potential hires would want to be onboarded with a company with great values and community engagements to feel a part of an important cause beyond just working for a paycheck.
Reducing Turnover Rates
The national hospital turnover rate in 2023 was 20.7%, which was down by 2% from the prior year. This is still a substantially high turnover rate within the healthcare industry. Hence, your organization must make innovations to keep turnover as low as possible.
Especially in small practices, turnover can cause higher recruitment costs while disrupting patient care. If patients cannot meet with their healthcare provider at their usual practice, they will have to find a new provider. This leads to further issues for patients and places undue pressure on them when all they want to do is receive treatment for their condition. Hence, a refined employer brand can enhance job satisfaction, lead to continued patient care, and lower attrition rates. These rates refer to what percentage of employees who resign from the organization over a specified period.
Enhancing Patient Care
Take measures to increase employee engagement to enhance the quality of patient care. Engaged workers deliver better patient care because they are more motivated to fulfill their roles in a satisfactory work environment.
Steps To Craft a Compelling Employer Brand In Healthcare
Strategic approaches are needed to refine employer brand in the healthcare job market beyond superficial marketing measures. Evaluate and implement the following steps to help your organization achieve a higher level of employer branding for more successful hiring campaigns.
Define Your Unique Value Proposition
Every company has a unique value proposition. In the case of the healthcare industry, each organization has a special way in how they deliver patient care. While patient-centered care is the usual theme amongst healthcare organizations, you should highlight the different core values and missions your business engages in that could be diverse from your competitors.
Engage Employees In the Process
Involve your current staff in helping to refine the organization’s employer brand. Email a survey to your nurses and doctors asking them their thoughts and opinions on how the employer brand can be improved. Even in-person focus groups conducted before opening or after closing time one day can be a great interactive approach to gathering data and insights. Then, after these surveys and focus groups, you can implement these changes accordingly to enhance your employer brand.
For example, employees can state what they like most about working for your organization. These company values can be integrated into the company’s About Us page. Don’t forget to take direct quotes from your employees with their permission to place them on the website during these surveys and focus groups.
Highlight Employee Stories
Employee stories make an employer brand that much more authentic when candidates are researching the company’s webpage before applying to open requisitions. These direct quotes and stories can do more than stay on your organization’s Employee Testimonials page. Consider doing one quote per day during a 7-day hiring campaign on your company’s social media page. Hearing narratives about an employee’s experience can instantly attract even more candidates to apply for available jobs.
Invest In Your Company’s Culture
Make it a priority to foster a collaborative and inclusive work culture for all your employees. Implementing programs that promote employee well-being and a positive work-life balance will enhance job satisfaction for your current staff members. Select an employee of the month and showcase their story and unique contributions on the company’s social media page.
Leverage Social Media and Digital Platforms
Speaking of social media, think about how potential new hires will usually flock to a company’s social media page before considering applying. Share your main mission statement in one post and your visit statement in another. Have a steady stream of company culture posts in your production queue to enhance employer branding slowly over time. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms are great for promoting a positive employer brand with this kind of story.
Optimize the Recruitment Experience
Continually optimize the recruitment experience, especially when the hiring team notices any bottlenecks in the process. Even when there are not any current issues, analyze the current process to ensure it’s streamlined to the best of the organization’s ability. Opening communication channels and instituting timely feedback will refine the candidate experience for an improved application process.
Measure and Adjust
Enhancing an employer brand requires regular performance measurement and adjustments as needed. Gathering data from employee engagement surveys and evaluating retention rates can help your company adjust employer branding initiatives to become more renowned in the healthcare job market.
