Burnout was an issue in healthcare before the pandemic. But COVID-19 exacerbated the problem, contributing to healthcare's Great Resignation and subsequent staff shortages and recruiting challenges. The good news is there are specific actions that healthcare leaders can take to have a positive influence on their organization's culture and their employees’ feelings of value, belonging and connection to their purpose.
During a November executive session sponsored by Wambi at Becker's 10th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, Rebecca Coren, cofounder and CEO of Wambi, shared insights into the relationship between burnout, culture and employee satisfaction. Her discussion about strategies to improve culture and employee recognition included four key takeaways:
1. COVID had a negative impact on healthcare employees' morale. The pandemic brought bigger workloads, fear of infection on the job and hostility from scared patients and their families, accelerating the existing burnout problem. That's led to more people leaving the healthcare workforce, meaning ever bigger workloads for current employees, in a never-ending cycle.
2. The exit of so many employees makes retention critical. "On the turnover side and on the culture side, what can we do to get people to stay?" Coren asked. "That's the question we have now." Research has shown a strong inverse relationship between burnout and feeling valued, she said. Yet, only 18 percent of healthcare workers say that teams and groups of people are recognized at their organization, Coren said, citing a recent Gallup study.
Improving recognition and making employees feel valued represents low-hanging fruit for healthcare organizations. Increasing opportunities for recognition is generally low cost and high return in measurable ways. The Gallup study referenced a meta-analysis that found receiving praise for good work was related to a significant decrease in patient safety issues.
3. To effect change, healthcare leaders need to be aware of their culture. As Coren illustrates, culture influences the way that people work together, how decisions get made, which behaviors are rewarded and who gets promoted. "Engaged employees are the fuel of your organization," she said. "The culture sets the direction." When employees complain about a toxic culture, they often mean a confused culture, where messages are conflicting and leaders are misaligned. It is important to recognize whether there is a lack of alignment and then correct it to improve the culture.
4. Creating a positive environment requires healthcare leaders to acknowledge their own negativity bias. Healthcare is unique in that it's focused on outcomes and patient lives, therefore, a great deal of time and effort is dedicated to reviewing what went wrong. But the focus on what went wrong and improving it can come at the cost of failing to recognize positives and failing to value people for their contributions. Coren outlined five principles that leaders can use to guide their culture and help create a more positive environment. They are:
- Listen and connect
- Lead with gratitude
- Focus on what's going well
- Use storytelling
- Align leaders
In particular, Coren emphasized that storytelling is a great way to recognize people by sharing stories of specific impacts an individual has had. Wambi offers a platform to support collecting and sharing stories.
Today's healthcare workplace presents a challenging environment for everyone. But with the right strategy, tools and culture—one that emphasizes recognition and ensures employees feel valued—leaders can make a big impact on morale, creating a better environment for employees and patients.