Two decades ago, we in healthcare conducted employee surveys annually (or even bi-annually) to gauge what we called “employee satisfaction.” As the thinking about satisfaction evolved (and we replaced less-useful questions on the survey like “parking” with more-useful questions like “my boss cares about me as a person”), we moved from “satisfaction” to “engagement.”
In more recent years, research on what today’s healthcare workforce needs has caught up with this shift. (Quint Studer and Dr. Katherine A. Meese explore this subject in their book, The Human Margin: Building the Foundations of Trust.) Thanks to this abundance of research and an increased focus on turnover, we’ve become able to measure “sense of belonging,” which gets us even closer to causality of retention.
When organizations view the “people pillar” as part of their balanced scorecard, they might see it simply as one category of metrics. Yet those that have begun to delve more deeply into the people pillar find at least six categories of questions to ask if they want to get the progression of engagement → sense of belonging → improved retention formula right. It takes the guesswork out of the analysis…and, more importantly, provides a more precise set of priorities from which to drive improvement. With margins already razor-thin, retention struggles make them thinner.
We think of this approach as the Human Capital Ecosystem™, a framework that helps organizations see the full picture of what drives retention rather than chasing one metric at a time. Consider these categories of opportunity:
- Selection & Onboarding
- Supervisor Relationship
- Coworker Relationship
- Skill Building & Career Development
- Well-being
- Operational Effectiveness
What would it look like if executive teams asked all leaders to weigh in on how consistent the organization was within each of these categories? Here are a few examples:
For the Selection & Onboarding category, what if we asked two questions:
- How would you rate the employee selection process? (Prescribed candidate profile, screening and interviewing process used consistently)
- How effective is our organization in making employee onboarding an effective talent strategy? (Continuous process that minimizes turnover and improves employee engagement)
For the Coworker Relationship category, what if we asked:
- How well do you feel employees at our organization live our Standards?
- How would you rate relationships between departments?
For the Skill Building & Career Development category, what if we asked:
- How well is the current system of training and development providing leaders with the needed skills to be successful? (Where success is defined as achieving the desired outcomes)
- How would you rate the individualization of leader skill development for achieving goals?
And then instead of attempting to take on every category or question as an improvement opportunity, what if we distilled the list down to two or three areas to prioritize and act upon?
Organizations that see the people pillar as what it really is, an ecosystem, are the ones getting retention right. Diagnosing with an assessment like we mentioned above takes the guesswork out of where the energy needs to be placed. Many approaches to improving and sustaining retention can feel like the ultimate Whac-A-Mole arcade game. Seeing and treating retention through the lens of an ecosystem is shown to not only produce results but sustain them…moving organizations closer to the sense of belonging that makes talent want to stay.
This is exactly the thinking we’ll dig into this October, when we gather with leaders from across the industry at Rewiring Healthcare: Foundation to Future. The Human Capital Ecosystem™ serves as the framework for our event, giving attendees the tools to move from guesswork to a clear, sustainable strategy for retention. To learn more about the conference and to register, please visit www.RewiringHealthcare.com.
# # #
Dan Collard is the cofounder (with Quint Studer) of Healthcare Plus Solutions Group® (HPSG). He recently coauthored with Dr. Katherine A. Meese the book Genfluence: How to Lead a Multigenerational Workforce (ACHE Learn). He is also the coauthor (with Quint Studer) of Rewiring Excellence: Hardwired to Rewired and Rewiring Leadership in Post-Acute Healthcare: Equipping Leaders to Succeed.For more information, please visit HealthcarePlusSG.com.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.
