Health systems have spent years managing the aftershocks of a workforce reshaped by pandemic-era disruption — and the pressures persist.
Staffing shortages, elevated first-year turnover and reliance on premium labor continue to strain systems even as stabilization efforts have taken hold.
Becker’s connected with seven chief human resources officers and chief people officers across the country’s top health systems about what is driving their workforce strategy through year’s end. Across their responses, several themes emerged: building career pathways and leadership pipelines, strengthening culture and engagement, and leveraging technology and AI to reduce administrative burden and build workforce capabilities.
Developing careers and building leaders
Career development and leadership investment emerged as consistent priorities across the responses — built on the idea that the systems best positioned for 2027 are the ones putting resources into their people now.
Deborah Yount, CHRO at Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health, is expanding access to academic partnerships, hands-on training, mentorship and learning platforms across every level of the organization. She also named leadership development as a priority alongside career growth.
“We are intentionally investing in leadership development at every level of the organization because strong leaders create engaged teams, foster innovation and help Sutter successfully navigate growth and transformation,” Ms. Yount said.
That investment is taking a structural form at Palo Alto, Calif.-based Stanford Health Care, where CHRO Dawn Rorig is rolling out Stanford Leads, a management system designed to align how leaders plan, develop their people and execute on strategic priorities.
“As healthcare grows more complex, delivering highly reliable, patient-centered care requires shared ways to lead, learn, improve, and connect around our strategic priorities,” Ms. Rorig said. “Stanford Leads aligns existing clinical and operational work into a shared management system — so priorities are clear, risks are surfaced early and execution is reliable at scale to achieve consistent patient care.”
Career advancement has become both a retention strategy and a formal program at Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health, where Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer Seb Girard has backed that commitment with the health system’s Future Forward initiative — which offers debt-free, prepaid tuition to team members, including new hires.
“We’re also making significant investments in leadership and career development through programs such as Future Forward because strong leaders and clear growth opportunities are among the most powerful drivers of engagement and retention,” Mr. Girard said.
One Penn Medicine, an enterprisewide initiative at Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine, is among the top priorities for Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine CHRO Katie Heeter. The initiative aims to create a more connected and consistent experience for employees across the system’s hospitals, practices and teams.
“We are bringing together people, processes, data and modern technology to make it easier for employees and leaders to navigate the organization, access support and do their best work,” Ms. Heeter said. “Our role is not simply to respond to today’s workforce needs, but to help Penn Medicine build the capabilities it will need for the future while remaining a place where exceptional people can grow, contribute and thrive.”
Strengthening retention and engagement
Several HR leaders named retention as a top priority heading into year’s end — one that touches workforce stability, care quality and the cost of labor simultaneously.
Alison Smith, CHRO of Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare, has made it her primary focus, with particular attention to first-year employees and critical workforce segments. Her team has developed targeted retention strategies built directly from employee feedback.
“Further reducing turnover is one of the most impactful opportunities we have to strengthen workforce stability, improve engagement, enhance patient experience and reduce our reliance on premium labor,” she said.
For Michael Brown, senior vice president and CHRO at Houston-based Houston Methodist, culture is the foundation of his team’s workforce priorities. His team has organized priorities around the organization’s “I Care” values and Pathway to Unparalleled, an initiative that brings employees and physicians together through hundreds of interactive sessions. Houston Methodist also uses its annual employee opinion survey as a feedback loop connecting workforce input to organizational goals.
“We listen closely to our workforce through activities such as our annual employee opinion survey, which fosters an ongoing connection between employee feedback, organizational goals and the human relationships that bring our culture to life,” Mr. Brown said.
Mr. Girard at Novant Health is driving engagement through recognition — with results already showing. In less than a year since launching a formal platform that gives team members a direct way to celebrate colleagues, hundreds of thousands of accolades have been shared across the organization.
“We know people are most engaged when they feel supported, valued and connected to purpose,” he said, “so we’re continuing to invest in programs that strengthen well-being and belonging while using team member feedback to guide our efforts.”
Ms. Yount at Sutter Health ties culture investment to the system’s broader mission impact.
“When we invest in our workforce, the return extends far beyond our organization,” she said. “We build stronger teams, deliver exceptional care experiences and create healthier communities for the future.”
Technology as a workforce accelerator
Ms. Smith at Piedmont Healthcare is also prioritizing technology and AI to improve the experience for candidates and employees while reducing administrative work that falls on leaders and clinicians.
“We see the use of technology not as a replacement for our workforce strategy but as an accelerator for it,” she said.
New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health is pursuing a broader transformation under Chief People Officer Maxine Carrington: advancing the system’s evolution into a skills-based organization. Her team is using AI-enabled skills intelligence to map workforce capabilities, match employees to internal opportunities and create personalized career pathways.
Ms. Carrington is also prioritizing holistic team member well-being, including more personalized benefits and programs to support employees and their families through caregiving responsibilities and affordability pressures.
“Between now and the end of the year, our focus remains on ensuring Northwell has the workforce, capabilities, and culture needed to meet the evolving needs of our patients, communities, and team members,” she said.
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