No matter what business it is, the hiring process can be challenging and stressful for an employer. Recruiting for the healthcare sector is significant for offering specialized and top-notch healthcare services, streamlining the overall patient experience, including healthcare-related and administrative tasks, etc.
The type of Employees working in the healthcare industry directly affects patients’ health, growth, and success of the healthcare organization. The staff shortages in the healthcare industry not only cause loss of revenue but also lead to inadequate patient care.
Healthcare recruitment is the process of identifying, assessing, shortlisting, and onboarding the best talent for the healthcare industry. The process encapsulates hiring suitable candidates for roles such as nurses, physicians, surgeons, engineers, administrators, and cleaning staff.
Lets dig into the Healthcare recruitment challenges that healthcare industry has to face after covid -19
Importance of Healthcare Recruiters
Healthcare recruitment encounters unique challenges considering the demanding nature of job responsibilities in this sector. Recruiters play a significant role in this regard. Agencies like Al-Saqib have a huge input in helping healthcare companies to evolve.
Al-Saqib recruitment agency identifies workforce employment challenges faced by healthcare providers or practices and then implements strategies to overcome these challenges. We streamline and customize the talent assessment and acquisition process for specific staffing needs. Once healthcare recruitment hurdles are eliminated from your healthcare practice, you will likely attract top talent before your competitors do. Top-notch recruitment results in the best healthcare outcomes.
Common Healthcare Recruitment Challenges
To help you with this process, we identified some major challenges and their potential solutions .
Healthcare Recruiter Reliance on Conventional Methods
Many healthcare providers still rely on traditional hiring processes. As there is no room for error in the healthcare talent acquisition process so reliance on such methods is justified. However, with the evolving latest technologies in the field of healthcare, recruiters need to employ rigorous testing methods, screening processes, and detailed assessments to find the right candidate. Such hiring activities can be are
- Time-consuming
- Exhausting.
- Costly due to the use of excessive resources in the process with a limited success rate.
Low Workforce Retention and Increased Turnover
One of the biggest challenges in the healthcare sector is retaining the workforce. Retaining skilled and talented healthcare employees is as challenging and important as hiring. After the breakout of the pandemic, according to AAPPR reports one in three physicians are considering retiring early, post-COVID.
The challenge for providers to recruit replacements for these physicians may be impossible. Since 2015, the average hospital has turned over 89% of its workforce. According to the 2022 NSI National Healthcare Retention & RN Staffing Report, the average hospital turnover rate in 2021 was 25.9%, revealing a 6.4% increase over the prior year.
Even if the healthcare workforce rate doubles, or triples, there’s no use in pouring water into a leaking bucket as it’s a waste of time and resources. Retaining the healthcare workforce should be an urgent priority for healthcare through 2022 and beyond.
Strategies to improve retention in Healthcare Industry
Healthcare Facilities should incorporate retention strategies with their recruitment plans to delay early retirements. Accommodation of physicians’ needs such strategies as paid leaves, bonuses, reduction to part-time work, or contract work may be short-term solutions that help. The Healthcare industry should ask themselves the following questions to maintain their workforce :
- Are we providing our employees with career progression opportunities to flourish in their domain?
- Are we creating a suitable environment for them to succeed?
- Are we bringing the right people into the business?
- Are we empowering them to feel accomplished and motivated?
- Are we providing the staff training workshops to allow lateral movement in-sector?
Shortage of qualified Healthcare Talent
Staff shortages have always been an enormous issue in all facets of the healthcare industry. Along with the need for more physicians and nursing staff. A survey conducted by the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science has found that 7.2% of lab technician positions remained unfilled nationwide. Another major challenge in healthcare industry is skills shortage. To overcome this, healthcare staff training and development is required.
As a result, the already employed workforce has to bear all the burden of treating the patients. 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated the issue as the need for healthcare workers surged considerably.
A large population of experienced physicians is retiring. The majority of nurses are also poised to enter retirement age. In 2017, more than half of all nurses were aged 50 or older, and close to 30% were over 60. These factors present huge challenges for recruiters in the healthcare sector.
Low compensation packages
Like in every industry, qualified candidates are inclined toward working for the healthcare provider that pays more than the others. Among the fiercely competitive healthcare industries, the ones that pay the best compensation package often win the best candidates.
However, due to budget constraints, most companies struggle to offer competitive compensation. So, they miss opportunities to recruit qualified candidates there is a high possibility that a qualified candidate will go to the competitor.
To add to the competition, healthcare organizations with massive funding and big budgets offer higher pays to retain their existing workforce. They also provide bonuses to acquire new and qualified talents. As a result, sourcing top talent remains a constant struggle for other players in the industry.
Cumbersome Screening Processes and Candidate Experience
Another recruiting selection challenge for healthcare candidates is the time-consuming and complicated screening procedures. During the screening process, healthcare candidates must pass multiple pre-employment tests required by the profession and state. Pre-employment assessment in the healthcare industry entails applicant tracking, social security tracing, and criminal history records, others conduct procedures that non-healthcare don’t often use.
These tests tend to involve tedious and lengthy procedures, which can be frustrating and bothersome for the applicants. When healthcare companies don’t provide applicants with a brief and concise screening process, applicant drop-off increases.
Recruiters should respond to the applications swiftly to cope with the ongoing war to acquire top talent in the healthcare industry.
Failure to Meet Candidate Expectations
Candidates are well-aware of the staff’s shortfall and the fiercely competitive market for recruiting in the healthcare sector. So their expectations regarding working hours, work culture, pay scale, and other benefits are increasing. Most healthcare professionals are highly qualified and experienced. As they are aware of their worth and know that they can receive multiple offers, therefore qualified healthcare candidates are very selective about their employers.
If a recruiting organization falls short of the applicant’s expectations, then it is likely that a leading healthcare professional may join another employer. As a result, it becomes extremely difficult for healthcare organizations to employ top talent.
Al-Saqib Recruitment Group minimize the workforce challenges
Al-Saqib is an established independent medical staff recruitment agency that helps in providing medical, nursing, and healthcare workforce. We are operating globally and sourcing and placing physicians, nurses and doctors and other allied health professionals, in the UK, the EU, Gulf countries, and around the world. 99% of our recruits settle and stay. Our agency carries out rigorous pre-screening and first-rate shortlisting. We connect healthcare practices with a qualified workforce keeping in view their requirements and expectations. Reach out to the Global Al-Saqib recruitment service for a time-saving, cost-effective and minimized healthcare recruiting challenges.
