By Jeff Wardon, Jr., Assistant Editor

The healthcare industry faces a few problems with its workforce, primarily that it is aging and getting ready to enter retirement. Attracting and retaining talent is going to be key to keeping healthcare facilities staffed properly so that patients and employees can stay safe. Compounded with the aging workforce, the healthcare industry faces critical employment issues while already struggling with staffing shortages.  

An important part of retaining talent is understanding the wants and needs of employees. Healthcare Facilities Today spoke with Melanie Parks, managing director for the healthcare division at JLL, about the trends outlined in the Employee Perspective on Healthcare Real Estate Report and what they indicate for employees’ desires. 

HFT: The survey reveals that nearly a quarter of healthcare employees are considering leaving their jobs in the next year, with 10 percent planning to exit the industry entirely. What are the most significant factors driving this, and how can healthcare organizations address these concerns to retain talent? 

Melanie Parks: The one significant driver is that many healthcare professionals are actually reaching retirement age. Another trend that we have found in our survey shows that those who are contemplating leaving their job within the next 12 months are more likely to report safety as a concern. Another consideration, and one that can be really challenging in healthcare, is that of flexibility. Healthcare positions may not be as flexible as positions in other fields or industries, but it's still an important consideration to employees.  

Healthcare organizations can address the retirement trend by ensuring that they have a solid recruiting and retention program in place to attract the new talent. As the workforce is retiring, focusing on competitive compensation packages is certainly a magnet to attract talent, but also creating a culture and a workplace that is considered desirable to talent they want to attract and retain, that's an important consideration as well.  

With respect to the safety aspect of it, organizations can invest in their efforts by focusing on safety programs and those programs can include technology, well-lit spaces and the use of security guards are some examples. These are things that we find can help employees feel that their workplace is a safer place. 

Related: Healthcare Design to Enhance Worker Well-Being

HFT: With over 40 percent of respondents ranking location as a top criterion for choosing a position, how can healthcare facilities that may be limited by their physical location improve their attractiveness to potential employees, especially in relation to housing affordability and safety concerns? 

Parks: It's worth looking at this a little bit more broadly, and by that, I mean there are certainly limitations with the physical location of the workplace in many cases within healthcare. So, organizations can focus more broadly on the community and ensure that they’re engaged to have a voice in what the local community is doing to promote safe and affordable housing, or to help address and focus on public transportation or parking options.  

Also, they can influence local amenities that could create the necessary attractiveness to a particular area that could help draw the targeted workforce to their organizations. From the standpoint of addressing the safety concerns, in addition to the considerations, an organization can take an active interest locally in a public safety program or advocating for improved or more focused local law enforcement. These are some additional ways that an organization can actually focus on safety. 

HFT: How can healthcare employers develop a workplace strategy that meets the diverse needs of a multigenerational workforce, particularly when it comes to workplace culture, flexibility and role-specific priorities? 

Parks: One of the first things that employers can do is ask their employees. We can make a lot of assumptions based on our knowledge and expertise, but the start of any good strategy really begins with collecting feedback from those who are going to be using the space. Also, feedback should be collected from human resources, organizations, leadership teams and others who might be identified as stakeholders. What this does is create a balanced foundation on which to build the strategy. Also, an organization needs to consider what cultural aspects they wish to incorporate into their strategy.  

Of course, we know it's not usually going to be a one-size-fits-all approach. However, if you're developing a strategy for a workforce that has more administrative functions, for example, perhaps you can design a more flexible strategy that includes a hybrid work schedule for being in the office. You can design the space to address the different types of work functions to ensure that each space is maximizing potential productivity. Of course, in many healthcare settings, though, hospitals are a great example – that same flexibility doesn't exist. Though, you can still incorporate your culture, your sense of community – and certainly you can be sensitive to the multicultural and multi-generational needs of your employees. This can be done by creating spaces for prayer rooms or mothers' rooms as an example.  

Technology is also an important consideration. Making sure that the technologies are user friendly and creating an environment that is automated are ways to allow for seamless operations. If consideration can also be given to work schedules or hours, that's potentially one way to tackle the flexibility concerns that our survey showed. If we think about the workspace itself as well, ergonomic considerations can be explored. It can also be seen as a great way to address individuals' needs or the functional needs of a particular role in the organization.  

When employees see their organizations taking that time to provide a workplace that is thoughtful and considerate of these types of functions and amenities, it sends a signal to employees. It shows that the organization cares and that the organization is willing to invest in making the workplace a desirable and functional space for all. Ultimately, that can really lead to some good outcomes for employees and for retention. 

Jeff Wardon, Jr., is the assistant editor for the facilities market.