Winning the War to Attract and Retain Healthcare Workers

We are in the midst of a global war for healthcare talent.

Due to the looming retirement of millions of baby boomers and the relatively small size of Generation X, organizations across all industries are focusing their attention on the upcoming generation—Generation Y—to fill their employment needs.

Nowhere is this more critical than in healthcare. Most of us are aware of the many personnel shortages facing the healthcare industry in the coming decade: nurses, physicians, pharmacists, allied health, and more. At the same time, the demand for healthcare services is expected to explode due to the aging of these same baby boomers, an increase in chronic diseases, and the simple fact that people are living longer. 

Patient-centered design has been at the forefront of healthcare design for years, and has proven to be an effective way to attract patients to a facility. Staff-centered design needs to be leveraged in the same way to attract and retain the best talent, specifically young talent. Other industries are learning how to use design to make their spaces attractive to Generation Y; the opportunity exists for healthcare to do the same.

With 75 million members, Gen Y is the largest generation since the baby boomers. The generally accepted birth dates for this group are from 1980 to 1999, though there are a few variations. Just as the work environment changed with the influx of boomers in the 1960s, so can we expect it to change when Gen Y dominates the workforce over the next 10 to 20 years.

In healthcare, one of the biggest complaints about Gen Y is its embrace of, almost an eagerness for, job-hopping. Healthcare is a profession where experience has traditionally been acquired over years of working in the same organization. Nursing is facing perhaps the biggest challenge in terms of retaining young employees. It’s estimated that more than 55% of RNs plan to retire between 2011 and 2020.¹ A poll of healthcare recruiters in 2005 found that the average turnover rate for RNs was 13.9%, with the average cost to hire a new RN standing at $2,821,1 making retention a top goal for most organizations.

Physicians also are retiring in huge numbers; the oldest baby boomers began leaving the workplace in 2010. General practitioners and family doctors will account for 37% of those retiring in the next few years.² In addition, more physicians, both older and younger, are choosing to work part-time, putting added pressure on hospitals and clinics. The high costs associated with owning a practice are causing medical students to avoid family practice in favor of specialties; already more than 56,000 Americans live in areas without the necessary number of primary care physicians.²

The gap creates opportunities for other roles, such as the nurse practitioner and physician assistant. The number of physician assistant jobs alone is expected to increase by 27% between 2006 and 2016.3 Nurse practitioners will be required to obtain a doctorate of nursing practice by 2015, which will allow them to take on many of the duties of primary care physicians. To cover the nursing gap, many hospitals are also recruiting foreign nurses, particularly those from Asia, thereby leading to shortages there.⁴

While these strategies will help meet the demand, healthcare is going to have to rely heavily on GenY to fill the remaining jobs. To date, this has been a challenge. Gen Y RNs don’t get hired easily because they don’t have the experience hospitals are looking for; according to a recruitment study by TMP Worldwide, hospitals look for experienced RNs because they don’t want to train new graduates. If young nurses do get hired, they often discover the work isn’t what they expected, causing many to quit their job before the end of their first year.⁵