You Are Settling for Terrible Employee Engagement (and 3 Tips to Change)
Chances are very good that your employee engagement as a healthcare business is very bad.
How do I know? Gallup, the international Goliath in measuring public sentiments tells us that only 31% of staff are engaged as of August 2024. 31%!?!
That means 31% of your employees care. 31% of staff are trying to get better and master their work. 31% are in this thing with you.
Are you going to settle for that? Are you OK with that?
“31% of staff are engaged with their work, on average as of August 2024”
Why Engagement Matters
The short answer of why engagement matters is that your success depends on people. People in healthcare directly impact your revenue and your profits because they produce the product (healthcare services), they enable the clinicians who provide the services, and they provide the services that generates a good reputation, or a bad reputation.
These guys need an attitude adjustment. Or maybe your office needs a culture adjustment. Or both?
People generate the ideas required for constant improvement. They can make your day easier and raise your energy… or they can drag your energy and your revenue generating capacity down. Which do you prefer?
Now, every healthcare business in your market is fighting to hire the best people. And those best people have options. They can go to work for your business, where the employee experience is mediocre, every day is a grind, and the leadership is semi-disinterested or they can work for your competitors, where they can grow, be involved in business decisions, have a voice, and be treated like adults. Eventually, word gets out (possibly on websites like Glassdoor) and hiring becomes harder, employee turnover increases, and your revenue reflects it.
My seasoned advice: Be ruthless about having a standout culture, or you’ll eventually have to be ruthless in how you execute your inevitable layoffs.
Engagement Tip 1: Have Great Leaders
Leadership is a force multiplier when it comes to engagement. They hire well, they retain well, they appreciate staff, they motivate staff, they teach employees, they connect personally with employees.
I know a great leader in the healthcare space. Her office was awesome, killer. Employee retention was outstanding. People loved the leader, they had an all-for-one culture with few complaints and strong engagement.
What happened to the leader? She left for a better opportunity when she wasn’t able to grow and when the company’s financial future was rocky (due to a widespread culture problem). Now, the future of that office is in question. Will employees still care? It remains to be seen.
Want help growing leaders? Contact me to discuss ways I can help.
Engagement Tip 2: Grow People
Being a healthcare business where people can grow has many benefits:
You attract growth minded people
You can hire for character and let the stuck-up and lazy industry veterans with “nice resumes” go elsewhere
You’ll keep the best people
The people you keep will continue to get better and better
Your people are your productivity engine. Their skills and abilities (including interpersonal skills) will multiply your productivity. Why not invest in them? Train them, mentor the very best people, teach them interpersonal skills, offer them promotions, and make your office a place where a true meritocracy exists.
My seasoned advice: Money spent on growing employees has a positive ROI in terms of retention costs and productivity.
Engagement Tip 3: Hire Effectively
Hiring well is a multifaceted thing. One does not simply “hire effectively” without systems and intentionality. However, it is 100% worth it to invest in developing your hiring process to be Top Tier. Hiring is the best time to grow your culture: You can hire stars or duds. It’s hard to train a dud to become a star, so choose very carefully.
(Note - Even stars become disengaged, so don’t rely on hiring alone. And sometimes stars come as diamonds in the rough, so they’ll need shaping.)
Here are a few hiring tips
Train your managers to hire well
Define your ideal hire in detail
Hire for character and high energy
Have a list of GOOD questions prepared
Stay in communication with the top candidates (it helps to have a strong applicant tracking system and an on-staff recruiter)
If you’d like help evaluating your hiring process or application system, contact me for a no-pressure conversation.
Conclusion
Don’t settle for 31% engagement. Let your competitors do that. They can hire and retain the least motivated staff, they can drive away the good employees right into your healthcare business. And once you hire those awesome people, you will help them become even better and more motivated. Everyone will win - Patients, the clinicians, the practice ownership, and the employees.
