Healthcare is undeniably one of the hottest industries right now when it comes to hiring. Between adapting to new technology needs and a significant focus on healthcare for the Boomer population, demand is increasing with no end in sight. Still, that doesn’t make healthcare staffing simple for those tasked with recruiting these open positions. Caregivers and healthcare administration are often non-negotiable needs, but managing the available talent pool and hiring the best candidates to provide high-quality care can be challenging.
Staffing shortages throughout the healthcare industry is a very real concern right now—one that not only creates a potentially dangerous gap in care but also creates logistical headaches and mounting costs as companies and facilities struggle to hire. One of the most immediate solutions in solving this staffing crisis is only about an arm’s length away: tech innovations in recruiting and hiring can help ease the pain points in healthcare staffing.
Predictive Analytics Can Help Solve Issues Before They Become Problems
One of the biggest issues feeding the healthcare staffing shortage is meeting patient demand. Unexpected overtime, understaffing, a lack of flexible scheduling and unpredictable logistics can cause stress, burnout, and turnover on healthcare staff. Automated platforms can take historical data and use algorithms to make models and predictions for volume and staffing needs.
These forecasts allow facilities and organizations to avoid problematic gaps. Healthcare entities that have already adopted this kind of data-centric approach have often seen staffing costs go down, employee morale go up, and improved patient outcomes.
Digital Workflows And Processes Make Employees More Efficient
When companies embrace a mobile- or digital-centric approach, they create a more flexible and efficient place for employees to work effectively. Automated systems can handle everything from shift scheduling (which allows workers to schedule and manage shifts and overtime electronically) to compliance documents, freeing professionals to spend less time dealing with paperwork and more time on patient-focused tasks.
Having these daily processes in automated platforms also gives employers more data to work with when it comes to anticipating staffing needs and gaps ahead of time.
Tech Attracts Talent
Many in the healthcare industry have been slow to adopt tech, leading them to stick with outdated, cumbersome systems that are increasingly out of touch with a tech-centric society. By adopting a tech-forward approach to recruiting healthcare talent and managing patient care, you’re likely to see more interest from young, tech-savvy candidates.
Technology Makes Hiring Faster And Cheaper
Automated recruiting and staffing platforms, especially those with AI software and machine learning built-in, make the hiring process smoother—from attracting applicants to moving them through the hiring process, to onboarding new employees. Predictive algorithms can help identify job posting sites that are or aren’t effective and help you target your hiring resources where they’re most successful.
Having a more automated process (tracking employee applications, automated interview scheduling, tests or onboarding tasks handled online) reduces the amount of time and resources that your HR staff spends to get people in the door and into the right roles. Given that staffing is often the single biggest expense for healthcare organizations, slimming down the time-to-hire and the cost-per-hire can have a major upside.
Many healthcare orgs are resistant to automating more of their hiring and staffing. After all, the human touch is one of the cornerstones of healthcare. However, embracing a tech-forward approach—and seeing tech as a necessary investment—can actually help you provide better, more efficient care while retaining the best talent.