The pandemic was a nightmare for almost every sector and healthcare ranked number one in that list. During COVID-19, the healthcare industry witnessed severe shortages in their staffing and its impact continued to echo for a long time. According to the American Hospital Association, the nursing industry alone lost over 100,000 professionals between 2019 and 2022.
Although employment in the healthcare sector started to slowly normalize in 2022, plenty of vacancies remain to be filled. In addition, healthcare employers are encountering major hiring setbacks that can impact their ability to improve patient outcomes. Finding skilled professionals is a significant problem for around 89% of healthcare employers.
With that being said, the healthcare industry is set to transform in 2024. For healthcare organizations to retain their top position, it is important to stay ahead of these trends. By doing so, it will enable you to attract the right talents and fill up vacancies rapidly.
Let us take a look at the important healthcare staffing trends for 2024.
Top Healthcare Hiring Trends for 2024
- Hiring Will be Quicker Due to Automated Workflows
It is popularly known that healthcare organizations take a longer time to fill up vacancies compared to other industries. On an average, it takes approximately 56 days to hire for an open healthcare role and includes a gap of 37 days between the application and hiring date. In the recent GRID Recruitment Trends Report by Bullhorn, around one-third of healthcare professionals agreed that the laborious recruitment process is the main problem. Surprisingly, 70% of the respondents confessed to having let go of potential employment because the onboarding process was too time-consuming.
To overcome this challenge, numerous healthcare organizations are automating workflows that encompass several hiring steps including screenings, scheduling interviews, and sending notifications to candidates. The benefit of automation is simple: it not only accelerates the hiring process but also offers an enhanced candidate experience and doesn’t compromise on patient safety.
- Emphasizing Candidate-Focused Communications
Candidates going in complete silent mode (not responding to any communication effort) is suddenly on the rise as observed by many healthcare employers. Even before finishing applications, candidates may retreat, not show up at interviews, or even accept offers and refuse to join. Ghosting is quite a common occurrence when job seekers get better offers and hence, keeping them consistently engaged is important.
This is where candidate-focused communication plays a vital role. A short text message or email can prevent them from exiting your recruitment process. When such messages are automated, it ensures that the candidates are motivated to attend the next stage in the hiring process, their questions are promptly answered, and they’re reminded to submit a document that they haven’t yet.
- Make Way for Mobile-Optimized Tools
As per the above-mentioned Bullhorn’s Recruitment Trends Report, it is found that for the first time, candidate experience is a major concern to healthcare staffing companies. Enhanced candidate experience and improved recruitment team efficiency can be achieved when you employ a mobile-driven recruiting technology, thereby speeding up the hiring process.
Candidates are more encouraged to complete an application process and not abandon it when they can finish background screenings, get their queries resolved, or upload important documents using their phones.
Even hiring managers and other employees in the recruiting process can benefit from mobile-first hiring platforms. For instance, healthcare workers can easily reply to a candidate’s messages using a mobile app even if they are away from their computer. Furthermore, when conducting interviews during a busy day or evaluating important documents, everything becomes seamless with mobile-optimized tools.
- Introduction of Retention Tools With the Hiring Process
According to the reports by Becker’s Hospital Review, healthcare professionals are more confident about finding employment compared to other industries. This explains why 47% of healthcare professionals are expected to switch their jobs in the next few years.
Merging a few retention strategies into your recruitment process can help deliver patient care consistently, lower labor costs, and offer many such benefits. Some effective retention strategies include:
- Choose qualified applicants only after screening their backgrounds carefully
- You can offer joining bonuses or similar incentives to boost retention
- Implement policies that improve job satisfaction, lower stress, and burnout. These include diversity, equity, and inclusion, work-life balance, and more.
- Communicate your expectations from potential employees to avoid any confusion or misunderstanding
- Offer continuous training and upskilling opportunities
- Flexible Work Arrangements Will Attract More Candidates
Did you know?
50% of healthcare workers are more interested in opting for hybrid positions while 48% are looking for fully remote jobs.
Ever since the pandemic, remote work has become a convenient option for various healthcare job roles, including back-office, clinicians, and others. Telehealth, which is an emerging field of patient care, is expected to have a 24% annual growth by 2030. In addition, 2 out of 3 clinicians admit preferring hybrid or remote-only job roles.
- The Rising Popularity of the Telehealth Sector
Ever since the pandemic, the healthcare industry has been undergoing rapid transformation and telemedicine is one of the reasons. In 2024 and later on, the expansion of telehealth is going to continue and is expected to become an integral part of the healthcare industry.
What does this mean for healthcare staffing?
This shift implies more emphasis on recruiting healthcare staff with expertise in virtual care delivery. Thus, healthcare organizations must adapt and find the right talents to offer telehealth services most efficiently.
- Prioritizing Automation and Artificial Intelligence
With the introduction of automation and artificial intelligence (AI), it can be said that healthcare practices have become more streamlined than before. In 2024, it is acceptable to foresee that integrating AI-driven technologies will be more prevalent; this includes predictive analytics, robotic process automation, and chatbots. As a result, healthcare professionals will need to adapt quickly and acquire new skills which include procuring data-driven insights, maneuvering AI systems efficiently, and more, to elevate patient care.
Conclusion
The healthcare industry is evolving with every passing year and 2024 isn’t an exception. To stay ahead of the competition, healthcare organizations must embrace the latest trends as discussed above and adapt their recruitment strategies to attract the best talents and enhance patient outcomes at the same time. To meet all your healthcare staffing needs, connect with Med Ninjas. We are a leading medical staffing solutions provider offering expert recruitment services driven by advanced technology. We conduct a comprehensive screening process to ensure you find only top talents within your budget. Contact us today to discuss more!