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A strong healthcare brand as a foundation for attracting qualified staff
Shortages in the labour market cause a lack of qualified personnel in many sectors, among which the healthcare sector. In the second quarter of 2018, there were more than 31,000 vacancies in the Netherlands. And in the US they expect a shortage of more than 120,000 employees by 2030. This lack of personnel is partly caused by the increasing demand for health care as a result of, among other conditions, the ageing population and the decline in informal caregivers. On top of that, there are too few people that are being trained for a job in health care. With all its consequences, such as sickness absence and outflow to other professional groups. It is, therefore, a major challenge for healthcare institutions to attract qualified personnel and that will not change in the near future.
A strong brand as a starting point for employer branding
Employer branding becomes more and more important, not only in healthcare but in all occupational sectors. As a result, the recruitment process is shifting from short term to long term and slowly changes into recruitment marketing. Instead of starting the recruitment process when staff is actually needed, a longer-term strategy is needed to attract good and qualified staff. Research by LinkedIn shows that a strong brand positively influences the extent to which potential candidates consider the organisation as an employer.
A good healthcare brand serves as the basis for developing the employer brand. Potential employees will, without a doubt, have already come into contact with the organisation in several other ways. For example as a patient, employee of a competing institution, or visitor. The employer brand must, therefore, be in line with the overall image of the organisation. For healthcare organisations, this means that HR and marketing must collaborate more and that HR needs to adopt marketing strategies more frequently.
Hold on to qualified staff
If, after a lot of pain and effort, the right employees are finally hired, it can be challenging to let them stay and enjoy working at the healthcare institution. Committed and enthusiastic employees are more creative, more innovative and more customer-oriented and have a heart for their work and the organisation. Read here why that is important. But how can the brand contribute to reducing staff turnover? More about that in our next blog!
