How Do You Design A Good Internal Talent Mobility Strategy In Healthcare?
In the Healthcare sector, rising costs are impacting the recruitment and retention of skilled practitioners. In the US, this is leading to a projected shortage of 1.2 million nursing positions by 2023 and potentially 124,000 physicians by 2034.
Healthcare organizations face high turnover rates – and high rates of burnout. Addressing the skills shortage is vital for providing quality patient care in this competitive labor market.
Creative solutions, like internal gig work and staff redeployment, are now being used to meet critical needs amidst these staffing challenges (in part caused by the pandemic). Internal mobility is on the agenda of many HR professionals within the Healthcare industry.
82% of business leaders in Healthcare say “I am concerned about talent loss or leakage in our organization in the next 12 months.” (vs. 71% across all sectors).
What is internal talent mobility?
An internal talent mobility program helps your existing employees to find and apply for job opportunities within your organization. These opportunities may be full-time positions, part-time roles, or short-term projects or gigs. Done well, internal mobility can help boost retention and engagement, fill skills gaps, and promote better intra-organizational knowledge sharing.
Hospitals average 100% staff turnover every 5 years. When an employee is considering leaving their current role, as 43% of those working in Healthcare currently are, showing them a range of different positions within your company that could potentially be a better fit for them may encourage them to stay – and give them renewed energy and loyalty.
87% of business leaders in Healthcare think talent approaches need to reflect getting talent to the point of need – that is, talent mobility.
So how do you make it work?
Focus on skills (and better data)
A good internal talent mobility strategy is built around the relevant skills of employees, as opposed to job titles (previous experience). Someone could be working in an administrative role, for example, with the requisite skills to move into Healthcare leadership, or in one functional area with the scientific acumen to be upskilled to another, more critical function.
Healthcare workers are so much more than the positions they hold — they are dynamic individuals who have unique and ever-changing skillsets.
Looking at your current employees and open roles based on skills allows you to match (perhaps previously under-utilized) talent with opportunities in your organization, without going through the lengthy and expensive process of recruiting externally.
Bringing together the right Skills Intelligence – getting a clear picture of the skills of the people inside your organization – is not straightforward, but it’s a worthwhile exercise in order to connect the ideal people to the relevant, highest priority tasks in a more dynamic way.
51% of leaders in Healthcare think a skills-first approach to talent and hiring supports transformation initiatives by better mobilizing the skills of existing employees.
Adopt a more fluid culture around talent
Many Healthcare professionals feel that their career progression and personal development has suffered, especially following COVID-19. One way to address this is by encouraging your employees to branch out and learn new skills at work.
Internal mobility programs allow people to develop their networks, share knowledge across departments, and find new career paths, whilst avoiding the loss of institutional wisdom.
When Healthcare workers are connected to upskilling and reskilling initiatives, it creates further chances for them to fill those open skills gaps that exist within your organization. This is the virtuous circle of successful internal mobility strategies.
48% of leaders in Healthcare think optimizing internal mobility (so employees can move easily between roles) could effectively address issues around employee morale and productivity.
For many managers, the desire to “keep” their top talent to themselves overrides the value of “sharing” their people with other teams. But an employee, who might have otherwise left the organization entirely, may discover a new passion in a different department or role – and giving them exposure to other teams, and connecting them with training programs, that could potentially be a great fit for their skill set, is usually a boon for retention and loyalty.
85% of leaders in Healthcare say, “We should invest in employees regardless of how long they end up staying at the company.”
Consider how managers are incentivized. Are targets based around team performance only? Are leaders rewarded for keeping top talent in the organization, even if people move to another department?
Help employees design their own careers
Putting employees in charge of their own career path is one of the most critical aspects of a good internal mobility strategy, and it’s something that the Healthcare sector should embrace.
86% of business leaders in Healthcare have seen increased levels of “quiet quitting” in the last 12 months (compared to 78% across all industries).
When your talent is empowered with the tools and support they need to accomplish their professional goals (at their own pace), it keeps them motivated and more engaged with their employer – so they are more productive.
Consider AI-driven internal mobility software products in this process. AI can help highlight various career paths that are possible for each employee, with tailored recommendations based on skills, potential and interests.
Streamline the internal candidate experience
51% of leaders in Healthcare think a “lack of visibility of internal opportunities for employees” is one of the biggest barriers to talent mobility in their organization.
When creating your internal mobility program, one of the goals should be to make it really easy for internal candidates to find and apply for open positions.
Improving the internal candidate experience makes it easier for employees who are looking for new roles to apply, and it’s significantly cheaper for the business to fill roles internally, than to onboard brand new employees. Don’t forget to provide feedback to internal candidates, and treat them with respect and confidentiality if they are not successful in moving roles.
Deploy talent mobility technology
The most successful internal mobility programs require sophisticated software to ensure organizations can easily spot skills gaps and opportunities to redeploy talent, and employees can see opportunities for roles (or learning) that match their skills, goals and interests.
Implementing internal mobility software or a Talent Marketplace means AI can do much of the heavy lifting: it can match internal candidates with open short-term projects or gigs, or match their skills with open roles within your business, without much manual effort.
Other types of connections that can be created using a Talent Marketplace include: mentoring programs, onboarding ‘buddies’, and networking opportunities. Facilitating these connections internally is just one way that leaders in Healthcare can improve their talent mobility strategy and to keep employees engaged long term.