Top Healthcare HR Initiatives for 2016

Kaye/Bassman’s Managing Director Eric Dickerson Featured in PreCheck, Top Healthcare HR Initiatives for 2016

By Bryan Barajas

Dallas, TX | Posted March 28, 2016

March 13-19 is Health Care HR week, and the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) has picked “Nurturing Engagement in Shifting Landscapes” as its theme for this year’s annual conference. Many initiatives that traditionally belong to HR can help boost engagement at your organization, resulting in improved morale and retention.

The definition of engagement may vary by organization, but it’s often seen as the level of discretionary effort employees bring to their jobs. “With healthcare workers, that’s what you hope they’re doing — not just the job, but going above and beyond,” says Chris Powell, CEO of BlackbookHR, a software company that helps companies measure engagement.

Healthcare HR leaders can improve engagement at their organizations by focusing on building relationships, listening to workers, supporting their middle managers and including all employees in their development plans.

Build Relationships

Facilitating and encouraging collaboration, cross-training and improved communication across the organization is vital for any engagement effort, but it’s often a challenge at healthcare organizations. Healthcare tends to divide itself into silos, making communication difficult, says Eric Dickerson, Managing Director at Kaye/Bassman International, where he oversees recruiting in academic medicine. “The biggest issue we see in healthcare organizations is when one division is not communicating with another one,” he says. “They’ve created their own fiefdoms or kingdoms, and it can even be apparent to patients. It’s a lack of communication that makes different departments try to protect their own turf.”