Let’s dive into competitive healthcare recruiting and how to affect change in your organization. The first step? Know where you want to go and what problems you want to solve. From there we often hear, "Ok, I know what I want to do, but how do I get the rest of my organization on board?"
Totally valid concern. And while implementing a digital transformation isn't always easy, there’s a strategy to make it more effective. Even if you have to take baby steps to get there, it's well worth the effort.
Be Flexible
Let yourself adapt as your program develops and changes. Your ideal end state may not be where you're able to start. Internal and process challenges, as well as additional potential barriers, can be challenging to overcome. Digital transformation is a continual process to get to where you want to be. And remember that just taking the first step makes a big difference in where your program will go.
Be Intentional in Your Efforts and Communication
Managing a team that's fully remote is difficult - and not many people are/were prepared for it. You have to be more intentional in your communications and make sure everyone is well informed. Remember, there's no such thing as "overcommunicating" what's going on in the organization.
This is also true in recruiting and relocation - your candidates and employees benefit from every bit of information you can provide to them. There's nothing worse for a relocating employee than being overwhelmed with what-ifs and how-tos, and a lack of insight into their new location. Communicate often and thoroughly, and be transparent.
Focus on Teamwork and Camaraderie
We're literally all learning a new way to work together - it's not easy, and it's not perfect, but we're in it together. The actual recruiting and onboarding of healthcare professionals is just a piece of the overall puzzle; organizations who embrace teamwork and embody a cohesive, camaraderie organizational culture will naturally infuse that into the candidate experience.
It can be very difficult to get your peers to think differently about your approach to relocation, especially when introducing new software. Like we said earlier, healthcare gets a bad rep for being behind the times when it comes to embracing internal (systems) technology - ironic considering the incredible advances made in the industry itself.
When pitching change internally, you need to have a deep understanding of the struggles or issues you're seeing, and how the proposed changes will address them. If you're seeing friction in your relocation strategy, you'll need buy-in from your stakeholders. How do you do this? Think of it from their perspective:
Provide Solutions
Your stakeholders deal with problems every day - you'll have a much easier time convincing them to adopt your proposed changes if you present the issues you're trying to address along with the solutions. If your offer-to-hire conversion rates are low because candidates aren't sold on your location, explain how implementing a candidate experience solution candidate experience solution will provide the information they need to get excited about moving.
Focus on the Ultimate Goal
Look at the relocation experience and what your ultimate goal is - how can you look at your program in a way that provides the best experience? You need to align the process/changes needed to get there, and the solution you're recommending, with your end goal.
In a perfect world we'd be able to make whatever changes we wanted with no limitations, right?! Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. It won't help to ignore the obvious, and you're better to address these issues upfront in order to propose a realistic solution. Take into consideration any budget limitations and policy constraints that could affect your relocation program, and work to build a good solution that takes these into account.
Identify Specific Problems and Proposed/Expected Results
In addition to aligning the problem with the solution, sharing expected results goes a long way to getting buy-in. If you're spending too much because of an oversimplified relocation program, showing the savings your new program will provide is an easy sell. If your candidate experience is lacking, show the numbers that support this (ie: candidate surveys) and the proven results from other companies that have implemented a similar change. If your staff is burdened by administrative tasks like reimbursement, showing how a tech-enabled solution will reduce this and free up human resources makes a very strong case.
See a pattern? Pains and struggles in healthcare relocation are very similar across organizations, and the benefits of implementing a new solution often come down to two things: spending less money, and creating a really positive experience with less effort.