From robotic-assisted surgeries to AI-aided diagnostics, technology is transforming the way healthcare is delivered—but that’s not all. Technology is also helping industry HR professionals manage two of their greatest challenges: staffing shortages and widespread burnout.
Chances are, if you’re an HR professional working in a hospital setting, you’re grappling with one—or, more likely, both—of these pressing issues. That’s why now is a great time to review some ways that technology can lighten the load, both for you and the people you serve.
3 Ways HR Technology Eases Staffing Shortages
As you know better than anyone, staffing shortages continue to plague the healthcare industry. Physicians. Nurses. Aides. Researchers. Even hourly maintenance workers. Well, here’s three ways that HR technology can jumpstart your recruiting and retention efforts, while helping you make the most of your workforce.
Streamline Your Recruitment Process with an ATS
A robust applicant tracking system (ATS) will automate and streamline your recruitment process, making it—and you—more efficient and effective. Tech like online job portals, digital assessments and AI-powered screening tools can help healthcare employers attract more applicants and identify qualified candidates faster, accelerating the hiring process. (Add online onboarding technology to the mix, and you’ll get new hires up to speed even more quickly.)
Expand Your Talent Pool using Relocation Technology
When it comes to finding highly-specialized talent, recruiting locally is not enough. More and more healthcare recruiters are casting a wider net in their search for talent—and that means offering attractive relocation benefits. After all, highly tech-savvy medical professionals are not impressed with old-school, manually-based relocation programs. If you aren’t already, it’s time to upgrade to a tech-based relocation solution.
Leverage Your HR Data Analytics
At this point, most HR systems offer some data analytics capabilities, providing valuable HR metric, trends and insights. By analyzing your recruiting, turnover, performance, and even attendance data, you can identify patterns and problems—say, excessive absenteeism in certain departments—implement targeted strategies, and track your progress.
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3 Ways Technology Can Reduce Healthcare Burnout
These days, burnout is endemic to the healthcare industry, affecting the well-being and performance of not only physicians and nurses, but everyone from C-level executives to janitorial workers. Technology can play a key role in alleviating burnout by providing solutions that reduce the administrative burden, improve work-life balance and promote self-care—and here’s three examples.
Ease the Workload with Workforce Management Software
Many HR software platforms have some workforce management capabilities such as scheduling software and shift optimization tools, which can help balance workloads and minimize overtime. By ensuring adequate staffing levels and optimizing schedules, healthcare organizations can help prevent excessive, unbalanced work hours, which in turns lessens burnout risks.
Leverage Virtual Telemedicine Platforms
Telehealth solutions gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to deliver healthcare services remotely—and they continue to be a viable option, especially for patient monitoring and follow-up care. Whether using a mainstream online meeting platform or investing in a specialized telemedicine solution, these can add hours back into each healthcare provider’s days, providing better work-life balance. Bonus: many patients appreciate the convenience of having this option, too.
Promoting Self-Care through Digital Wellness Tools
Technology can also support wellness initiatives by providing online tools and resources that offer, say, stress management and mental health support. For example, mobile applications, wearable devices, and online counseling services may offer meditation guidance, sleep tracking, stress reduction exercises and more. By encouraging employees to practice self-care—and making it very easy to do so—you reduce their risk of burnout, while showing you care.
In healthcare, technology isn’t just for providers; it’s also the HR professional’s number one tool. Make UrbanBound part of your HR technology toolkit—learn about our tech-based relocation solution for the healthcare industry.
