It’s no secret that healthcare workers have tougher jobs than many other people. A recent poll sheds light on the difficult situation: healthcare employees are about as happy with their jobs as anyone else, yet feel less valued and struggle with work-life balance.
For healthcare employers, job satisfaction impacts the bottom line most directly in the form of employee retention rates. Those in healthcare fields are 35% more likely to leave their job for a small raise, compared to workers in other industries. Improving morale often costs far less than the churn of training new employees.
The poll, conducted by TINYpulse, found:
- Healthcare workers rate how much they feel valued at 10% lower than the general population.
- Work-life balance is rated at just 5.87 on a 10-point scale.
- Healthcare workers are less likely to say they would be a customer of their employer than workers in other industries.
The data suggests that healthcare workers like their jobs and enjoy helping patients, but are dissatisfied with workplace conditions and employer communications.
Supporting employees with communication and organization-wide tools appears to be the solution for improvement and worker retention.
Suggestions include:
- Open communication with employees about job satisfaction
- Provide healthcare equipment that makes the job less physically demanding
- Address issues related to coworkers and the organization, not just individual performance
Healthcare equipment from DJ Products includes motorized hospital carts for moving linens, janitorial supplies, dialysis machines, and other heavy items that are otherwise pushed or pulled manually.
Ease the burden of healthcare workers who exert physical energy moving healthcare equipment — morale and worker retention may depend on it.
