Every day, countless patients interact with healthcare professionals. They span every race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, and age. To ensure that each patient receives the best possible care, having a diverse and inclusive workforce has never been more important. In fact, it can literally mean life or death.
Imagine discharging a patient who doesn’t fully understand their diagnosis or instructions for taking their medication. Having staff who speak the same language as their patients is absolutely critical — and that’s just one simple example.
Employment in healthcare is projected to grow 15% through 2029 — much faster than the average for all occupations. Diversity in the US is also on the rise, as the Census Bureau predicts that Black, Latino, and Asian Americans will make up a majority of the population by 2044. And we believe that the most successful healthcare systems will have employee bases that mirror their communities.
Healthcare leaders need to address gaps in diversity hiring now.
The benefits of diversity in healthcare
A diverse healthcare workforce brings countless benefits for employers, staff, and patients, including:
- Increased employee morale and retention. A diverse workplace can feel more welcoming and inclusive for healthcare workers from different backgrounds, creating a sense of community. And happier healthcare professionals are more likely to stay with their employer for the long term.
- Better patient experience. Whether at a hospital, clinic, or live-in care facility, healthcare staff should be as diverse as the patients they care for. This helps ensure that every individual has someone who can identify with them, communicate with them, and provide the unique care they need.
- Easier recruitment. A commitment to diversity is one important component of a strong employer brand. Demonstrating that commitment through your hiring practices can make it easier to attract and retain top talent across a variety of diverse audiences.
- More creative problem solving. People from diverse backgrounds bring a wide range of perspectives, ideas, and experiences. This can be valuable in a variety of settings, from everyday patient care to crisis management.
Building a diverse workforce is challenging — but Jobvite can help!
Talent professionals in the healthcare industry face unique challenges. Turnover is high, candidates are busy, and making the wrong hiring decision can have serious consequences for both both the patient and the health system’s reputation. Fortunately Jobvite understands these challenges and has solutions to help healthcare organizations attract and recruit top talent, faster.
- Demand for skilled healthcare professionals exceeds supply. In such a tight talent marketplace, it’s critical to convey a strong employer brand that stands out from the competition. A robust career site can help to highlight your diversity efforts, promote open opportunities, and attract healthcare professionals who want to work for you. Great employers like UPMC put their commitment to diversity and inclusion right on their careers page.
- Healthcare is a 24/7 business, making it difficult to connect with candidates. Healthcare professionals work around the clock — and often they aren’t sitting at a computer. This makes it harder to engage with candidates and schedule interviews. To accelerate the hiring process, a solution like Jobvite’s Intelligent Messaging lets you text with talent where they are, any time of the day or night, to communicate, schedule interviews, and ask pre-screening questions. Health systems like Community Health Network have automated text recruiting to engage top talent instantly.
- Screening for healthcare candidates is extremely complex. Because healthcare hiring can have life-or-death consequences, screening requirements are stringent — including verification of experience, licenses, and certifications. Jobvite’s ATS can automate these time-consuming manual screening tasks, allowing you to make faster, data-driven hiring decisions.
- Unconscious bias can influence hiring decisions. Bias BlockerTM from Jobvite automatically hides identifiable information you wish to redact from a candidate’s resume before hiring manager review. Candidate resumes will be intelligently de-identified while key information is retained to help bring a more diverse pool of talent into the health system.
- Job descriptions can include unintentional bias. Unknowingly, sometimes job descriptions are written in a way to attract or engage a certain population of candidates. Jobvite’s complementary Job Description Grader will give you instant feedback on what words within your job description may be creating bias.
Remember, the point of diverse hiring isn’t just to create a more diverse healthcare facility — it’s to create a better healthcare facility. Workforce diversity is vital to removing the language and cultural barriers that can stand in the way of good patient care — and it’s a key factor in creating a welcoming, efficient, and effective workplace.
Of course, diversity can’t be created overnight. It requires top-down commitment to building an inclusive workplace and meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse community. To learn more about how Jobvite can help you reach this goal, check out our Diversity & Inclusion Solution.
