employee engagement

How to Boost Healthcare Employee Engagement to Ensure Success


August 16, 2021 For Dentists, For Doctors

The impact of COVID-19 has been significant – and the healthcare industry hasn’t gone unscathed. Shutdowns reduced patient loads, new protective measures, and the shift to telehealth have all affected bottom lines. But disruption doesn’t have to mean disaster. Studies show that employee engagement is key to building organizational resilience and maintaining a sure footing in the market even as the effects of COVID-19 continue to unfold.

Here are some steps your healthcare organization can take to improve engagement and build resilience.

1. Improve Your Performance Management Systems

High-quality, engaged employees, thrive in a functional environment that leverages their strengths and talents – and when they’re empowered and supported by their managers. Your performance management systems should be optimized to ensure that your top employees perform at their best. You can do this by monitoring work hours, responsibilities, and output to see where employees are exceeding expectations – or need support to continue to perform at a high level. Properly using these systems reduces dysfunction, dissatisfaction, burnout, and attrition.

2. Create Opportunities for Growth and Learning

High-performing employees value their skills, knowledge and relish new challenges and opportunities for professional growth. Your management team should provide access to ongoing professional development opportunities that align with employees’ individual professional trajectories. This, along with a clear path for advancement tied to performance, seniority, and KPIs, will help build engagement and loyalty.

3. Involve Employees in Your Mission

Mission-driven organizations are successful organizations. Having a clear mission strengthens branding, invites stakeholder buy-in, and fosters pride and loyalty among employees. But it’s critical that healthcare organizations treat their mission as central rather than an “add-on” and strive to connect that purpose with employees’ daily experiences and goals. Doing this will engender positive relationships by helping employees see that they’re part of something bigger than themselves.

4. Dial-In Your Branding

Your organization’s overall branding is key to the experience of both your employees and your patients. Your brand, which should be built around the central purpose or mission touched upon above, should convey who you are, what you do, why you do it, and what sets you apart. Branding is the whole experience of your organization, from its look and feel – including its premises – to how you work with your patients. The more refined and easily digestible your branding is, the easier it is for your employees to internalize it – and appreciate what they’re a part of.

5. Treat Engagement Like a Life-Saving Metric

Employee engagement in a healthcare environment translates into improved outcomes for patients. Patients being treated in high-engagement settings report better experiences along with fewer safety or health complications. Keeping patient outcomes at the foreground of your engagement efforts is essential.

6. Know that Top Talent Begets Top Talent

Hiring high-quality people creates an environment that draws in top talent while also encouraging other employees to perform at their best – something that boosts resilience in both the long and short term. By hiring, training up, and retaining high-quality staff, your healthcare organization will be positioned for success.

At Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty, we understand that healthcare organizations are working hard to remain resilient during these disruptive times. We also know that one factor that can easily be controlled – which positively affects engagement – is the quality of your environment. If you’re considering moving, leasing, or revamping your organization’s workplace, talk to our team today about what to look for to achieve the best quality outcomes for your practice – and your employees.