The current and predicted shortages of skilled healthcare workers have gone from “concern” to “crisis.” Nurses, pharmacists, radiology and laboratory technicians and nurses’ aids are in such short supply that some facilities have had to temporarily close units or curtail services. More frightening: Shortages are predicted to worsen in coming decades simultaneously with the aging of the largest population segment in US history.

     The conclusions of several research studies by leading healthcare organizations are strikingly similar, calling for structural changes in jobs, creative recruiting, improved education and training and greater front-line support.

     No matter what the business or industry sector, key lessons lie in these findings.

Briefly, here are some facts:

• More than 90 percent of long-term care facilities lack sufficient staff to ensure high-quality care. An additional 800,000 nurses aides will be needed by 2008.
• A survey of healthcare workers found that 27 percent are seeking a position in another industry.
• Eighty-nine percent of hospital CEOs reported significant workforce shortages. These include registered nurses, pharmacists, radiology and nuclear imaging staff, laboratory and medical technology workers and nursing aides.

     Studies of possible solutions are consistent. Strategies are a compilation of findings from major research efforts by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, AON Consulting’s Loyalty Institute in partnership with the American Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administrators and the American Health Care Association, which is the trade group for nursing-home administrators.

Healthcare Lesson:
     Meaningful work: “Foster meaningful work” is one of five key recommendations by the AHA. An abundance of paperwork and administrative tasks are pulling nurses and pharmacists away from what drew them to the field: helping people.

All-Industry Application:
     Examine job structures. Too much redundant administrative tasks limits time applied to professional and technical work. What process changes would reduce these chores? Is variety built into jobs? How are staff encouraged to learn new tasks?

Healthcare Lesson:
     Workplace culture matters: We now have an abundance of research tying organizational culture to profit and sustainability. Employees will stay and demonstrate higher levels of commitment and contribution they feel valued, their development is supported, there are opportunities to excel and they feel treated fairly.

All-Industry Application:
     Culture is everything. A warning to managers and senior leaders: Your organization’s culture is rarely what you believe it to be. What matters is what your line staff, support personnel and technical experts experience. Too, culture varies. Each department or work group will reflect the leadership style of the manager or supervisor.
     Carefully examine how your organization values and supports people. Compensation is only one part of the formula. How people are treated can play a far more significant role.

Healthcare Lesson:
     Creative recruitment. North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York, after learning many nurses’ aides wanted to be RNs, established an on-site nursing-education program fully funded by the hospital. To develop a sufficient workforce in an era of population decline requires new approaches. However, unless job structure is addressed, attracting and retaining talent will remain a struggle.

All-Industry Application:
     Get out of your company building. Are you working with industry groups to build this and the next generation of skilled workers? Are you helping to ease entrance into the field by publicizing benefits of your field of work? What creative approaches are used to attract and train new workers? Consider apprentice programs, shadowing by high-school students and in-house training programs to advance lower-skilled employees.

Healthcare Lesson:
     Step outside your field. Most industries are insulated. In recruiting ads, employers demand experience in their own field, and prefer hiring people with same-industry experience.
     More and more, lessons from other industries are proving valuable. New alliances bring new perspectives and a larger potential talent field. Healthcare recruiting is taping into former welfare recipients and workers displaced by technology that has moved off shore.
     Training programs and methods are being used to appeal to younger workers and make training more relevant to the work environment.

All-Industry Application:
     Get out of your office, again. Become involved in local industry consortiums and attend meetings of other industry professionals. Their models, with adaptation, can become your new initiatives. Get involved with government workforce-development efforts, local universities and trade schools. Senior managers can teach classes and, while sharing their knowledge, will learn about the desires and expectations of the next generation of workers.

Healthcare Lesson:
     Check the dollars. Recent increases in nursing and other related professionals’ salaries have made the fields more attractive. Well behind the curve are nurses’ aides and support staff.

All-Industry Application:
     Continually assess whether pay is fair in your industry, for related positions requiring the same level of skills and within your organization. Are career ladders available to recognize and promote talented staff, including those who don’t want to go into management? Balance the cost of adjusting pay to turnover costs, which range from 70 to 200 percent to replace a defecting worker, depending on the type of position.

Retention Agenda
     If ever there was a business sector in crisis, it is all areas of healthcare. The research conducted by major healthcare associations can be applied to all industries.
     Examine your own organization: Are job structures keeping people or driving them away? Does your culture support people, including their desire to learn and grow new skills, or are they boxed into their current positions? In how many community workforce programs are your senior leaders involved? What creative recruiting methods are you using? How are you reaching out to the next generation of potential skilled workers?