Employee Engagement Momentum Builds

by Brad Morton, SVP, Product Management

As we approach the holiday season and the end of another year, I am reminded of how thankful I am for family, friends, and good health. As I clean out my inbox and tidy up my office in preparation for 2012, I am also thankful that I can play a small role in the healthcare industry, specifically in employee engagement. 

Based on the success stories I hear weekly, healthcare’s focus on employees has come a long way in the last three to five years. Those stories often include comments about how the “good ole days” were actually not so good. For example, it wasn’t that long ago that employee engagement and culture were not strategic priorities and “people pillar” was still a radical term. Most of our HR partners were not included in organization-wide strategic discussions, and employee engagement surveys and many other human capital initiatives didn’t even make the nice-to-have list—much less the must-have list. Often, healthcare HR leaders had to build a case for employee engagement and were challenged to prove its connection to patient satisfaction and other outcomes, as though they were defending a dissertation in industrial organizational psychology.

Today, an abundance of information connects employee engagement to other healthcare outcomes. This connection is discussed in academic research and in numerous white papers. Morehead’s national engagement database supports this connection, as our top-performers in engagement are also recognized as top performers in HCAHPS and as “America’s Best Hospitals” and “Honor Roll Hospitals.” Several of our client organizations are past and present Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipients.

In light of these trends, it’s great to see that the days are hopefully over when organizations just wanted to check in every few years and see how satisfied employees were with the organization. For most healthcare organizations, gone are the days when leaders hoped for favorable survey results so employee satisfaction would just go away until the next time it was measured. Organizations now see that all employees—from linen services, to surgical services, to volunteers—need and deserve to be engaged in meaningful work in an organization they can commit to; to work in an inclusive, supportive culture; and to be recognized and rewarded for their efforts.

Leaders play a key role in creating an engaged workforce. Healthcare organizations recognize that employees who are promoted to leadership and management roles need support and training to successfully lead their teams. Just as importantly, accountability is built in along the way. As we all know, promoting good clinicians to leadership roles doesn’t mean they will automatically become good leaders.

Just as leaders need a good development plan, work groups need development, too. Top-performing work groups are recognized and invested in, and struggling work groups are addressed. “That’s the way it has always been” is no longer accepted.

What all of this means for me is that the momentum around engagement continues to build and that organizations understand engagement is integral to their business strategies. Yet, in this environment of rapid transformation, it’s good to see that organizations also understand the value of little things like “thank you” cards from the CEO. 

Yes, there’s a lot to be thankful for. 

The Morehead Team wishes you joyous holiday season!