During the first week of November, ActivateStaff had the pleasure of attending Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) 2022 Healthcare Staffing Summit in Houston.
The conference theme was “Healthcare Staffing Beyond the Pandemic”. The disruptions from the past few years made it so that change is inevitable and permanent. With all the new opportunities and challenges in the industry, the bulk of the sessions centered around recruitment trends and tech innovations to build the workforce of the future.
Here are the three trends that stood out for ActivateStaff from as the industry’s foremost thought-leaders took the stage at SIA’s Healthcare Staffing Summit.
Talent shortage to talent crisis
Chances are you already know that there is a major shortage of healthcare workers across North America. As SIA President Barry Asin cited from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ratio of job openings to job hires in healthcare increased to 2.4 in August 2022 (from 1.67 between 2012 and 2020). Of course, there was a lot of buzz surrounding the core of this issue and what can be done to resolve it.
Not a shortage of nurses but a shortage of nurses wanting to work
SIA reported that in recent months, there has been a sharp increase in reports of major burnout and fatigue among healthcare workers. Many of these reports have come in with a warning that a great number of these workers are looking to depart the industry within the next three years. Two years of enduring a hefty workload and feelings of inadequate support have left many reconsidering the future of their careers.
A better work culture leads to better retention
SIA also shared how “talent is in the driver’s seat” going forward. The demand for nurses is expected to continue to be higher than the supply. This means those that can meet candidates where they want to be have the advantage.
“It’s a terrific situation for people in the staffing industry – particularly for people in the healthcare staffing industry – who can find the talent, can keep them happy, can give them a package of services and help them feel valued… and make sure they are paid properly,” Barry Asin noted. “All of that is going to lead to success.”
A major part of the solution is encouraging your workers to want to come back and work with your agency. Creating a better work culture, support system and focusing on upskilling your current workforce can make everyone feel empowered and set your agency up for resilience, retention and success.
A new openness to flexible work
Throughout the conference, there was a collective sense of acceptance that flexible work is here to stay. Our team had many conversations at our booth about what we’re doing to support our staff remotely and how our technology can be used to support their workers.
Talent experience is a top priority
What candidates want from their recruitment experience is entirely different from what they had pre-pandemic. And traditional staffing agencies are now realizing that they’re losing out to firms that actively provide information through multiple channels of communication (direct chats or email being the preferred methods). Building a memorable experience that keeps candidates coming back means providing a personal touch where candidates want to be.
Platformification is accelerating
Barry Asin’s keynote also highlighted the acceleration in the growth of staffing platforms. It’s been over a decade since on-demand service apps like Uber first entered the market. As he mentioned, today these types of platforms are growing rapidly in staffing and have become most prevalent in the healthcare staffing industry. Temporary staffing platforms are responsible for making gig work easy to find (and in some cases, helping to create a gig economy where there wasn’t one before) and simplifying the hiring process for staffing agencies. It’s a win-win for workers and recruiters.
Agencies have adapted to the changing industry using staffing platforms
It’s become increasingly clear that in order to navigate the changing market, shifting to a recruitment model that allows your agency to scale is critical. Recently there has been an increase in the number of agencies acquiring staffing platforms, offering self-service options to enhance their ability to source candidates. The adoption of this new technology made recruiters more productive and fueled the growth of agencies exponentially. In fact, agencies that adopted platform models experienced 317% y/y growth in 2021 compared to 61% for traditional agency models.
Learn how a 130-million dollar healthcare agency increased revenue by 30% using a mobile-first staffing platform or get in touch with our team to learn more about how we can help you.
ActivateStaff team members attended Staffing Industry Analysts’ 2022 Healthcare Staffing Summit. Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) is the global advisor on staffing and workforce solutions. The company’s proprietary research covers all categories of employed and non-employed work including temporary staffing, independent contracting and other types of contingent labor. For more information on SIA, please visit the SIA website.
