Healthcare HR leaders should prioritize roles where retirement exposure, planned service expansion, persistent turnover, or reliance on contract labor creates the clearest future staffing risk. Assess the scale and timing of those needs alongside current vacancies to determine where pipeline development should begin. Include essential support roles in that assessment, since they also require succession planning and specialized training.

At HR Healthcare, Kelly Weatherly, Chief Human Resource Officer at ECU Health, illustrated why that broader view matters. She described an aging workforce in facilities operations and the need to maintain continuity as experienced employees retired. ECU Health responded by partnering with high schools and community colleges on pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships for skilled trades, including HVAC, plumbing, and electrical work. The lesson is practical: talent pipelines should protect operational continuity as well as meet clinical staffing needs.

Another conference discussion highlighted the value of aligning education benefits with specific career pathways and workforce needs. It also identified clinical placements, educator availability, and preceptor capacity as constraints, underscoring that each priority pipeline needs a clear destination role and sufficient training capacity.

For CHROs, workforce planners, and talent acquisition leaders, the next step is a joint review with operational leaders. Compare roles by expected retirements, growth requirements, turnover, and contract labor dependence. Assess training lead times and partner capacity, then select an initial pipeline with an accountable owner, a defined entry route, and measures that track participants' progress into the roles you need to fill.

Join the upcoming HR Healthcare conference to compare workforce planning approaches and explore how peers are building pipelines for their most pressing staffing needs.