How Burnout Is Contributing to the Great Resignation in Healthcare

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the healthcare industry was experiencing difficulties filling job roles and sourcing the best new talent to staff hospitals and other care-giving locations.

Poor pay, long hours, and a stressful working environment have all conspired to reduce the attractiveness of healthcare as a profession all but the most resolute young people are considering as a career.

This was only exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic which made healthcare an even more stressful and hazardous industry to work in that it was previously. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, now we find ourselves hemorrhaging the staff we already have.

The Great Resignation

The world is currently experiencing a phenomenon which is seeing record numbers of people quitting their jobs and seeking alternative careers. The reasons for this are myriad and vary by industry, but a huge factor driving the so-called Great Resignation in healthcare is burnout.

According to research carried out by the American Hospital Association, 42% of physicians reported feeling burnt out during the first year of the pandemic in 2020. By the end of 2021, this figure had increased to a staggering 80% - that’s four in every five physicians reporting feelings of burnout – a proportion which has been described as a crisis point.

Is it any wonder then that 30-40% of healthcare workers have announced their intention to leave the healthcare profession and seek less stressful work on alternative career paths? This is on top of the estimated 200,000 registered nurses which are needed to replace those nearing retirement, and the hundreds of thousands of physicians which are expected to be needed over the next decade.

Solutions

Something needs to be done to address this situation as the number of people needing healthcare services isn’t going to decrease, even now the worst days of the pandemic are [hopefully] behind us.

The most urgent factor we need to tackle as an industry is the level of burnout being felt by healthcare staff working on the frontlines of the industry such as physicians and nurses. Increasing the overall wellbeing of these people and reducing the volume of stress they are under should go some way to alleviating the vast numbers walking away from the industry.

Many healthcare businesses are heavily relying on contingent staffing to plug the gaps in their workforces, but you don’t need us to tell you this is a "finger in the dike" kind of solution and only serves to offer temporary relief from the crisis. It should be apparent that healthcare organizations cannot simply hire their way out of the crisis and need to focus significantly more attention on staff retention if they are to survive.

This means HR managers and staff need to find better ways of supporting staff and helping them better cope with the elevated levels of stress which lead to burnout and resignation. They need to be provided with mechanisms through which they can report and share feedback on their working conditions and feel like their concerns are being listened to and taken seriously.

The pandemic and being under lockdown restrictions has opened many people’s eyes to the flaws in our previous attitudes to work and has shone a spotlight on the advantages for both life and job satisfaction a more evenly proportioned work/life balance can bring.

By engaging with staff and unearthing these issues before they reach crisis point can help HR teams deal with them efficiently and effectively and provide solutions tailored to individual needs. This will, of course, increase the workload of HR staff themselves, but it will be worth it to retain those frontline staff most critical to healthcare provision – as long as you don’t burnout your HR people that is.

To meet the immediate need of talent shortages means getting more granular when it comes to matching the skills possessed by your people to the roles which need filling. You need to make sure the staff you do have are working more efficiently and are being placed where they can be of most benefit.

Final Thoughts

The Great Resignation is exacerbating an existing talent crisis within healthcare and the COVID-19 crisis has only served to widen the cracks which were already showing in an industry known for long hours and high stress environments.

If healthcare providers want to retain the staff they already have and make the industry more attractive to those considering a career in it, there needs to be a renewed focus on employee wellbeing and a solid strategy which seeks to identify and eliminate burnout at the earliest possible stage.

Burnout is sure to be part of the conversation at HR Healthcare 2022, taking place in October at the Hyatt Regency Austin, TX.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.