Health Care Employee Confidence Declines

ATLANTA – Health care worker confidence decreased to the lowest level in more than a year, according to an online study of more than 160 employees.

The Randstad Healthcare Employee Confidence Index, released by Atlanta-based health care staffing firm Randstad Healthcare, showed worker confidence fell to 54.3 in the third quarter of 2014 from 59.8 in the previous quarter. Randstad noted, however that the index remains above the positive confidence threshold of 50.0.

Health care employees surveyed include physicians, nurses, health care administrators and other health care professionals.

Workers are less confident about the strength of the economy, with only 19 percent of respondents believing the economy is getting stronger. Furthermore, health care professionals reported lower confidence levels regarding their own personal employment situation. Another survey, the Randstad Personal Confidence Index, a measure of employees’ confidence in their own employment situation, fell by 3.5 points from 77.1 to 73.6 in the third quarter. Health care workers’ confidence in finding a job and their sense of job security both declined this quarter.

Yet, health care employees’ willingness to job hunt represented one of the largest increases in the third quarter. More than 30 percent of workers are now likely to job search in the next 12 months compared to 28 percent last quarter. And they will put effort into all aspects of the job search, such as working with a service like ARC Resumes (https://www.arcresumes.com/local/michigan/) to make sure that their resumes reflect them as professionals as best as they possibly can.

“We’re seeing a relative roller-coaster in confidence levels among health care employees, reflective of the ever-changing nature of the health care environment today,” said Steve McMahan, president of Randstad Healthcare, in a statement. “What deserves attention and concern for health care organizations across the country is the significant number of employees likely to seek new employment. As the leaders of these organizations are keenly aware, the ability to deliver optimal patient care and ensure patient satisfaction is largely influenced by consistent, quality staff at the right ratios.”

Randstad noted that engagement of health care employees has a direct tie to patient satisfaction and revenue. According to a Towers Watson study, a major U.S. hospital network sought to determine how its work environment and organizational practices affected employee engagement, patient satisfaction and patient willingness to recommend the hospital. The study found that employees’ views of empowerment, career development opportunities and teamwork influenced engagement. In addition, employee engagement was a key predictor of patient satisfaction, leading to an increased likelihood that patients would recommend the network’s hospitals to others.

“It goes without saying that disengagement leads to turnover, something our health care organizations simply can’t afford,” McMahon said. “As health care executives and leaders seek ways to retain hard-to-find quality and specialized health care talent, boosting engagement and providing adequate support to health care staff are two great places to start.”