Companies in the healthcare sector are particularly affected by staff shortages and a high leaver rate. There are many approaches to strengthening employee loyalty and attracting new employees. However, unimaginative benefits alone are not enough. The Solina Foundation is fully committed to the "Employee Experience" card and has developed a work experience promise together with its employees and made it tangible through concrete measures.
Jana arrives a little late for dinner with her friends. She brings with her the experiences of her first week at her new employer. She works in the IT industry and programmes tools to make everyday working life easier - at least that's the promise. Her friends are enthusiastic about Jana's stories: The slide at the entrance, the fitness centre provided and the free vegan snack make her dream of the perfect place to work come true.
Only Leon remains sceptical. "All well and good," he says. He was also initially dazzled by the well-staged niceties at his employer. He still appreciates these opportunities, but they alone are not a distinguishing feature of a good employer.
Staff shortage as a driver
What makes a good employer?
This is a question that is increasingly becoming a priority for management in the healthcare sector. By 2030, an additional 65,000 carers will be needed to ensure good quality healthcare for the Swiss population. in autumn 2021, 61% of the Swiss electorate voted "yes" to the nursing initiative, signalling the urgent need for action. With this decision, the lack of junior staff and the high resignation rate were recognised as a ticking time bomb. It is now up to the Federal Council to draw up a proposal for implementing the initiative. However, this process is taking too long for many institutions, as the staff shortage is acute. Some employers in the healthcare sector are therefore falling back on the supposed recipes for success from the booming technology sector, which is considered particularly attractive to many employees.
A copy-paste mentality is recognisable in the competition for talent in the healthcare sector. But a slide or a pinball machine alone is not enough. Innovative and sustainable solutions are needed to compete for healthcare professionals.
Focus on the employee experience
The work experience is categorised into three dimensions in the specialist literature (see diagram below). A dominant focus is often placed on the cultural dimension, which is reflected in the behaviour of employees towards each other (for example, feedback after a task has been completed together). However, the technological dimension is also increasingly shaping employees' work experience and determining whether an employer is perceived as innovative (for example, a completely digitalised and smoothly functioning application process). The physical working environment should not be forgotten as the third dimension. It has a significant influence on whether employees feel comfortable in a workplace. Take the test yourself: would it be important to you and would you be proud to show your workplace to your friends?
An investment in the cultural, technological and physical environment of employees means a clear "YES" to a place where people enjoy working.
Solina focuses on Employee Experience
The Solina Foundation, one of the leading institutions for inpatient long-term care in the canton of Bern, has set itself the goal of proactively shaping the work experience in a fresh and authentic way. Over the past year, it has focussed intensively on the following question: "What unites us at Solina and makes us unique?" And who better to describe the company's DNA than the protagonists, the care employees themselves?
No sooner said than done: a diverse working group of care professionals from different hierarchical levels was set up. With the support of HR Campus, the Solina work experience and the wishes of an attractive employer were researched using various methods. Lego bricks and personal anecdotes were among the tools used.
It would be incorrect and unrepresentative to draw conclusions about the entire workforce on the basis of the results collected from individual voices. For this reason, the formulated theses, which reflected the unifying and unique aspects of Solina, were validated and specified by means of a survey of other care professionals in the company. As managers play a key role in the topic of work experience, the commitment of the management was finally obtained.
As a result of this process, the key moments along the employee journey were defined (e.g. the first week at work or experiences with residents). These key moments are now being developed in a follow-up project. Six promises were also defined to show what employees can expect at Solina. One of the promises is:
Modern workplace: Solina offers you a versatile workplace with individual retreat options, progressive working time models and a good work-life balance.
One of these defined promises often forms the basis for the marketing team to attract new talent with the employer brand on the careers page. However, the creation of an employer brand alone is not enough, as it is well known that empty promises do not pay off. Even if a brand's value proposition can certainly show ambition, the advertised value proposition should always correspond to reality.
For this reason, Solina has decided to define at least three specific implementation measures for each of the six promises. These should form the basis for the subsequent measurability of the work experience with technological support. In the case of the promise "Modern workplace", Solina has defined the following measures:
- We offer a modern infrastructure, attractive meeting zones, comfortable cloakrooms and spacious staff rooms as well as opportunities for quiet working.
- Individual wishes can be taken into account when drawing up the work schedules and are taken into account where possible.
- We offer the possibility of part-time work or a change in workload, of course in consultation with management.
Leaving the responsibility for a positive work experience solely to the HR department would be too simple and not very promising. Management, leaders and, above all, the employees themselves must be involved in the design and implementation process from the outset.
Measurability thanks to technological support
As a next step, Solina will now work with HR Campus and a Technology company to examine how the work experience promises and the experiences of Solina employees with the key moments can be digitally measured and mapped.
An example of the sustainable realisation of the promises: The work experience is continuously visualised using pulse surveys. Thanks to these anonymous, digital surveys, honest feedback is collected. The results are made available to managers digitally in the form of a cockpit or dashboard. The results are discussed in existing forums, such as team meetings, and measures for improvement are derived. True to the motto: "Listen, understand and act".
