Professional Topics

Be Creative in Your Approach to Healthcare IT Staffing
How to recruit and retain top drawer IT staff.

Recruiting issues in information technology aren’t going away in the foreseeable future. Last month in HMT, Katie Mazzuckelli of Tyler and Company, Atlanta, Ga., a national healthcare executive search firm, addressed issues about the present marketplace and qualifications recruiters look for in an applicant.

This month, Mazzuckelli discusses new approaches in the areas of recruiting, reward and retention, training, scarce skills, competition and turnover.

By Katie Mazzuckelli

Recruiting

The use of the Web is increasing. I still wouldn’t recommend spending much time cruising the Internet for candidates, but I would definitely post positions on as many Web sites as possible so they can be found by potential candidates. There are a lot of general IT staffing sites (e.g., MonsterBoard); the downside with these is the lack of focus on healthcare. So to the extent that content knowledge is necessary in the job, make that very clear in the posting. Even at that, you are likely to spend time weeding through replies from those without that qualification.

Other sites to remember are individual membership association sites, for example, HIMSS and CHIME, and your own organization’s site. Finally, many contingency recruiters and executive search consultants are starting to make space on their Web site’s job posting list for client positions. The more exposure the better. Internet listings are generally a cost-effective means of advertising open positions, and candidates—especially those in the IT field—are visiting sites more and more frequently.

Reward and Retention

Be creative. The organizations that "win awards" for retention for being a great place to work are doing things that might sound almost outlandish at first. For example:

• Anything to support families. Now that the two career family is common, for example, provide a means (like an in-house center) for caring for children when they are sick or home for holidays or summer vacation. Of course, on-site day care for everyday is always a big plus. If this is not possible, perhaps the cost of off-site care could be underwritten so the financial burden on families is lessened (even a tax-deferral plan helps!). ( Note: See accompanying article "Kids Under the Weather:A Rainbow of Care for Sick Children")

• "Vacations"—much like the trips awarded to successful sales employees for years, either with a group of other employees, or just one employee and his or her family. Time off is one of the biggest rewards employees say they value. Those working long days and weekends appreciate an "extra day" off they can spend at home.

• "Concierge services," like hotels, have a "desk" employees can call or visit to help solve any issues they have like dinner reservations, dry cleaning, transporting a pet to the vet, etc.

These types of rewards and retention methods pay off, i.e., they keep employees available to work and focused on their jobs. Their free time, increasingly limited, is really free!

Certainly a formal recognition program should be set in place and administered carefully. Even if the reward is a plaque presented during a staff meeting, it will be significant to the recipient.

Training Stars

Training is always a "Catch-22." Offering opportunities for advanced education and training is a vital component of any retention strategy. But, once employees are trained, they are certainly more marketable. The best approach is to offer a comprehensive training program —in-house courses, opportunities to take courses from outside vendors, paid tuition or fees for attendance at a local college, etc.— but lay out rewards such as salary increases and bonuses that employees will enjoy if they stay through a certain time period after training is complete. This will help ensure that that new training is put to use in your organization.

"Gen X’ers" are independent. That is not to say they are self-centered; they are just looking to do things their own way, to create. They are not usually interested in learning from history, so are quickly bored by cautionary tales which begin: "we tried it that way once, here is why it did not work . . ." Because they are interested in working independently, they are likely to stay if you create that type of environment for them.

Scarce Skills

The hardest jobs to fill are still in the technical ranks—programmers, analysts, and project managers. There is less trouble in the management ranks. Compensation trends —continuing to climb in the technical ranks but holding steady in the management ranks— reflect this.

I am not sure when "Y2K" will be "over." Certainly, it will not be over on 1/1/2000. There will be a lot of work after that milestone to clean up the things that were not done beforehand or were missed. At some point, though, the industry will need to address management staff needs that have been increasingly ignored in this period where staffing needs in the technical professional ranks have been overshadowing everything else.

Competition

All industries are competing for IT staff. The further you move into the technical ranks—the less the need for healthcare knowledge—the more this is true. I don’t believe there are any significant differences by region. In the provider community, the move toward market-based compensation has been slow because these organizations are used to employees being captive to healthcare.

And, of course, healthcare, when forced to compete against other industries, is often not successful because, historically, healthcare has been a relatively low-paying industry. Healthcare providers often use bonuses—sign-on, relocation, etc.— to try to compete more effectively with other industries for technical talent. But, other industries struggling just as much as healthcare to recruit and retain IT talent can often win a bidding war.

Turnover

Turnover rates are holding steady at 5-7 years in the management ranks though turnover is often much higher in the technical ranks in today’s market.

At all levels, doing the things outlined in the above discussion of rewards and retention will help ensure the type of environment that captivates employees.

Of course, all the standard retention strategies should be employed too: make sure to build progression paths and communicate these to employees so they understand how their career could grow. Again, training opportunities enhance career growth. Offer employees "neat things" to work on—challenging and innovative projects. No one feels their career is enhanced through dedication to an organization utilizing "old" technology. Finally, of course, do your best to ensure competitive compensation packages.

Katie Mazzuckelli is the HIT Practice Leader for Tyler & Company, a national executive search consulting firm with offices in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Dallas.