Job satisfaction in healthcare: create more connection among staff
By 2DAYSMOODIES | 22/03/2023
There is still a shortage in healthcare. How happy are healthcare staff at work and what is the turnover rate within this sector? Learn more in this blog and read 3 tips on how to create more engagement & job satisfaction in healthcare.
Job satisfaction in healthcare
With a rating of 7.3, perceived work happiness in the healthcare sector is just slightly higher than average in the Netherlands (7.2), according to the National Work Happiness Survey. After the corona crisis, job happiness increased slightly, but it is not yet back to pre-crisis levels. In 2019, we scored 7.6. Based on this, we can conclude that perceived work happiness in healthcare is all right.
3 TIPS – More connection, less turnover
Healthcare staff have a tremendous passion for healthcare. For 83% of people in healthcare, the content of the work is the reason to keep working there, according to the National Work Happiness Survey. At the same time, it remains important to pay attention to work happiness within this sector. 30% of the employees in healthcare expect to leave the organization between now and 3 years. (Source: National Work Happiness Survey).
As with other sectors, there is also a shortage within healthcare. How do you keep healthcare staff happy and satisfied within their organization? The higher the perceived work happiness, the more engaged and the lower the absenteeism and turnover. In fact, unhappy employees have more reasons to leave their current employer.
The National Work Happiness Survey shows that three pillars are important for retaining people within healthcare: more work happiness, more appreciation and less work pressure.
Working on happiness at work in healthcare also means really connecting with employees. See them, stand close as management and ask how they are doing. This is a great way for an organization to work together with its employees on happiness at work. Below we have listed 3 practical tips for you.
TIP 1: Show genuine interest
Collect personal information about your employees through your HR contact and surprise them on these days with a personal congratulations or a small gift. Consider a birthday, service anniversary, or other special occasion. Take requests for personal calls with your employees seriously. Be on time, turn off your cell phone, and listen. Make sure you have an idea of your employees’ personal and/or family situation to be understanding when making requests for time-off, flexible work hours, etc.
TIP 2: Express your appreciation
Appreciation at work is named as one of the biggest drivers of job happiness. This is expressed through words rather than a bonus or other benefits. This can be done in a personal conversation with your employee, during a weekly team meeting or via an email. Just a simple “thank you” will positively influence the mood of your employees. Listen to your employees’ opinions, value opinions, and include them when making decisions and implementing improvements.
Appreciation is additionally one of the core aspects of job happiness. In the Employee Happiness Model, we see that this factor contributes to how engaged, enthusiastic, and happy employees are at work. And that in turn works positively against demotivated employees: engaged employees are more inclined to devote themselves to their organization.
TIP 3. Measure and monitor employee mood
How are your employees doing? Measure frequently, in an approachable way, how your employees are doing. When you make this measurable, you can keep a close eye on trends and developments. With 2DAYSMOOD’s tool, send employees a 15-second survey every week (or as often as you want) asking, “How are you feeling today?” Simple, but super effective. In handy dashboards and overviews, you get insight into the moods in your team. Do you see that there is stress, or do employees often give a neutral answer? Then it is good to start a conversation about this. See how it works here.