How to Attract Healthcare IT Talent and Keep It

Baptist Health Improves IT Staff Retention

Since joining Baptist Health nearly two years ago, Miri has reduced monthly IT employee turnover from percentages in the 20s to single digits. “We were losing about 1 out every 5 IT employees. Now, it’s about 1 in 10 or 1 in 12,” he says.

Miri is retaining more staff because of the initiatives he has launched, including professional development training. He and his management team have built a positive, supportive work environment and receive regular feedback through employee satisfaction surveys.

“People stay because they feel valued,” he says. “A paycheck is important, but they stay because they like who they work for, they like where they work and they find what they do meaningful.”

Baptist Health, which has standardized on Dell Azure Stack hyperconverged infrastructure equipment, Pure Storage hardware and Arista networking equipment, recently consolidated multiple electronic health records into a single Epic implementation and built a mobile app to better engage patients.

The IT team also is pursuing artificial intelligence and automation projects, upgrades to its enterprise resource planning system, and a redesigned bedside processes to optimize operations and improve patient care. 

“Working in healthcare gives people purpose. You wouldn’t be in this business unless you wanted to make a difference,” Miri says.

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Baptist Health Offers Career Growth Opportunities

Working closely with the Baptist HR department, Miri launched a career advancement and professional development program in late 2022. So far, about 50 percent of the 500-person IT staff has signed up for training to develop their skills.

He partnered with several technical certification programs, allowing employees who want to grow their careers to take online courses on their own time. Doing so enables Baptist Health to meet future needs from its own internal talent pool, he says. 

“I’m offering you a buffet table, saying, ‘Choose what you want to learn, whether it’s Python, data analytics or ChatGPT, and I will pay for it because I’m banking on the fact that if I continue to invest in you, you’re going to invest in Baptist,” Miri says.

IT staff who want to pursue new positions, such as entry-level desktop support analysts who want to become software designers, can shadow their colleagues to learn the ropes, Miri says.

In Michigan, Corewell Health also offers training and supports attendance to conferences when it’s beneficial to employees’ jobs. IT managers meet with employees to come up with a career development plan so they can progress and reach their goals, says Corewell Health Chief Digital and Information Officer Jason Joseph.

“We have purposeful discussions on what their aspirations are, and what they would need to do to achieve their goals,” he says.

Corewell Health — formerly Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health — also holds an annual two-day digital services summit, where the 1,700-person IT staff can network, attend career development sessions and learn from each other, Joseph says.

“We have sessions where staff teach staff, and we bring in clinicians to talk about the importance of digital technology in their world,” he says.

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Flexible Work Options at Healthcare Organizations

Most IT employees also want the flexibility to work from home. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, only small pockets of Corewell Health’s IT staff were allowed to telecommute. Now, the digital services department has made hybrid work a permanent option for employees who can do their jobs remotely, Joseph says.

Corewell Health does ask employees to come into the office on occasion so they can have face time with their colleagues. Important conversations and collaboration happen differently when team members are together. He asks teams to hold occasional meetings for what he calls “gathering with a purpose.” The focus is on mental health, wellness and sustaining culture, and less about performance and productivity, he adds.

Similarly, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta allows hybrid work for appropriate job roles, but it asks remote workers to come into the office for important meetings. “If there’s a large meeting with business partners, we ask them to show that flexibility back and come into the office,” says Children’s CISO Stoddard Manikin.

Employees can work seamlessly from home thanks to technology. Corewell Health has standardized on Microsoft Teams for communication and collaboration, while Children’s uses Cisco Webex with softphones and Microsoft 365.

Baptist Health staffers use a mix of Dell, HP and Lenovo laptops and a combination of Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop, Citrix and VMware software to access applications and data remotely. They also use Microsoft 365 and Zoom for communication and collaboration, and key security tools that include CrowdStrike and TauSight, Miri says.

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Engages Its Employees

Employee engagement also is critical in attracting and retaining staff. Children’s, which has 436 IT employees, conducts employee satisfaction surveys every year and sometimes twice a year.

Seven years ago, the IT department received feedback from a staff survey that the employees were not given enough training opportunities. IT leadership immediately enhanced its training program, Manikin says. 

Because the IT team works in different locations, the department holds an offsite all-hands meeting at least once a year. Staffers review accomplishments, talk about upcoming focus areas and strategies, and celebrate employment anniversaries.

“It helps everybody to connect face-to-face, be reminded of our shared mission and have a break from the day-to-day routine,” he says.

Manikin holds regular security leadership meetings and allocates time for managers and team leaders to bring him concerns. The IT department also has launched the IT Shared Leadership program, where IT staffers not in management volunteer to talk about workplace issues and provide advice to leadership, he adds.

“Staff has found it to be empowering,” Manikin says. “It’s an opportunity for them to share their advice and give feedback in an open way.”

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