Community Health Systems Find Recruitment Success Through Marketing-HR Collaboration

October 10, 2024

Workforce shortages and caregiver capacity challenges impact virtually all health care organizations across the U.S. A recent survey of 3,000 health care leaders found 81 percent reported delays in care due to staff shortages.

Leigh Ann Coleman, Bayhealth

Leigh Ann Coleman, program manager for Digital Innovation & Consumer Experience at Bayhealth

To counter these shortfalls in care delivery, more than half of all hospitals and health networks continue to increase their spending on outside agency support to fill key caregiver roles.

These realities place enormous pressure on health care human resources (HR) and recruitment. Today, competition is fierce. Addressing shortages now requires more integrated partnerships within organizations. For HR, that means recruitment marketing, which incorporates brand alignment with innovative approaches to tactical marketing strategy.

“Historically, our organization’s marketing efforts were mostly directed to services, physicians, and programs, not necessarily people,” says Leigh Ann Coleman, Bayhealth’s program manager for Digital Innovation & Consumer Experience. “COVID changed the game. We adjusted structurally so that marketing and HR now work hand in hand to support a consistent brand position with our overall employee recruitment efforts.”

Rachel Smith is vice president, People and Culture, at Evangelical Community Hospital in rural North Central Pennsylvania. “Our number-one challenge today is identifying and recruiting quality caregivers in all disciplines for patient care,” she says. “We needed the expertise to target the best candidates with meaningful messages that build on our organization’s history, culture, and brand.”

Editor’s note: Evangelical joined WellSpan in July 2024. The recruitment marketing program referenced in this article was completed prior to the merger.

In this article, we share two case studies on how these organizations’ HR teams work alongside marketing, with outside creative support, to bring new life to the health care recruitment process.

Read the full article here: Recruitment Marketing: New Partnership Boosts Workforce Development

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Matt Humphrey
President