Recruitment Marketing: New Partnership Boosts Workforce Development
// By John Marzano //
When marketing and human resources come together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Leigh Ann Coleman, program manager for Digital Innovation & Consumer Experience at Bayhealth
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.
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.
Rachel Smith, vice president, People and Culture, at Evangelical Community Hospital
“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.”
This article shares 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.