Healthcare workers' well-being and stress

In the spring, Grant Thornton surveyed 5,000 U.S. employees about their overall well-being and how they felt about different aspects of their job as part of its State of Work in America report. Of these respondents, 10%, or around 500 employees, were part of the healthcare industry.

As a whole, U.S. workers felt most negatively about their financial and mental well-being. Among healthcare workers, these findings were even more pronounced. Only 27% of healthcare workers said their mental well-being was better or somewhat better compared to a year ago, which was 10 percentage points lower than workers overall.

Healthcare workers were also more likely to say that their financial and physical well-being were worse off compared to workers overall (30% vs. 26% for financial well-being and 27% vs. 21% physical well-being, respectively).

When asked about what was causing stress and burnout at work, over half of healthcare workers said labor shortages, which was roughly 10 percentage points higher than the average response. Healthcare workers were also more likely to report that labor shortages were the most stressful part of their job compared to workers overall (22% vs 14%, respectively).

According to David Tyler, national managing principal for healthcare at Grant Thornton, many healthcare companies did not adequately prepare for the current labor shortages, which has led to bidirectional pressure that negatively impacts frontline workers as well as other clinicians and administrators.

"It's not an uplifting environment at times, and there is not any emphasis being put on helping healthcare workers balance work and life," said Angela Nalwa, managing director and practice leader for people and organization at Grant Thornton.

What factors are impacting healthcare worker retention?

Among healthcare workers, the top reasons for staying in their jobs was the pay (39%) followed by benefits, such as health insurance and retirement (36%). Among all workers, benefits (38%) was the top reason followed by pay (35%).

According to Tyler, "[a] lot of emphasis on pay [from healthcare workers] comes from third-party nursing." Over the last few years, demand for contract nurses has doubled, and costs have increased by 60%.

"It's a recipe for disaster, as it puts a premium focus on dollars and cents among staff, as opposed to qualities full-time employees may not see, such as benefits," Tyler said.

In addition, only 41% of healthcare workers said they were paid fairly for the contributions they made to the success of the organization, much lower than the 52% of all workers. There was also a stark gender difference among healthcare workers, with 50% of male employees saying they are paid fairly compared to 39% of female employees.

When asked about what would cause them to leave their organization, healthcare workers responded that not feeling valued as an employee (31%) and their wages not keeping up with inflation (27%) would make them consider leaving.

Notably, healthcare workers' responses were consistently below average on several questions about how their company values them. For example, 44% of healthcare workers said their organization understands their needs as an employee, and 43% said their organization cares about them as a person and a professional. In comparison, 52% and 51% of all workers said the same to those respective questions.

Overall, Grant Thornton said the survey "uncovered some clear shortfalls that seem to permeate worker environment and employee attitudes in healthcare." To ensure healthcare organizations can retain their workers going forward, they should "devote attention to factors that make employees feel valued and appreciated at work, factors that go beyond more money." (Dyrdra, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/16; Grant Thornton State of Work in America report, 6/15)

The clinical workforce is at a crisis point across virtually all direct care roles. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing challenges to workforce stability, causing more staff members than ever to decide that now is the time to leave their jobs, some even leaving the industry altogether. Read on to find out three things you should know to advance your clinical workforce strategy.