Key findings

• Despite what many believe, there isn’t a mass exodus of clinicians from health care.
• More than half of clinicians considering leaving their current role plan to remain in a health care job.
• About a quarter of clinicians are considering a role change within the next year, with almost as many unsure of whether they want to stay or leave their current role.
• Job movement and dissatisfaction are concentrated among pockets of the workforce, most notably nursing roles and younger clinicians.

Analysis and implications

• During the height of the pandemic, early-tenure clinicians faced reduced hands-on training and paused career advancement opportunities. As a result, many clinicians didn’t know what to expect in practice and felt they didn’t have the clinical skills needed to care for patients. This lack of preparation for the challenges of clinical work may have led to early-career dissatisfaction.
• Earlier-tenure clinicians—those ages 18 to 44—are also responding to unique economic incentives, such as inflation and the hot labor market, that weren’t there in recent years. This is causing job movement as younger clinicians seek opportunities with better total rewards or work-life balance.

Key findings

• Turnover is driven not by competitive offers, but by how clinicians feel in their current roles.
• Burnout is a universal experience among clinicians.
• “Value” manifests differently across generations, with clinicians ages 55+ reporting feeling undervalued at the highest rates.

Analysis and implications

• The sheer volume of burnout reported across age groups speaks to the fact that all clinicians need additional well-being support from leadership.
• Clinicians ages 55+ may feel particularly undervalued because they perceive a lack of recognition for their expertise or contributions to the organization.
• Distinguishing experienced clinicians, for instance, by offering remote oversight opportunities or training or mentorship roles, can help them feel valued by scaling their knowledge and expertise.

Key findings

Analysis and implications

• When clinicians perceive a negative work culture, they may leave for higher pay—even if they believe the working conditions will be no better elsewhere.
• Younger generations may be financially driven to pay off student debt if they’re recently out of school, while late-career staff may be close to retirement and trying to maximize their income.
• Leaders should view assistive personnel and lower-paid clinicians as equally important to other roles in patient outcomes and organizational success. Therefore, these clinicians should have access to the same benefits.

Key findings

• Flexibility is the third-most reported factor that would draw clinicians to a new job, coming in after compensation and work-life balance.
• Subsets of mid- to late-career clinicians actually prefer to work harder-to-fill shifts, such as night or weekend schedules.

Analysis and implications

• Clinicians value flexibility, but what flexibility looks and feels like can present differently for different people. Flexibility could mean shifts that allow clinicians to pick up their children from school or to attend evening classes.
• People go into health care knowing it’s a hands-on job. Most people aren’t necessarily searching for a 9-5 role or remote work. And while health care operates 24/7, that doesn’t mean you can’t offer any flexibility.
• Employers have an opportunity to match staff preferences to business needs. Whenever possible, leaders should ask staff for their scheduling preferences to improve clinician happiness while meeting organizational needs.

Key findings

Many clinicians considering leaving their roles haven't done so because they are motivated to stay and support their teammates and patients. Connection underpins clinician retention.

Analysis and implications

• Employees’ conceptions of organizational loyalty has changed. While employer loyalty has waned, clinicians remain loyal to the people they care about.
• Clinicians may feel a sense of responsibility to their teams and perhaps even a duty to continue being there for those who supported them through difficult pandemic-era work. That professional sense of purpose is what connects staff to their roles.
• However, employers can't rely on this form of loyalty to retain staff in the long-term without making major changes to the work culture itself.
• It is the job of leaders to help staff connect with their teams, their patients, and their roles to foster a culture that gives way to meaningful work.