Until recently, employees walked into a health care job with a predictable list of expectations. For example, pay was the number one determinant of how employees chose jobs in health care since surveys began 20 years ago. Organizational culture and career progression came next. Expectations of things like mental health support or being “valued by the community” were further down the list and didn’t drive employment decisions for most staff.

This tool introduces seven evolving expectations that the modern health care workforce has of employers. We identified these expectations through an extensive literature review and interviews with over 100 health care leaders around the world. Organizations often fail to meet these expectations, but updating your engagement strategy to incorporate and build upon these areas can help attract and retain employees.

This tool will help you take an impartial snapshot of current performance across the seven expectations. It details bare minimum behaviors and offerings that organizations should invest in to meet baseline expectations, and it includes descriptions of what being a market leader entails. Lastly, it lists additional resources you can use to elevate your performance for each expectation.