When it Comes to Total Talent Management, There’s Something About Healthcare
Often described as the “holy grail” of workforce management, total talent management is defined as the integration and engagement of the full range of talent sources into a single, comprehensive workforce management regime. The talent sources involved typically include non-employee workers like temps, independent contractors, consultants, freelancers, volunteers, outsourced resources and even non-human resources like robots, drones, and artificial intelligence. The ability to plan, administer and manage all these worker types harmoniously and efficiently in pursuit of business goals is total workforce management and the healthcare industry has it down cold! What factors contribute to healthcare’s ability to realize this goal and how can other industries emulate this success?
The Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) recently wrote in their “MSP Market Developments Summary” that “Healthcare MSP providers appear to be leading the market in delivering solutions closest to what can be defined as total talent management to more effectively support the organization through managing demand and supply.” But what is it about MSPs serving healthcare that makes the results they produce so effective in this particular industry versus others?
As is often the case, necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, SIA points to tight availability in a low unemployment environment. What makes this tight market even tighter for healthcare industry companies is the greater level of certification and licensure typically required of candidates to work in this industry, making a difficult sourcing environment even more complicated to navigate. Add to the mix, the round-the-clock shifts and resulting scheduling challenges facing hospitals and other care organizations. Healthcare has been forced to solve the problems associated with workforce composition simply to remain competitive as improved labor management drives increased MSP implementation in this sector.
Healthcare organizations are leveraging MSP programs to drive significant benefits in pursuit of their complex requirements and have been very successful in deriving results. Through MSP partnerships, healthcare organizations have been successful at strategic blending of direct sourcing and contingent RPO solutions in support of total talent management objectives. The process efficiencies driven by MSP activity are also yielding gains for hospitals in effective shift management and scheduling across both contingent and permanent hires.
MSPs also bring great expertise in the use of emerging technologies to the table such as freelancer management systems to effectively optimize the growing utilization of freelance talent. MSPs are also skilled at developing and deploying proven workforce planning strategies to balance contract work demand and labor supply while keeping their clients’ risk exposure to legal and compliance threats minimized.
The MSP role serving healthcare industry organizations also focuses on improving retention in a field where competition for talent is stiffer than the mean. Innovative strategies for tapping runner up candidates to fill roles rejected by the first-choice candidate, the reengagement of retirees (with their deep pools of valuable domain expertise) and even the administration of referral programs are all helping achieve the total talent management goal.
The close partnership between healthcare industry organizations and MSP providers is yielding the closest thing to the ideal of total talent management seen anywhere in the practical application of workforce management solutions today. However, an MSP partner can be just as valuable to organizations in other sectors too. Find out what an MSP engagement can do to help achieve your business goals.
