New Forum research summary says employee engagement is critical in solving health care labor crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRURGENT
August 30, 2012 - NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The U.S. health care industry employs one in eight Americans according to a recent NPR report, making it soon to be the most dominant sector of the U.S. economy, superseded only by retail. However, a growing shortage of skilled professionals, high employee turnover rates and the difficulty of retaining top talent poses serious problems for the industry and the state of quality health care, according to a new research summary released for the Labor Day observance by the business thought leadership organization, The Forum: Business Results Through People.
The report, “Employee Engagement = Better Patient Care and Satisfaction” is the latest in a new series of targeted and concise research packages designed for human resources leaders. Its authors, Dr. Frank Mulhern of Northwestern University, and Jimmy Peltier and Andy Dahl of the University of Wisconsin, studied employee satisfaction and the link to patient satisfaction at a major New York hospital. They said, “Hospital departments that have higher levels of employee engagement provide better experiences for patients, and patients that have higher levels of satisfaction are most likely to recommend the hospital to others.”
The report recommends health care facilities take a strategic move to put programs and activities in place that contribute to employee engagement. “A key conclusion of the study is that, in addition to what health care workers do, emphasis needs to be placed on how the employees feel about what they do. Patient experiences won’t be good if employees aren’t happy.”
They concluded, “While some improvements in care quality can be reached through investments in technology and infrastructure, the most dramatic results are achieved through employees.”
To read the entire research summary, please visit The Forum’s website, www.businessresultsthroughpeople.org.
Coming in October: ‘Think Differently Tank’ offers engagement ideas, insight.
Business leaders interested in finding ways to build employee engagement and improved results for their organizations should plan to attend the fifth annual Think Tank hosted by The Forum: Business Results Through People and the Chicago Compensation Association. It happens Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 at The Motivation Show at Chicago’s McCormick Place West. To learn more, please visit http://www.businessresultsthroughpeople.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=32
About the Forum
The Forum (www.BusinessResultsThroughPeople.org), affiliated with Northwestern University, is an organization for thought leadership advocating the most effective way business leaders create and sustain organizational value is through partnership with people | 
