Talent, Rewards and Risk Survey Report
Readiness for Change: New Directions for the Hospital Industry
Towers Watson - ASHHRA Talent, Rewards and Risk Survey
More than 100 HR executives at U.S. hospitals and health care systems participated in the survey on the future of the hospital industry. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were from a hospital system and 31% were from a stand-alone hospital. The respondents represented a cross section of institutions, with 30% from large, 41% from medium and 29% from small organizations. The survey was fielded in June and July of 2011.
The results of the Talent, Rewards and Risk Survey, conducted by Towers Watson and ASHHRA, suggest that hospitals aren't adequately preparing for the sweeping changes health care reform will bring to the industry. Results indicate that many hospitals plan to use traditional approaches to remain competitive in the coming years, despite the inevitability that reform will radically alter hospital staffing, the patient load, the payer mix, the physician/hospital relationship and the delivery of care.
Key findings:
- A majority of the surveyed hospital HR executives expect health care reform to adversely affect the industry.
- Very few respondents anticipate significantly more workforce shortages over the next three years.
- Hospitals expect customer service - measured via patient satisfaction surveys - to rise significantly on the list of top competitive differentiators over the next three years.
- Reward programs are still largely mired in the past, rather than being in sync with today's realities.
- Hospital HR executives place insufficient emphasis on traditional attraction factors, most notably pay, when assessing the strength of their employee value proposition.
- Taken as a whole, the survey results suggest that most hospital industry executives have a business-as-usual mindset that's markedly out of step with reality.
