Healthcare industry, a challenging yet most gratifying place for HR professionals

Vivek Gupta, Senior Vice President- HR, Radiant Life Care Group of Hospitals emphasises on the importance of HR professionals in the healthcare industry to keep manpower numbers and manpower cost at optimum levels

The healthcare industry today is far different from the way it was a decade ago. Though it always had to operate under a certain amount of pressure, the fast transformation due to technology- both clinical and information, access to knowledge and information, entry of corporate players in the field and government policies have presented a situation which was never witnessed before.

Along with clinical excellence, service excellence equally matters. The way employees make a difference by touching a patient’s life is unique in itself. All this raises an increasing demand for people with the right blend of professionalism, attitude and a passion for serving people.

Today with telemedicine and Electronic Health Records (EHR), patients have a choice of treatment to make and seek second opinions in a much faster way irrespective of distance. The government’s investment and policies around healthcare, Public-Private Partnership models and collaborations with private players in providing affordable healthcare to the community open up a world of opportunities for the new and existing players.

There is growing interest from Private Equity Funds and International Healthcare Chains seeking opportunities for M&A in the Indian market. The industry is undergoing consolidation now which is going to be beneficial in the long run.

Major challenges for HR in healthcare today revolves around managing increased manpower cost, managing staff shortages, turnover rates, employee burnout and training and development.

Healthcare is a highly people-intensive and capital intensive industry which means that neither quality of people nor investment in technology can be deferred or compromised. To keep pace with technological advancements, we need to invest in equipment and to operate those modalities and technology we need trained staff. With 35 per cent to 42 per cent of hospital revenue going to manpower cost in general, a unique challenge emerges for HR professionals to keep the manpower numbers and manpower cost at optimum levels. HR as a function needs to be proactively thinking and deep diving on what can impact business results with HR touchpoints and how the function can assist in improving business outcomes.

Hiring a few trained people in departments and others trainable in skills with robust training systems and competency mapping systems in place goes a long way in keeping the operating margins healthy and business competitive. Manpower budgeting is to be done in a granular way integrating it with the business projections and maintaining staff-patient ratios and overall employee numbers optimally. It indicates the need for participation by HR Business Partners with the Business Heads and HR presence in the Board Room.

Another challenge for HR today is to get and retain the best talent from the market, collaborate with business leaders to create a motivated and productive team. “Happy Employees Create Happy Customers” and believing in this philosophy, companies now are laying far more emphasis on engaging with the employees. The subject of employee engagement is not merely restricted to the HR domain rather it has levers around employee communications, transparency and information sharing, leadership. Better engaged companies tend to deliver better financial results and this has been proven in studies worldwide across sectors. The role of the manager becomes critical for employees as people tend to join the brand and work or leave due to managers. Sometimes we do not realise as to our way of handling employees works adversely on the team’s morale. Today’s workforce is full of diversity in terms of age, culture, background, education and aspirations which makes the job difficult. Further, there is a cross-cultural diffusion that takes place. On one hand, we have millennials who seek participation and independence to operate, on the other hand, we have senior professionals who have their way of driving the function which has evolved over years and possibly worked for organisations in the past.

We need to build a culture where talent diversity and teamwork are highly valued with focus patient centricity. Valuing employees for what they bring to the table, binding them together in the fabric of value system of the organisation has to be at the core of management thinking. All this and much more presents a unique opportunity for HR to be a partner in organisational growth and transformation.