1 in 5 medical employees in the US have quit their jobs since the beginning of the pandemic. Due to burnout and stress, mostly. Meanwhile, 86% of the healthcare organizations that adopted a hybrid work model reported that their employees got happier since the transition.

In addition to the increase in revenue, improved productivity, and the scalability of their medical services.

“How did they manage to pull off a hybrid work arrangement without losing the genuine human connection that’s critical to healthcare interactions?” you must be asking yourself.

This is exactly what we tried to find out ourselves:

• What types of technologies did these healthcare organizations implement to make hybrid work for them? For their medical staff?
• What were the measurable benefits of embracing a hybrid work model, with a particular focus on employee morale?

You’ll get the answers to these 2 main questions in today’s post.

Then, you can dive deeper into data by reading our report on The State of Hybrid Work in Healthcare, too.

Without further ado, here’s what we discovered…

TLDR:

• The most recent epidemic we are dealing with is physician burnout: 1 in 5 medical workers in the US have resigned since the beginning of the pandemic. And it’s the healthcare system and the healthcare organizations that "pay the bill", even though it is the individuals who exhibit the symptoms.
• What do medical employees really want? “Flexibility”. And the best way to offer them more flexibility when it comes to managing their own schedules and balancing their work and life commitments  — and the solution to this crisis  —  is by transitioning to a hybrid work model.
• Research has proven it: 86% of those healthcare organizations who’ve already implemented a hybrid working setup don’t plan to go back to the traditional exclusively on-site working model, that’s been the only type of setup available to the health industry up until now. The measurable benefits of hybrid work in healthcare are just too valuable.
• The hybrid work opportunity/challenge will only hasten the rate at which healthcare organizations adopt technology innovation. And the most popular piece of technology equipment implemented by healthcare businesses using a hybrid work model is telemedicine software. Followed closely by video-capable conferencing hardware and patient portals.

Healthcare Is Going Through A (Major) Workforce Crisis

Physician burnout is the new epidemic we’re facing these days.

With symptoms like mean emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and general dissatisfaction with work-life integration (WLI).

And although burnout manifests itself in individuals, it stems from the system itself. From the workplace and the existing work model itself.

Which is predominantly on-site and in-person.

And although it’s the individuals that present the symptoms, it’s the healthcare system itself and the healthcare organizations that… “pay the bill”.

Because the situation is close to dramatic:

• 1 in 5 workers in the US healthcare system have already quit their jobs since the pandemic started, as already mentioned
• 49% of them cited burnout and stress as their top reasons for leaving the healthcare industry

The solution to this crisis?

We need to adapt and rethink our healthcare systems and our traditional ways of working in this industry. And to put the healthcare employee experience and well-being at its very center.

To reimagine a workplace and work model for our care teams and clinicians that would allow them to:

• Cut down on the time they’re currently spending on the administrative burden
• Win more time for actually interacting with the patients
• Log off from work for mental and physical breaks

In short, we need to (re)consider a shift toward hybrid forms of work in the healthcare industry.

The Solution to Burnout and Healthcare Turnover Rate? Hybrid Work

Flexibility….

74.4% of surveyed health practitioners wanted more flexibility.

And while struggling to retain qualified talent and lower burnout levels, health organizations can’t afford to underestimate this data.

How can they offer more flexibility to their employees? By rethinking the traditional way of working in a clinic and adopting a hybrid work model.

Research has shown that a hybrid work environment:

• Increases retention of healthcare staff: people grow more productive when allowed to choose to work in their preferred work environments, whether that’s their homes, inside a care facility, or switching between locations.

• Reduces burnout levels: with clinicians and staff getting to rotate between in-office and remote assignments, they regain a sense of control over their own schedules; over their own power to balance their work and life commitments.

In other words, hybrid work is the solution to improving the working experience of healthcare workers. To keeping them happy and… much less likely to think about quitting their jobs.

There’s No Going Back For Those Organizations That Went Hybrid: The Benefits Are “Too” Strong

Forced by the pandemic or simply willing to try out the hybrid work model so they can adapt and thrive in the new normal, some forward-thinking healthcare organizations have already made the transition.

And they state that they won’t stop anytime soon.

We’re talking about 83% of healthcare organizations who’ve already implemented a hybrid work model. And which now report they’re not planning to go back to the traditional, 100% on-site, way of working in the healthcare industry.

Why? Here are the key benefits of working in a hybrid (or even fully remote setup) that they reported:

• 56% boosted their productivity
• 39% increased their revenue
• 61% were able to provide services to more patients
• 89% claim hybrid work improved their employee morale

Yes, Hybrid Work Does Make Healthcare Employees Happier

We also wanted to find out how the employees in healthcare organizations, themselves, felt about working in a hybrid (or remote) working environment.

Did they feel that their working experience improved, that their quality of life improved, that they were… happier at work?

Here’s what researches tell us:

• 43% of the surveyed medical workers claim they’re somewhat positive about working in a hybrid setup
• 45% of them state to be extremely happy about the transition
• 9% of them feel neutral about it

Which Medical Employees Can Work Hybrid More Exactly? 

What healthcare roles are eligible for hybrid working?

For, as you may expect, there are some more suitable than others.

And maybe you just can’t figure out what exactly hybrid work might look like in the case of those roles where in-person consultations and medical exams are crucial.

Based on the answers of 150 surveyed healthcare providers it can be concluded that:

• the great majority of the healthcare employees allowed to work in a hybrid work setup were administrators
• followed closely by those from the billing departments
• next, there were employees from the accounting
• physicians/licensed providers
• physicians’ assistants
• and nurses

You’ll find more detailed numbers in the report on the state of hybrid work in healthcare.

In short, an unexpectedly wide variety of positions in a healthcare organization can work (and thrive) in a hybrid work setup.

Hybrid Work Is Accelerating Digital Transformation in Healthcare

In healthcare specifically, we’re witnessing technology advance rapidly. With a constant interest and demand for technology that enables medical practices to:

• enhance the care they’re providing
• streamline their workflows
• improve the patient experience

Research has shown it: the healthcare industry will have spent US $45 billion on digital transformation by 2030.

And the hybrid work challenge/opportunity only comes to speed up the pace at which healthcare organizations are embracing technological innovation.

With telemedicine software being at the top of the list of technology tools that healthcare organizations adopting a hybrid work model have implemented.

No surprise there, since telemedicine software tools make remote consultations possible. It’s the first type of software organizations implement once they decide to transition to a hybrid work model.

The result? Telehealth usage is 38 times higher today compared to pre-pandemic years.

But here’s what their full list of software tools used for successful hybrid work setups looks like:

• Telemedicine software 

• Video-capable conferencing hardware

• Patient portal

• Security software

• Modern and/or router

• Patient self-scheduling tools

• Telemonitoring tools

• Remote patient monitoring software

The real challenge? Putting together the right technology architecture for hybrid work while preserving the genuine human touch specific to healthcare interactions.

Hybrid Work and Telehealth Can Play a Vital Role in Reducing CO2 Emissions

With healthcare providers working in a hybrid setup — thanks to telemedicine and all the other information and communication technologies tools that make digital healthcare possible — the impact on the environment is reduced.

And one research that supports this is the one conducted by the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. This has shown that since the start of the pandemic, teleconsultations and, overall, telehealth services generated a significant range of environmental benefits:

• An estimated 50 million miles of travel were avoided
• 2.2 million gallons of gas were saved
• 25 tons of appointment-related waste were saved
• over 17,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide were saved

In short, healthcare providers cut down on their commuting time between clinics, hospitals, and their homes.

In the meantime, patients — especially those who had to take multiple buses to get to the hospitals/clinics — no longer felt constrained/discouraged by their limited access to transportation to get the care they needed.

And all these savings in time, effort, and gas/CO2 emissions had a measurable positive impact on the environment.

The type of benefit that comes with hybrid work in healthcare that’s too valuable to underestimate when deciding whether transitioning to this way of working is… worthy enough or not.

Discover Technology to Power Hybrid Work in Healthcare

Up to this point, you might:

• Realize the magnitude of the crisis healthcare is going through and how this affects your own organization at the deepest level: its people
• See the benefits of hybrid work in healthcare more clearly

And as you start to reimagine your work model, you also start to ask yourself what workspace technology to go for. To power your new flexible work arrangement with.

Yarooms — the workplace management software for hybrid work — comes packed with all the features you need to make this new setup… work for you:

• You have a calendar-like planning tool that helps your healthcare personnel schedule their own time, space, and resources in the office. It makes flexible scheduling possible and all the work planning transparent and easily accessible in one calendar view.
  
  
• You get access to valuable workplace analytics — office utilization analytics, people analytics, employee satisfaction analytics — that helps you optimize your workspaces for your hybrid working clinicians and care teams.
  

Whereas your medical staff gets:

• a mobile app acting like an employee experience hub, that makes planning their work days, on the go, so simple and convenient
• a familiar interface (Microsoft Teams) for booking their workspaces   

To Sum Up: Hybrid Healthcare Is the Future of Healthcare

And for a more in-depth analysis of the measurable benefits of adopting such a work arrangement in your organization download the report on The State of Hybrid Work in Healthcare that you can find at the end of this post.

What now?

The next steps to take now, as you’re ready to leverage the advantages of a hybrid work environment in your healthcare organization are:

• Assessing which roles are eligible for hybrid work (at least the ones eligible in the first phase of the transition)
• Assess what technology to power your hybrid work setup with while keeping your focus on the well-being of your medical staff and the quality of the health care services you provide your patients
• Implement the right tools
• Constantly evaluate the employee experience and their overall well-being in the new work environment