A Key Strategy to Reduce Healthcare Costs

One way to cut costs in healthcare is to work on improving talent acquisition processes.

At JohnMarch Partners, we have found that when organizations plan carefully for a new executive’s first “day” on the job – which really means their first 100+ days on the job – there is a greater chance that the new individual’s performance will accelerate and they will begin to form strong bonds with the organization’s mission, vision and values. A bad hire is enormously costly, whether it is in the executive office or at the patient’s bedside.

Not all organizations are adept at the onboarding process. Few executive recruiters even think about these issues.

One of my favorite illustrations regarding the breakdowns that occur all too frequently:

A new CNO, who was recruited to an Atlanta area hospital by a large search firm, was passed off to another Vice President upon her arrival for the first day of work. He took her to her new office. He unlocked the door — no furniture, no telephone, no network connection access, and no assistant. He turned around, shrugged his shoulders and said, “Good luck.” It went downhill from there.

As a search consultant, that horrifying story convinced me to expand our scope of responsibility, including asking the client about office arrangements, the transition process, who guides the candidate during the initial steps of their integration into the organization, and how this onboarding program works. We include that information into the detailed position description that we provide qualified candidates we are recruiting.

Wrapping a best-practice onboarding program around your recruiting process will result in better hires, longer tenure, and lower costs.

John G. Self is Chairman and Senior Client Advisor of JohnMarch Partners. He is a Co-Founder of the Firm. A former investigative reporter and crime writer with more than 30-years of healthcare leadership experience in public relations, national marketing, business development and as Chief Executive Officer of hospitals and consulting firms, Mr. Self is highly regarded for his keen insight into operations, business culture and for his ability to consistently select the right leaders.

Mr. Self is a professional member of LINKEDIN where he is frequent content contributor. You can also learn more about Mr. Self on PLAXO, Facebook or follow him on Twitter at Self_JohnMarch.

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