How Can Health Sector Use Remote IT Workers To Its Advantage? Hospitals And Healthcare Organizations Can Capitalize On IT Remote Workers.

Telecommuting, remote working, working from home, or however you love to call it – love it or hate it – it’s here to stay here.

Telecommuting, remote working, working from home, or however you love to call it – love it or hate it – it’s here to stay here. Many people thought remote working was a passing wave and we would see little of it post covid. However, as people readjust and return to work entirely in 2022, many employees dont want to return to the office – at least not fully. Most employees are comfortable working from home most days and showing up at the office when need be or when they need a feel of the traditional office setup. As such, the management teams of different organizations across the globe have had to adjust accordingly, develop remote working policies and trust their remote workers to get things done with little or no supervision. And that’s what remote working is all about, trust. An organization that wants to succeed at remote working must have faith in its remote workers. Still, most importantly, they must target reliable workers with the right attitude during recruitment and selection.

While only some employees can work remotely, most roles in organizations can be managed remotely, especially if the company has invested in the right technology. IT professionals are among the biggest beneficiaries of remote working. Armed with the right technology and clear goals and expectations, remote IT employees can perform very well in remote environments because they plan their work and work when they feel the most productive. One of the best things about remote working is that it eliminates the location obstacles that have always made it impossible for organizations to attract a large pool of talented IT professionals. Today, companies needn’t worry about the proximity of job candidates. Some organizations have IT employees in other nations working remotely and collaborating effectively to get projects running with minimal or no problems at all. Businesses in all sectors are already reaping the benefits of allowing IT workers to operate remotely. In this post, we seek to understand how the healthcare sector can benefit from remote IT employees and how healthcare institutions and hospitals can benefit from the same.

Remote Working In The Healthcare Sector

Michigan Medicine Director of Facilities Planning and Development, Bob Harris, confirmed that Michigan Medicine firmly believes that a good number of its workers, groups, and services can and will continue to work from home as their primary location in this post-covid world. When he made this statement, Bob Harris had effectively regained 100,000 square feet of space. He confirmed the opportunity for hundreds – if not thousands – of workers to continue working from home, particularly on the administrative support side. Among many other telecommuting benefits, Harry believes that Michigan Medicine will finally eliminate leased property since they’ve saved up on space, hence, enjoying a significant reduction of operational and real estate expenses. The move by Michigan Medicine is impressive, seeing that the healthcare sector has always been behind the curve as far as adopting remote working is concerned. As they go on with this social experiment, they will discover what can and can’t work and then make the necessary adjustments to get work done efficiently and effectively.

Can organizations in the healthcare sector use remote IT workers to their advantage? An IT job in the healthcare industry is a position in a healthcare facility or hospital. The IT professionals engage in activities that optimize the electronic systems, develop software for tracking patient history, and ensure that patient’s medical records and insurance information are electronically secure. IT workers in the healthcare industry work hand in hand with other medical professionals to understand the overall goals and design of the hospital or healthcare facility and design, build and adjust digital devices and networks as needed. In many instances, IT professionals in the healthcare arena begin their careers as general IT employees, after which they develop their occupational skills to concentrate on enhancing healthcare information systems.

Some IT roles in healthcare include clinical analyst, health information technician, medical manager, program analyst, software engineer, and chief information officer. Depending on the size of the healthcare institution, there could be numerous other roles. One of the best things about IT roles is that professionals can work and deliver remotely. Institutions in the healthcare industry should find ways of taking advantage of this scenario.

How Healthcare Sector Can Take Advantage Of Remote IT Workers

The most successful organizations always seek aspects they can leverage and improve their goal-achieving processes. You must rely on more than one method or approach to realize organizational goals. The secret lies in identifying a good mix of many different techniques, understanding how they intertwine, and implementing them effectively to make things happen. So, how can organizations in the healthcare industry benefit from the availability of remote IT professionals?

Increased Productivity

Some people argue that productivity measuring is secondary, yet it is an essential element in any industry, including healthcare. Measuring employee productivity can impact how an organization in the healthcare industry operates. Determination of employee productivity is critical for addressing existing challenges and creating the best workplace environment for the staff. Healthcare services can significantly improve due to higher employee productivity. Increased productivity boosts customer satisfaction as far as the medical services the organization provides are concerned.

Additionally, employee productivity is closely related to employee commitment and, ultimately, the turnover rate. Therefore, when a healthcare organization experiences improved employee productivity, it lowers the HR hiring experience while creating a world-class customer experience worth sharing. Patients who access top-notch customer service will become voluntary brand ambassadors. But first, the organization’s management must take care of its employees and the remote workers.

Many employers are concerned about the potential loss of employee productivity in remote work environments, and most are surprised by the contrary outcomes. A remote IT worker can set up a place at home where they are comfortable and away from potential distractions. IT workers become more productive when they have a dedicated workspace in their homes or other off-work environments they consider comfortable. Tech professionals, for instance, may need to work in ‘blocks.’ They may want to focus for many hours continuously. Therefore, having a space in their homes away from potential interruptions is very important to them – explaining why remote work has become extremely popular for tech professionals. Healthcare organizations can take advantage of this to promote increased employee productivity which ultimately reflects on the ability of the company to achieve its goals and objectives.

Improved Performance

By allowing your IT employees to work remotely, you’ve shown them that you trust them to do the job. You’ve granted them the much-desired autonomy to find creative ways of accomplishing tasks, leading to improved performance. Remote employees hate to be micromanaged, which can kill their motivation and creativity. Besides producing more work, remote employees tend to deliver better work. A research study discovered that remote workers deliver outcomes with up to 40% fewer mistakes than their office-based counterparts. This is a big plus for the employer because when remote workers provide high-quality work, it translates to less time in error correction and more time focusing on projects capable of propelling the business. Therefore, organizations can take advantage of the possibility of remote working for their IT team to increase the possibility and speed of realizing their goals and objectives within the budget.

Minimize Staff Turnover

Studies show a booming job market in the healthcare sector. In September 2019, the US unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.5% – the lowest rate since December 1969. In 2018, the healthcare industry singlehandedly added 346,000 new jobs, outdoing other sectors in terms of job growth. On the flip side, hospital turnover rates increased by 0.9%, setting a new record for this decade. Partly, this is good news for an IT professional looking to expand their resume, but at the same time, it sends fear into the hearts of HR leaders within the healthcare industry.

Why the fear? The turnover rate in the healthcare sector is at an all-time high. As a result, HR leaders need help to improve retention and keep employees happy at work, even as demand for talent – specifically in IT – keeps rising. From 2014, the average hospital has turned over 87.8% of its staff, and with data suggesting that this will increase in the future, HR leaders need to act quickly to curb this problem. Handling staff turnover can be quite a big challenge for HR leaders in the healthcare sector since they are already overwhelmed with the daily tasks of managing payroll, hiring, onboarding new employees, and much more.

There is one effective solution healthcare HR leaders can depend on to lower employee turnover. Remote work assists organizations in retaining staff for several reasons. For starters, many IT workers appreciate the flexibility allowed by remote working since they can work away from the office environment. They can plan their tasks and perform when they feel the most productive. Flexibility is a significant consideration for employees, particularly millennials.

Secondly, if, for instance, an IT employee is considering quitting so they can stay close to their young children, remote work motivates them to continue working while taking care of their children. Some people have had to quit employment because they needed to relocate for varying reasons. With remote work, your IT employees can stay in their jobs because they are moving to a different location from where the organization is located. This way, the organization can retain employees whenever circumstances necessitate relocation. Thirdly, your IT employees are likely to continue working during late pregnancy stages and early motherhood – even if it means reducing working hours.

Happier Employees

Happier employee engages better with their jobs, enhancing their productivity and performance because they are highly motivated. Studies have shown that employees are more comfortable working remotely. Owl Labs (an online meeting company) conducted a research study to determine the extent to which people were happy with their jobs. The findings revealed that 71% of the employees working from home said they were pleased with their jobs, compared to 55% working in a traditional office setup. This growth in happiness levels is a significant factor in the improved performance and productivity mentioned earlier.

The employees were requested to cite reasons why they were happy. Some reasons pointed out include lack of commute, availability of time for employees to engage in their hobbies and with their loved ones, and the freedom to manage personal affairs without worrying about getting permission. In turn, IT employees become more engaged, can manage their stress levels, and are excited about doing high-quality work for their employers. Therefore, if your healthcare organization is looking for ways of keeping employees happy so they can perform better in their roles, allowing remote working is an effective solution.

Reduced Absenteeism

People fail to report to work for various reasons. Most of the time, employees take time off for personal days or planned vacations. However, when unforeseen events require unplanned time off, absenteeism can negatively interfere with productivity, employee experiences with their jobs, and, ultimately, the organization’s profitability. Absenteeism in the workplace is a big problem for the organization and other employees. In any case, if work needs to be done, and the employee responsible is unavailable, one of two things must happen – the work will be left unaccomplished, or the workload will be transferred to another employee who may have the disadvantage of being less qualified, or unprepared for the same. The society for Human Resource Management reported that companies use overtime to cover 47% of employee absences. Additionally, coworkers’ productivity reduces by 29.5% when substituting for absent employees.

Healthcare organizations can reduce absenteeism by encouraging remote work among their IT employees. It is easier to switch on a computer from the comfort of one’s home than commute, spend all day there, and even risk passing an illness to colleagues. Stress has also been blamed for the high cases of absenteeism in organizations. By encouraging remote work, employees will be happier and have time to handle personal or family issues that causes stress and depression among workers. Approximately 82% of telecommuters report decreased stress levels compared to in-house workers. Stress significantly contributes to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. Therefore, reducing it is undoubtedly critical to having a productive workforce. Stress at the workplace is clearly negative for both office communication and productivity. Therefore, if remote working can curb it, then it’s something worth considering.

Reduced Operating Costs

A healthcare organization can save costs by allowing IT employees to work remotely. A good example is the reduced office space. Using less real estate saves organization leasing costs, office supplies and perks, commute allowances, and energy bills. Additionally, most remote workers have home offices, saving the organization the money that would have been spent purchasing office desks, ergonomic chairs, and other office equipment. Organizations across all industries are looking for practical and efficient ways to reduce operating costs to increase the profit margin and enhance their ability to serve clients. Introducing remote working opportunities for IT workers is one effective way of reducing operating costs.

Flexible hours

When asked why they prefer remote working, most employees cite flexibility. However, employers can also benefit from this outstanding flexibility. By allowing remote work, employers can benefit from the possibility of IT employees working different hours than they would work if forced to travel to the office daily.

When employees work from home, the organization can keep the ‘workplace’ open round the clock, which may not be logistically feasible in a traditional office environment. Hospitals and health facilities will find it easy to request their IT workers to cover night shifts if they work remotely. In turn, the management can easily turn a healthcare organization into a continuous operation – which is particularly beneficial for offering 24/7 customer service.

Access To Any Scale Of International Workforce

Employers in the healthcare industry can take advantage of the availability of the international workforce made possible by remote working. It’s a win for many organizations whose primary priority is achieving localization and translation into multiple languages. Unfortunately, working in a single workplace restricts an employer’s access to international talent and more so for the less common languages or particular regions in the world.

On the other hand, remote work arrangements enable organizations to find top talents worldwide. It means they may know how to translate text and speech to all the languages in the world besides offering boots-on-the-ground insights into their location. Healthcare organizations with remote work options may even hire native speakers of different important languages to provide a more dependable experience for their global customer base.

Hiring from a global talent pool also encourages improved creativity and brings in fresh perspectives capable of driving business success. Undeniably, a team of IT professionals from the same country or state with similar backgrounds and experience will never show the level of creativity exhibited by a multicultural team whose members work from different regions across the globe. Onboarding remote tech professionals from diverse cultural backgrounds to work together on IT projects within the healthcare industry helps generate new ideas, thus driving innovation in the organization. Whenever varied opinions and viewpoints merge into a new train of thought, unique concepts and methods of approaching problems are born. We all agree that innovation is critical for success in all organizations despite the industry.

Is your healthcare facility or hospital hell-bent on retaining its old ways of doing things? Are you always finding your people saying, ‘that’s how we do things around here? That statement is mainly used by organizations that dont want to be innovative. It’s an excuse mantra for lack of innovation. Increased diversity is one of the greatest benefits of hiring international talent, occasioned by remote working. Increased diversity triggers the dismantling of old ideas, procedures, and processes in an organization with zero innovation. Generally, having a diverse workforce delivers numerous benefits, including increased productivity, profits, creativity, employee engagement, a better reputation, and valuable cultural insights (where the healthcare company has a tangible cultural diversity).

Bottomline

Remote working discussions are ongoing in nearly all organizations. So far, about 16% of organizations worldwide have gone fully remote. Incredible, right? Others are following suit due to the numerous benefits of allowing workers to accomplish tasks from the comfort of their homes. Initially, remote working seemed to benefit employees more than it does the organization, but that myth must be debunked. Organizations, including those in the healthcare sector, can leverage remote working to facilitate realizing goals and objectives efficiently. Some of the benefits a healthcare organization can reap from allowing its IT professionals to operate remotely include additional working hours, savings on operating costs, reduced absenteeism and its adverse effects, reduced staff turnover, happier employees who engage better with their work, improved performance and productivity, and access to top tech talents since an organization can attract a global talent pool. All these benefits of remote workers for employers boil down to what many healthcare companies work toward every day – increased productivity, performance, profitability, efficiency, and a happy and satisfied workforce. Therefore, as much as remote IT workers benefit from remote working, even organizations harvest alot of benefits, making it a win-win situation for the employee and employer. However, as healthcare organizations seek to pursue remote working for their IT teams, they must show the willingness and readiness to invest in proper communication and collaboration tools.

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