How To Recruit And Retain Health IT Talent

Success in a health system IT organization depends on a good strong CIO leader but, as we know, a leader needs a team of motivated individuals to work together and manage the ever growing areas of responsibility.

In this competitive health IT job market, those CIOs who leverage recruitment and retention best practices have the greatest chance of finding and keeping their IT employees.  From a recent health system CIO survey by Sanford Rose Associates, 90 percent of the CIOs surveyed shared their best practices for recruiting and retaining IT talent.  Interestingly, only 8 percent mentioned that recruiting and retention was not an issue.

Recruitment strategies

The CIOs surveyed offered a variety of recruitment strategies and advice. Here are some of the best practices mentioned:

• Network with CIO colleagues for referrals
• Work with professional associations and educators to establish mentor programs
• Develop internal staff
• Interview all final candidates
• Identify people who are smart, service oriented, courageous and will push back on you (avoid “yes people”)
• Be the “Workplace of Choice”
• Accept internships, partner with local colleges and technical schools, mentor and grow
• Recruit carefully and pay well
• Leverage recruitment firms
• Hire the bright, energetic and not necessarily experienced, and invest in training “to grow our own”
• Hire people primarily on character and cultural fit
• Articulate a clear vision of where the organization is going
• Use word of mouth and Web advertising (social media, websites, etc.)
• Offer quality of life, home town environment, not being in a big city, comparable salary ranges

Retention strategies

Even though compensation was mentioned most, the CIOs surveyed included some other key retention strategies that worked for them:

• Ensure competitive compensation, compensate staff appropriately and keep at top of market, pay for on-call, retention bonus program, offer great benefits
• Provide education, training, certifications, include continuous training in leadership, customer service, teamwork and technical issues
• Provide flexible work schedules, work remotely one day a week
• Encourage social/team building events
• Create a collaborative, participative work environment — avoid silos, round, communicate often, open door, no micro management
• Create avenues for growth, promote from within, career mapping
• Offer work/life balance, conduct workload planning, encourage community involvement
• Implement cutting edge technology, explore new/emerging technology, keep work challenging
• Manage well, set clear expectations, praise often, make it safe to ask for help, keep staff engaged, recognize good performance, address poor performance

While all of these strategies look good on paper, your health system is unique and you may need to experiment with some new strategies and/or remove out-dated ones.  As one CIO said, “Hire the best people, let them do what they were hired to do, and don’t be a jerk.”