4 Reasons Why Healthcare Workers Are Less Satisfied with Their Jobs-and What You Can Do About It

To keep your employees productive and healthy, job satisfaction is essential. In the healthcare sector, job satisfaction is increasingly under pressure. That’s why every last Tuesday in January has been designated “Job Satisfaction Day in Healthcare” to raise awareness of this issue. What factors influence job satisfaction among healthcare professionals? And what can you, as an HR manager, do to ensure that your team continues to enjoy their work? About 1.5 million Dutch people work in healthcare. And that group is likely to grow even larger in the coming years: due to an aging population and new treatment options, the number of patients is increasing. If the healthcare sector continues to grow at its current pace, as many as 1 in 4 Dutch workers will be employed in this sector by 2040. That is, if those healthcare workers are even available. While there is a desperate need for staff in doctors’ offices and at patients’ bedsides, more and more people are leaving the field, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. In December, the NOS reported that healthcare and social services institutions had as many as 67,000 open positions, more than 16,000 more than a year earlier. The number of job openings is now even twice as high as it was in 2018. This is not only because people in their sixties are retiring. In fact, many newly graduated healthcare workers are changing jobs within just two years. For them, a lack of job satisfaction is a major reason for leaving. Job satisfaction is therefore essential for retaining healthcare staff. By focusing on this, we can prevent even more people from leaving the sector. As an employer or HR manager, how do you promote job satisfaction? There’s no one-size-fits-all solution , emphasizes FWG, organizer of the “Day of Job Satisfaction in Healthcare.” But there are certainly a number of factors that contribute to job satisfaction. In this article, we’ll share four reasons why healthcare workers experience less job satisfaction-and we’ll explain what you can do to keep your staff engaged and happy at work.  

Reason 1: High Workload

High work pressure in the healthcare sector is perhaps the most important reason for the lack of job satisfaction. As many as three-quarters of nurses suffer physically or mentally from excessive work pressure. A survey by the IZZ Foundation shows that 1 in 5 healthcare workers is physically exhausted, and 1 in 6 is emotionally exhausted. Because daily tasks pile up, healthcare professionals have less time and rest to provide quality care. They feel like they’re constantly playing catch-up and unable to help patients the way they need to be helped. Yet for many healthcare workers, “helping people” is precisely what motivated them to choose this profession in the first place.   Here’s what you can do Job satisfaction arises when people get as much energy out of their work as they put into it. So, it’s about helping employees find a balance between their “energy boosters” and “energy drainers.” High work pressure is an energy drainer-but if it’s offset by a great team and interesting work, people are more likely to continue enjoying their jobs. Ask managers to work with their teams to identify each person’s energy drainers and energy boosters. You may not be able to completely eliminate work pressure, but it’s often possible to redistribute tasks so that each colleague does the work that requires the least energy from them.  

Reason 2: Lack of a good relationship with managers and coworkers

Great coworkers are worth their weight in gold! Especially when the workload is high, a pleasant conversation over lunch or a joke at the coffee machine can make a world of difference. In a survey by the temp agency Accountemps, as many as 37% of Dutch people cited “nice coworkers” as the deciding factor for a pleasant work environment. Conversely, it’s disastrous when coworkers can’t stand each other or even work against one another. And when a manager fails to recognize and appreciate his team’s efforts, job satisfaction within that team quickly plummets to zero. Here’s what you can do : Invest in your people. That means: organize team outings and peer-review sessions, send a bouquet of flowers to sick colleagues, show your appreciation when people work overtime, and make sure managers regularly check in to see how everyone is doing. Here are some more tips on how to show your staff you appreciate them. Also, take a critical look at whether there’s a “culture of complaining” in your workplace. Complaining can sometimes feel good, but in the long run, it drains employees’ energy. If you notice that your employees are complaining a lot among themselves, bring this up during a team meeting. And agree together on how you can handle this differently in the future.  

Reason 3: Lack of autonomy

Working autonomously is a key factor in job satisfaction. A study of nurses and caregivers in home health care found that employees who can work independently and are given room for their own initiative are more enthusiastic about their work. They’re also less likely to consider leaving the healthcare sector. People want to have a say in how they provide care and how care is organized. Here’s what you can do : The key words here are: trust and letting go. Your employees will only dare to take the lead if you make them feel that they have the freedom to do so. To start, talk to your employees and ask them if they currently feel they have enough autonomy. If not, what do they think is the reason? Clearly agree on the results you expect from them, but give your staff the freedom to decide for themselves how they’ll achieve those results. Don’t constantly look over their shoulders; leave the responsibility with them. Note: don’t just throw them in at the deep end, either. Let them know you’re available in the background to support them.  

Reason 4: Limited opportunities for personal development

Job satisfaction comes under pressure when someone has little room to develop. This is evident from research by PGGM&CO. Young healthcare workers, in particular, expect their employer to offer opportunities for further growth. In this situation, be careful that people don’t become “quiet quitters”: they’ll then only do the bare minimum. Here’s what you can do : Foster a learning organization culture. In a learning organization, learning, development, and innovation are encouraged. Reflection and evaluation are part of daily work; employees regularly take courses, and managers set a good example by discussing problems without judgment and providing constructive feedback. Employees in such an organization are open to new insights and willing to learn from mistakes. Do you want to become a learning organization? In this article, we share 7 success factors for fostering learning and development. Want to get started right away? Explore the option of a development assessment. Through such an assessment, you and your employee can identify his or her talents and potential, and determine which role best suits that person.   Want to learn more about assessments? Then get in touch! At Lamark, you can have digital assessments administered at locations throughout the Netherlands. We welcome your employees warmly and give them personal attention, so they feel completely at ease. Check the Lamark or hrmforce website for the options.