Leading Health Systems (LHS) are increasingly focused on attracting and retaining talent amid the ever-competitive labor market. In fact, new THMA survey finds that “strengthening the workforce” is in the top five priorities of almost every C-suite leader heading into 2025.
A major way systems retain and attract talent is through compelling benefits packages. However, the growing diversity of the workforce often makes deciding what benefits will be offered a challenge. Over 90% of health system CFOs and CHROs recognize they have opportunities to enhance benefits offerings in the next one to five years. The Health Management Academy (THMA), in collaboration with Fidelity, set out to understand how they could do so and how benefits are being adapted to meeting evolving workforce needs.
Here are a few key insights:
1. CFOs and CHROs are generally aligned on the goals of benefits design—but differ in some key ways.
CHROs and CFOs agree that the primary goals of their benefits strategy are recruitment, retention, and improving employee satisfaction and wellbeing. However, their priorities differ slightly, with CHROs focusing more on talent acquisition and employee satisfaction, while CFO’s second-top priority while designing benefits is cost management. The obvious upshot is that CFOs and CHROs need to be more aligned on ensuring that benefits are yielding the expected ROI.
2. Many CHROs think benefits are market competitive, but CFOs aren’t so sure.
A large majority—81%—of CHROs think that their benefits are market competitive but only 40% of CFOs think the same. This may reflect the reality that CHROs are more often looking to the market to see what competitors are truly offering, but also likely reflects that there needs to be greater alignment between the roles on how competitive benefits should be to achieve strategic goals.
3. Standard benefits still help attract talent, but there are emerging differentiators.
Traditional benefits like health insurance, PTO, and retirement plans remain central, but emerging benefits are gaining traction. Offerings like tuition reimbursement, parental leave, and mental health programs are becoming critical differentiators as health systems compete to attract and retain top talent in a competitive labor market.
4. Many leaders are seeing how generational differences will need to change benefits, but most have not yet acted.
As the workforce becomes increasingly generationally diverse, health systems face the challenge of meeting the unique needs and expectations of different age groups, with Gen-Z and Millennials comprising 50% of the healthcare workforce. While 58% of LHS report engaging in benefits optimization, 55% have not adjusted their benefits to address generational needs, and 84% have not made any changes to their offerings in the past 1-3 years. This highlights a gap in adapting benefits to meet the diverse expectations of a multi-generational workforce.
Read the full report to explore key insights about attracting and retaining top talent across a multi-generational workforce