Health systems pledge to make 10% of new hires from disadvantaged communities
The 17-health-system agreement is meant to provide opportunities for prospective hires who have faced barriers to employment.
Photo: John Fedele/Getty Images
Seventeen health systems, including Cleveland Clinic and Advocate Health, have pledged a commitment to make 10% of all new hires "impact hires" – meaning employees hired from economically disadvantaged areas.
The "Impact Workforce Commitment," designed in partnership with a leadership group of Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) member health systems and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, is meant to provide opportunities for prospective hires who, for one reason or another, have faced barriers to employment.
The agreement will focus primarily on jobs that require less than a bachelor's degree.
Relevant factors for consideration include low income, lack of access to education and training, or other socio-economic challenges. The commitment also aims to improve societal health and well-being by creating economic opportunities and addressing racial inequities.
HAN framed employment and economic stability as critical social determinants of health, and noted that many health systems are still dealing with staffing shortages across various positions, including lower-paid workers.
To help address these issues, the signatories have committed to establish specific goals to increase hiring from economically disadvantaged communities; invest in workforce development and career pathway programs; advance advocacy to accelerate workforce development policies at state and federal levels; support employees to achieve financial stability; and eliminate bias in advancement.
The health systems adopting the Impact Workforce Commitment include Advocate Health; Baystate Health; Bon Secours Mercy Health; CHRISTUS Health; Cleveland Clinic; CommonSpirit Health; Dartmouth Health; Fairview Health Services; Froedtert Health; Hawaii Pacific Health; Intermountain Health; Providence; Rush University System for Health; The MetroHealth System; University Hospitals in Cleveland; the University of California, San Francisco; and University of Utah Health.
All are HAN members. The HAN hospitals and health systems together employ more than 2 million people, purchase over $100 billion annually and have $200 billion in investment assets.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT
According to HAN, the goal of reaching 10% of impact hires will be accomplished by building and expanding partnerships, programs, and initiatives with community organizations and education providers. The participating systems will also edit job descriptions to remove inflated and unnecessary education and experience qualifications.
Another goal is increasing the number of employees who are promoted from positions that require less than a bachelor's degree into higher skilled, higher wage roles by 2027 through direct investment in workforce development. These investments could include apprenticeships, other earn-and-learn programs, tuition advancement, and other initiatives and internal policy changes. Data showed that roughly 9.7 million people currently work in critical, lower-wage healthcare occupations, such as medical assistants, home health aides and nursing assistants.
The agreement would also create a dedicated financial support program for employees to address employee financial stability, and advance equity in benefits utilization.
ON THE RECORD
"Employment is one of the most critical determinants of health that impacts a person's quality of life," said Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Tom Mihaljevic. "Our continued efforts to be intentional in hiring, training and promotion of diverse talent are key to creating opportunities that support the overall health of the communities we serve. This commitment reinforces our core value of inclusion, which we are proud to take actions each day to support."
"Individuals, families and communities thrive when people have access to stable incomes and healthcare benefits," said Dartmouth Health CEO and President Dr. Joanne Conroy. "Working in healthcare offers stability, opportunity for growth and the fulfillment that comes with providing care to members of our community."
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: Jeff.Lagasse@himssmedia.com
