3 ways a strategic partner can strengthen your IT staffing operations

Is your healthcare organization feeling the strain of doing more with less? Across the industry, healthcare technology leaders are trying to staff their teams while facing ever-tightening budgets and a lack of qualified talent. Being understaffed and overcapacity can create a vicious cycle as remaining team members and their managers get pulled into fighting fires and managing more day-to-day operations. As the workload increases so does the possibility of burnout, which leads to further attrition. Even if budget exists for open roles, many hiring managers are too overwhelmed to devote the time and energy needed to carefully review resumes and interview candidates, let alone onboard, train, and mentor new team members.  

If this sounds like you or your organization, I’m here to offer a word of encouragement: It IS possible to break free from this downward spiral, and you don’t have to do it alone. As the eighth largest healthcare management consulting firm, Nordic Global Consulting is an industry leader. We work with organizations to optimize performance on critical healthcare technology projects — and our award-winning healthcare IT staffing solutions are an integral piece of the puzzle.  

The right strategic partner can help you navigate the complexities of finding and placing highly skilled and experienced professionals. Here are three ways collaborating with a full-service healthcare IT consulting firm with staffing expertise can streamline the recruiting and hiring process and get your team back to what matters most — supporting healthier systems for patients, clinicians, and organizations.  

1. Relieve hiring pressures

We all know healthcare and the systems that support it are too important to cut corners. Even when the work is piling up and exceptional talent is scarce, you can’t afford to settle for lower-quality employees. Staffing services, which can be tailored to fit your needs based on volume, duration, and desired level of involvement, can be a powerful solution in relieving the growing pressures on your team. An effective staffing partnership allows you to prioritize your day-to-day operations with the help of consultants who have deep clinical and technical knowledge. You can scope, assign, and oversee consultants’ workloads while your strategic partner handles administrative and logistic tasks, including: 

• Consultant selection, placement, and if needed, replacement  
• High-level consulting team oversight, coordination, and communication to help improve performance and outcomes 

• Regular status reporting and quality check-ins 

2. Mitigate financial risks and reclaim your time 

The extensive stages of recruiting and hiring require significant time and money. For example, an IT job takes a median of 44 days (about 1 and a half months) to fill, one of the slowest time-to-hire rates of any industry. In addition, research shows the hiring process costs employers an average of $4,700 per role or as much as three to four times a position's salary. Fortunately, partnering with a consulting firm can help you expediate the process, without sacrificing quality. By quickly learning your specific requirements and using a customized, flexible hiring approach, strategic professionals can help you save time, decrease overhead, and more accurately predict spending.  

3. Upskill your current healthcare IT workforce

Whether you have openings for a few key roles or a junior team that simply needs more experience, seasoned consultants can serve as mentors, coaches, and application leads for your existing team. Partnering with a consulting firm that’s well-versed in healthcare IT strategy, including staffing best practices, is an opportunity to provide more robust on-the-job training that can advance your analysts’ technical skills. Beyond improving competencies, working with a strategic partner to invest in employee upskilling can help enhance workplace culture, increase job satisfaction, and accelerate innovation across your enterprise.  

The current Big Squeeze in healthcare likely has you seeking ways to lighten the administrative burden of recruiting, save resources, and increase productivity. As you juggle multiple open positions and looming projects, consider how a full-service healthcare strategy and consulting partner with a strong background in staffing can help return your focus to advancing patient care and strengthening your business long-term. For more information, contact us. 

Nordic can help you navigate the immense challenges of today’s healthcare landscape. Click here to learn more about bolstering your organization’s financial health.