COVID-19 Reshapes Healthcare HR Practices And Priorities, According To New Report From Accurate Background

Use of technology projected to increase by 60% over pre-pandemic

Accurate Background, a leading provider of compliant, background checks, drug and health screening and Form I-9 verifications, today announced the results of its Healthcare Insights survey which identified key recruiting, hiring and talent acquisition practices and priorities that have shifted during the pandemic.

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“The healthcare landscape has never been more dynamic and complex, as demand for qualified workers across the industry continues to fluctuate in response to the pandemic,” said Karen Moore, Director of Healthcare, Accurate Background. “We conducted our Healthcare Insights survey to understand more clearly how HR and recruiting professionals have re-aligned their teams and practices in the wake of COVID-19. We’re encouraged to find evidence that healthcare HR departments are playing a more prominent role in advancing their organization’s business goals, and the majority are embracing technology in new ways to streamline recruiting, hiring and onboarding practices.”

Key findings from the Accurate Healthcare Insights survey were:

• In a pre- versus post-pandemic world, healthcare organizations foresee the use of technology for recruiting, hiring and onboarding will continue to increase.
  • 29% of respondents said they had previously used video interviews, yet 70% indicated they were currently part of their hiring process and 74% indicated they will be in the future.
  • Use of Electronic I-9 services post-pandemic is projected to increase by 40% over pre-pandemic use, and electronic submission of candidate documentation for background screening will increase by 36%.
• COVID-19 reinforced the need for strategic workforce planning. However, 51% of respondents indicated they were either working on (32%) or did not yet have (19%) a strategic workforce plan in place. A strategic workforce plan ensures that companies are prepared to maintain continuity in times of business or societal disruption.
• Cross training was the most common strategy to fill staffing gaps.
  • 82% of respondents indicated that their organization is cross training employees to fill staffing gaps, followed by the use of contingent staff (71%). Increasingly, organizations are also using temporary department shifts and location swapping to ensure staff are filling the most critical needs.

The Accurate Healthcare Insights survey was made available to healthcare organizations within the U.S. via email from November 2020 to January 2021. Of the 240 respondents, 58% were HR professionals and 30% were in talent acquisition. Accurate recently hosted a webinar – Beyond COVID-19: The Future of Healthcare Hiring – with industry experts from Augusta University and HealthcareSource, to discuss key findings such as the importance of organizational alignment and strategic workforce planning, where and how to source talent, and the changing use of technology in recruiting, hiring and onboarding.

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