Becker's Hospital Review

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Tom Tonkin, Ph.D. Senior Principal, Thought-Leadership and Advisory Services, Cornerstone OnDemand FEATURED SPEAKER FROM THE WEBINAR: How hospitals and health systems can manage skill shortages & other challenges in 2020 and beyond Wednesday, April 15th, 2020 | 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm CT in partnership with What Amazon, Hyatt can teach health systems about managing a skills gap Overview When healthcare organizations are operating under normal conditions, flaws in the system may go unnoticed. Radical changes in day-to-day life, on the other hand — disruptors such as the COVID-19 pandemic — reveal how well a system actually works. In a webinar sponsored by Cornerstone and hosted by Becker's Hospital Review, Dr. Tonkin explained how the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated staffing challenges in healthcare, and shared key lessons from other industries. Persistent staffing challenges and strategic skills utilization As of January 2019, there were approximately 6.5 million Americans looking for work and 7.6 million unfilled jobs in the U.S. Most job-seeking individuals didn't have the right skills for the open positions, Dr. Tonkin said, and the skills divide only worsened when the pandemic took hold as hospitals are now challenged to handle surges of COVID-19 patients. The best way to bring new workers into the pandemic fight is to understand existing workforce capabilities, including staff certifications, experiences and skills. This knowledge, paired with an understanding of where staffing gaps are, will help organizations tailor training and experiential programs to the workers best suited to quickly fill those areas of need. Healthcare organizations have long had to face the challenges presented by a dwindling pool of provider talent. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has made staffing challenges even worse for hospitals handling a surge of COVID-19 patients. While assembling an adjunct workforce to quickly fill critical positions, healthcare organizations must be careful not to pull workers from areas where they're needed or better suited. Models from outside industries The pandemic has upended both the hotel and logistics industries. There is now a huge need for home deliveries — Amazon has hired tens of thousands of workers to meet demand — but for the same reason, people aren't staying in hotels. Both handling unexpected staffing challenges, Amazon and Hyatt Hotels partnered to place workers where they were needed. With training, furloughed hotel employees were "reskilled" to provide the fulfilment services Amazon needs during the pandemic, Dr. Tonkin said. Hyatt can hire back those employees once the pandemic subsides — thereby avoiding the costs and challenges associated with recruiting new workers. n page | 1

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