The Caregiver Retention Crisis

There is a national shortage of healthcare workers.  This is most acute for front line caregivers such as nurses and doctors, but is applicable to the entire workforce.  50% of nurses plan to change positions within a year, and 80% of healthcare leaders anticipate a staffing shortage in their own facilities. 

The reasons healthcare workers are leaving the field are varied.  Some of these reasons are obvious, such as inadequate pay and staffing, as well as changes in the work environment due to COVID.  Less obvious, however, is the fact that 50% of healthcare workers leave because they don’t feel valued or have a sense of connection to the reason they entered the profession.  The most at risk healthcare worker is a new nurse under 35 years of age.

Retaining caregivers is a priority not only because that is how healthcare is delivered, but because unengaged staff and turnover are incredibly costly.  On average, a nurse leaving costs an organization $50,000 or more.  Losing a single physician can be more than $250,000.  To further exacerbate the problem, there are not enough new graduates coming out to refill these positions when turned over.  To put this cost into perspective - a 1% change in nurse turnover saves $380,000 per year for the average 300 bed hospital.  Further, unengaged caregivers impact other key initiatives such as patient experience quality and safety

Research has shown that connecting caregivers to one another and to the meaning behind their work improves retention.  For example, studies have shown that sharing positive patient feedback with caregivers improves retention by 15%.  Nearly every unit in an American hospital has a recognition board for sharing peer to peer kudos and positive patient feedback.  These practices of support and recognition are deeply ingrained in the caregiving profession.

Chief Nursing Officers and HR leaders are desperate for solutions they can implement now to meaningfully impact caregiver retention.  This isn’t easy, however, because nearly every healthcare solution requires a long sales and approval process involving integrations, security audits and confidential patient health information. 

There is an opportunity to harness the proven impact of support and recognition in a way that maximizes its impact across a workforce while avoiding the security audits and integrations that prevent adoption of many technologies. 

Proven Impact on Caregiver Retention

Charge Health launches with small pilots and grows organically.  We launched our initial pilots with 15 users and through product led growth, the app organically grew 490% in the first 30 days.  This represented over 20% of the entire workforce at the pilot facilities. 55% of caregivers used the app every day (DAU) and 88% used the app every week.  Over 6,000 messages of support and recognition were sent which led to a 9% improvement in their Likelihood to Recommend Working Here to a Friend or Colleague. 

While attribution in these scenarios is always a challenge, even a 1% change results in a significant ROI.