Hospitals Lag in Workforce Diversity

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the nation's hospitals employ more than 4.8 million people, making these centers of healing powerful economic engines for the communities they serve.

Unfortunately, when it comes to diversity in the workforce, hospitals are not leading the way. According to a survey from the American Hospital Association's Health Research and Educational Trust, minorities represent 29% of all patients, but only 14% of hospital board members, and 14% of executive leadership.

"We have a long way to go and we knew that," says Matt Fenwick, director of Program and Partnership Development at HRET. "This survey was our attempt to understand where we are in the field so we have hard figures so that going forward we can set some goals and milestones. The survey does crystallize this issue for a lot of folks."

Still, some progress is being made. HRET says 65% of hospitals incorporate diversity management into their budgets, 48% have action plans to recruit and retain a diverse workforce that reflects their patient population, and 42% have a program to identify qualified minority workers for promotion.

The push for workforce diversity is not about being politically correct. Ultimately, if a hospital's workforce more closely resembles the patient population it serves quality measures and patient satisfaction scores will improve.

"You need a diverse staff," Fenwick says. "That's not to say you can't achieve incredible things with a staff that is not as reflective of the community as it could be. But with a diverse staff you have this intuitive understanding of those you are treating."

Indiana University Health and flagship University Hospital – Indianapolis has received national recognition for its efforts to improve diversity among its 30,000 employees. Steven L. Jones, the health system's executive director for Talent Management and Diversity, says the patient population is about 30% minority and the workforce is about 23% minority.

"When you think about the hospital experience it can be overwhelming, so it is our contention that we need to make that patient experience as comfortable as possible," Jones says. "We want to provide patient-centered care and part of that is providing that patient with an environment where they see people who look like them. I believe just like we tend to gravitate toward people who look and talk like us, the same thing occurs for patients in their families when they come to the hospital."

In this era when skilled clinicians are hard to find, most hospitals can't realistically be expected to have a workforce that mirrors their changing patient populations. If that is the case, Jones says it's important to train existing staff for the cultural differences they may encounter.

"You can provide quality patient care without having, for example, a Burmese patient treated by a Burmese nurse or physician," Jones says. "But organizationally you have to make sure that employees are aware of these differences and they are sensitive enough to know that differences aren't necessarily a bad thing. Employees must understand those differences need to be addressed on the front end so we can provide that care where a patient feels comfortable enough to raise concerns without it being a situation that leads to poor patient satisfaction and poor quality of care."

At IU Health, Jones says the initial push for workforce diversity was met with skepticism.

"Some people believe that when we became intentional about increasing the numbers of minority professionals that this was about just hiring someone because they happened to be Korean- or African-American and they happened to be a pharmacist on top of that," Jones says. "That was never the intent. It was always about finding the best talent available. We had to help people understand that the focus from an HR perspective was on qualifications and not just skin color."

If hospitals and healthcare organizations aren't making a move toward a more diverse workforce, they will find themselves falling further behind the nation's rapidly changing demographics.

"Most researchers will tell you by 2020-2030 minorities will become the majorities in the U.S.," Jones says. "The discussion needs to be about how do organizations get to the point of being able to fully embrace diversity in the workplace and how we are then culturally competent and sensitive to the patients we serve."