In the post-pandemic era, hospitals and health systems are focused on how to manage their healthcare workforce in a way that meets employees' needs and aligns with organizational goals. For Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health, this involves a willingness to depart from previous approaches.
Christian Sherwood, chief human resources officer for the health system, views it as a social contract as well as an acknowledgment of the effects of the pandemic on workers.
"We, as employers, want to do right by them. We want to do something different. We want to figure out how to do it differently in the next chapter," Ms. Sherwood told Becker's.
That next phase has included an analysis for its surgical tech positions, which resulted in pay and compensation architecture changes to achieve success in a tight job market.
Recruitment remains a key focus for healthcare organizations, though many have placed more emphasis on retention of current workers. This is reflected in how some areas of the healthcare workforce have shown signs of recovery and stabilization relative to the shortages seen during the pandemic. Still, workforce challenges remain and can vary by region and healthcare specialty.
Amid this turbulence, University of Utah Health, the only academic medical center in Utah and the Mountain West, introduced an intermediate career ladder level for surgical techs that allows advancement following a year of certified experience.
Ms. Sherwood said the organization's entry rates for surgical techs were favorable. However, the health system wanted to revamp compensation for those who have been with University of Utah Health for three to five years.
"We had a hunch we needed to look at pay differently for this group," she said. "We needed to assess the increase in skills, rather than just the natural progression of time in the department. We know the competition has changed and once they have additional skills, coupled with the scheduling and the demands of a 24/7 operation, we wanted to take a fresh look."
University of Utah Health reviewed the job's placement in its salary structure, then, in late 2023, transitioned the role to a different structure, according to health system leaders.
This transition resulted in a pay range that advances team members more quickly, they said. Additionally, the wage review resulted in 117 of 131 surgical techs receiving increases ranging from 0.2% to 20%, averaging 11%.
"The whole compensation process is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge," Ms. Sherwood said. "As soon as you get it done, you have to go back and look at it again because market conditions change. I tell folks we keep it in the top of our funnel and keep looking at it. Because as market conditions change, we want to make sure that we're hitting all the points."
She noted that the health system's retention work goes beyond pay. Ms. Sherwood said University of Utah Health is also considering new scheduling models and "how to look at differentials to acknowledge the difficulty of the schedule and the acuity of the work."