Healthcare workers often find themselves on the front lines of high-pressure environments and experience first-hand the stress of peak demand on healthcare services. Global incidents, significant accidents and natural disasters place additional pressure on the healthcare workforce and the mental health implications can be huge. Our healthcare workers are true superheroes, but what are the impacts on those who are supporting others, and where do they find support?
Healthcare worker burnout is associated with lower patient experience and increased costs, impacting key healthcare improvement measures. Therefore, it makes sense that there is increasing focus on improving the ‘care team’ work life and well-being to improve patient outcomes and the quality of care provided.
Supporting the care team and managing the healthcare workforce can be a challenge for healthcare providers, particularly during times of high stress and peak demand. With workers feeling overworked, stressed, and experiencing burnout, there has never been a greater need for a holistic approach to workforce management.
DXC Technology has been working to find solutions to a wide range of increasing healthcare industry business needs, in particular, those relating to workforce management, such as the ability to:
- Efficiently recruit and onboard resources
- Allocate resources/capability against service demand
- Mobilize the workforce if needs change
- Access the right information to make critical decisions rapidly
- Align to standards for quality accreditation and compliance
- Map skills to competency frameworks to support performance management, succession planning, and employee development
- Support urgent, critical skill demands through structured education and ‘just in time’ learning
- Protect and support workers during and after periods of increased stress and psychological impact
The outcomes are an innovative set of solutions that addresses workforce management challenges, while putting worker well-being at the core of the solution. The DXC Workforce Suite for Healthcare with SAP® Solutions focuses on providing healthcare organizations with the tools to manage, support and care for their employees professionally, personally, and psychologically.
Delivering benefits through integrated modules
The DXC Workforce Suite for Healthcare is made up of SAP workforce-related solutions and DXC intellectual property, broken into eight modules that can be regionally configured and delivered quickly and incrementally. With flexible HR system integration (SAP or other) customers can subscribe to the modules in a ‘mix and match’ approach, based on their specific focus areas, and implementation can be staged to deliver benefits incrementally through integrated, fast time-to-value modules.
While some modules focus on areas of need such as recruitment and onboarding employees and contractors, managing performance, developing competencies and closing capability gaps; others increase employee engagement, and identify where support and resources should be directed.
There is also the DXC developed SafeSpace module — a personal-use support tool for use by workers during times of stress, exposure to trauma, and other personal or professional difficulties. SafeSpace enables healthcare professionals to connect with others for peer support, express their emotions, and find inspiration and support during peak times of stress. Users can interact and share experiences, sentiments, and common interests with others in their field. SafeSpace is accessible from smartphones or other devices, with privacy and anonymity maintained through user profiles, and the app can connect to employer identified services and extend offerings related to employee assistance.
Designed with healthcare workers for healthcare workers
The SafeSpace module was developed in close consultation with healthcare industry professionals, including frontline healthcare workers. Through ideation and design-thinking workshops, DXC asked how technology could help address their most pressing needs.
The time is now to make employee well-being a core business process
Just like payroll and accounts payable are core business processes, now is the time for organizations to prioritize employee well-being – particularly when service quality and business outcomes, such as patient safety, rely on the care team’s well-being. Because healthcare is not the only industry where workers must deal with stress and burnout, DXC is exploring the extension of the suite, including the SafeSpace application, to industries such as life sciences, first responders and emergency services, law enforcement, defense, public sector, and information technology.
Whatever the industry, workforce management tools to support productivity, scalability, communication, collaboration, and workforce mental health must be made a priority. Organizations worldwide require the best workforce management and engagement tools to ensure critical decisions can be made and service delivery can be planned and executed, and DXC is the trusted partner to help make this happen.
Register for the DXC Workforce Suite for Healthcare Webinar, sponsored by DXC and SAP, and facilitated by Frost and Sullivan, or find more information on the SAP Store.
About the author: Coppelia Rose is DXC Technology’s Global SAP Healthcare & Life Sciences Offering Leader. Coppelia has spent almost her entire career working in healthcare-related organizations and remains passionate about contributing to this sector. The recent global impacts gave Coppelia reason to develop this industry-specific workforce management solution that incorporates mental health support for frontline healthcare workers.
Photo: DXC’s SafeSpace Module
