By A. Kevin Troutman
If this year had been a heavyweight fight, the referee probably would have stopped it. Throughout 2020, healthcare employers absorbed one thundering haymaker after another. If that were not challenging enough, the year was filled with surprises, with more zigs and zags than the scariest rollercoaster.
While the worldwide pandemic and its challenges took center-stage, employers faced a string of additional challenges: heightened racial tensions and social justice protests, with images of violence in some streets; a bruising presidential election; a succession of hurricane threats; increased activity by cybercriminals targeting healthcare providers; and of course, the immense personal toll that shut-downs, quarantines and isolation caused in the personal lives of workers and their family members.
Still, the healthcare system learned, adapted and survived, serving and indeed saving thousands of lives in the process. While 2020’s challenges will not suddenly disappear in January, employers can glean lessons and strength from this year’s experiences, providing renewed confidence and preparedness in 2021, which will present additional challenges, including big changes to the legislative and compliance landscape.
Lessons learned during 2020
Healthcare workers braved this year, relying largely on two deep-seated virtues: determination and organizational agility. First, even while the path was most treacherous and unclear, when resources were wearing thin and there was not yet a light at the end of the tunnel, doctors, nurses, therapists, aids and entire healthcare teams simply refused to quit. Instead, they tenaciously focused on taking care of people in need. Second, using knowledge developed during previous crises, they also displayed innovation and adaptability. Virtual visits, contactless delivery of food and supplies, increased mask-wearing, accelerated cross disciplinary collaboration, more and better screening systems, streamlined workflows, and faster development of medicines and treatment protocols have become part of what may indeed become a “new normal.” Increased attention to cybersecurity also quickly became more important in this new environment.
This experience – which remains far from over – also offered opportunities for systems to bond with employees more closely than ever. Not surprisingly, such buttressing was most successful where a culture of respectful communications already existed. In every setting, effective employee communications have never been more important. That reality is unlikely to change any time soon.
Moreover, 2020 dramatically demonstrated the importance of being prepared for sudden crises (including pandemics, severe weather and wildfires, to name a few). While no one knows exactly what will happen next year, every organization can develop a plan and structure that encourages adroit triage of problems, effective communications and well-coordinated, flexible implementation of responses. Specifically, companies should establish a core rapid-response team that will be empowered to act when the next disaster occurs.
Employers should also develop useful supporting policies, rather than having to create them on the fly. These policies should be concise and action-oriented, not bureaucratic or unwieldly. As tools, they should constitute guideposts that identify organizational priorities, values and a bias toward action. Healthcare organizations that that fared best in 2020 were those who evaluated challenges and innovated quickly. Far from throwing caution to the winds, however, their approach helped maintain focus on delivering timely, safe care to those who needed it most. Employers should prepare for more twists and turns in the road ahead.
What’s on the Horizon For 2021
Besides continually evolving COVID-19 issues, other issues, such as those mentioned above, will continue to affect the workplace in 2021. Social justice concerns and the need to demonstrate inclusiveness and fairness will, if anything, command more attention. Numerous employees will also have to continue dealing with the deeply personal toll that this year has taken on them and their families.
Employers are also likely to face new legislative and compliance requirements, as a new administration takes the helm of the federal government. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will undoubtedly become more active in terms of rule-making, inspections and mandatory reporting, especially as to COVID-19. New legislation and requirements will also likely emerge in the area of mandatory paid employee leave, and there will be a renewed push to increase the federal minimum wage. New rules will also tighten employers’ latitude regarding their handbook policies, including their right to restrict employees’ social media activity. In general, healthcare employers can expect to face more regulatory requirements during the coming year. So what can they do to prepare for 2021?
Preparing the Challenges of 2021
Besides developing (and continually refining) their rapid-response leadership team and framework, employers must continue to take good care of those who care for patients. It has never been more important to double and triple check systems for ensuring the availability of supplies, PPE and staffing. This includes development of back-up systems, for both communications and logistics.
Employers should also think carefully about their approach to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 vaccine landscape, since healthcare workers will be among the first to whom the vaccine is offered. Vaccines issued under the FDA’s emergency authority cannot be mandated, according to a member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Even when employers have the option to mandate a vaccine, will it be better to require or strongly-encourage them? If employers deem a vaccine mandatory for hands-on caregivers, will the requirement apply to other jobs? What happens if an employee refuses to be vaccinated? The answer to that question will depend largely upon the employee’s reason for refusing.
Regardless, employers must prepare to address these issues because recent surveys have shown that half the population may be unwilling to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
This issue dovetails with the critical importance of on-going employee communications. The better employees understand the issues, the more likely they are to support their employers’ decisions. So employers must not only explain what they plan to do, but why. This effort should follow hand-in-glove, pun intended, with responding to concerns that employees express. For example, employers will need consider offering more flexibility and support, where feasible, for workers facing increased childcare demands or other family needs. Workers will likely be stressed and fatigued themselves, so it will be critical to make help easily accessible to those in need. This should include connecting with Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) that understand healthcare workers and have demonstrated their ability to respond quickly and creatively.
Healthcare employers should also self-evaluate their HR practices to ensure more than just legal compliance. Examine, in particular, whether company practices convey a genuine sense of caring and fairness. Employers should repeatedly express commitments both to safety and inclusiveness in the workplace. Seniors leaders should identify ways to affirmatively demonstrate these commitments and to participate in related training programs as feasible.
Critically, in today’s environment, workers must also receive training about how to protect the integrity of computer systems, including safeguards against malware and phishing attacks, among other risks. Sadly, healthcare organizations have become increasingly frequent targets of cyberattacks, which can have devastating consequences.
Conclusion
If this appears to be a demanding set of goals, it most certainly is. But compared to the consequences of a disgruntled, distracted or ineffective workplace, the effort is well-worth it. Further, as explained in the above-referenced in the overview of anticipated legislative and regulatory changes on the near horizon, employers who do not prepare their workplace are likely to face more expenses, inspections, penalties, employment litigation and union-organizing efforts during the coming months.