Future Workforce in Healthcare

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What we do

Health workers are healthcare’s most valuable asset, yet the sector’s most precious resource faces a number of challenges. Pre-COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated a shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030, mostly in low- and lower-middle income jurisdictions. In addition to these shortages, the WHO also indicates that jurisdictions at all levels of socioeconomic development face, to varying degrees, difficulties in the education, employment, deployment, retention, and performance of their healthcare workforces.¹ COVID-19 has exacerbated these challenges, claiming the lives of and infecting healthcare workers, impacting their well-being and demanding rapid change in how they work.

The results of KPMG’s 2021 Healthcare CEO Future Pulse found that 68 percent of executives said their organizations were fundamentally revising their workforce approaches due to the pandemic. This survey also revealed that the most concerning workforce issues keeping healthcare CEOs up at night were the ability to meet demand, the impact of new operating models upon staff, the support of workforce wellness, and the recruitment of new talent.

Current approaches to workforce planning, training, deployment and overall well-being do not reflect present and future realities in healthcare. To effectively meet the needs of patients and staff, health organizations and systems will need to rethink how they operate.

How we can help

KPMG firms are helping healthcare organizations and systems around the world to understand, plan, develop and transform their workforces and the way they leverage technology. With deep healthcare expertise, global viewpoints and extensive cross-sector experience in workforce transformation, KPMG firms are helping to address current challenges and future needs.

Leadership and culture

To support healthcare leaders and teams in building and maintaining a culture that values patient/consumer experience, safety, innovation, well-being and performance, KPMG firms offer training and actionable insights that help organizations improve their employee value proposition by building upon their leadership and culture capacity.

Workforce technology

To help reduce the cost of employing, deploying, remunerating, managing and training workforces and inefficiencies related to legacy systems, KPMG firms have a strong network of alliances with some of the world’s leading technology, data and services companies. Working with these companies, we help organizations digitally transform their human resources functions and workforce capabilities.

Organization design and governance

To help ensure healthcare organizations achieve their goals and mission fulfilment, KPMG firms work with clients to align workforce and enterprise-level strategies by designing structures that define how activities (e.g. task allocation, coordination, and supervision) support their mission and goals. This exercise enables clear accountability from ward to board for the most important priorities, such as ensuring diversity and inclusion.

Workforce shaping and strategy

To help healthcare organizations understand and plan for the impact of technology on their workforces, KPMG firms work with their clients to enhance the way they plan for their future workforce requirements by developing coherent and thorough workforce strategies. This exercise can help ensure organizations have enough staff and/or team members with the right skills and experience.

No matter where a healthcare organization is on its transformational journey, KPMG firms can offer a broad-ranging or modular approach to workforce transformation — from planning through to implementation. With a structured approach, KPMG professionals can help organizations develop more agile, productive, cost-effective and engaged workforces. Talk to us today to learn about how your organization can address current challenges and future needs.