The Importance of Diversity in the Health Care Industry - Recruit, Promote, and Retain

At MetroPlusHealth, we are all about diversity. This includes the diversity of care, service, geography, and staff. Our senior leadership comprises 65% women and is diverse, like the communities we serve. We are known for our workforce diversity, which resonates with people and motivates them to apply.

I joined the Human Resources department as Director of Recruitment, at MetroPlusHealth, NewYork City’s affordable, high-quality health insurance plan, in March 2020 – right before the City completely shutdown. Not knowing how long this would last, my team had to prepare for the unexpected.

During the first few months, we saw the beginning of New York City’s healthcare system go through the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to an overwhelming number of patients and the struggle to find personnel. Our team focused on helping the hospital system recruit volunteer doctors, specialty nurses, and respiratory therapists nationwide to help cope with this dire healthcare staffing shortage.

Eventually, MetroPlusHealth needed to recruit its own workforce, but the pandemic caused a new issue – the significant disruption in America’s labor force known as The Great Resignation. Employees experienced the convenience and feasibility of working from home during the lockdown. The added benefits of spending more time with loved ones and being able to prioritize a work/life balance empowered personnel to resign en masse. Since then, businesses like MetroPlusHealth have faced higher attrition rates due to employees’ personal preferences for remote working, among other factors.

Over the past three years, we have taken significant steps to address these obstacles. Driven by the needs of the employees and the candidate market, MetroPlusHealth transitioned from a fully in-person model to a hybrid. MetroPlusHealth understood that flexibility and improved work/life balance were top priorities. This change significantly improved recruitment efforts, resulting in are cord number of new hires in the last two years. To keep pace with MetroPlusHealth’s growth and expansion, we also added talent to the team by hiring skilled and experienced healthcare recruiters. We also left no stone unturned by ensuring our priority vacancies were featured on most job boards,including LinkedIn, and specialized and diversity-based platforms.

Hiring From within The Communities we Serve (Diversity)

As a local New York City health plan, MetroPlusHealth hires from the communities it serves. MetroPlusHealth partners with community-based organizations and attends events that they sponsor and organize. New York City is one of the most diverse cities in the world, and we pride ourselves on having a diversified workforce. 

We hire people who speak the same language as others in the community, understand the population’s needs, and know the community’s daily challenges. Hiring candidates who can assist with creating and maintaining key relationships with local community-based organizations, businesses, and elected officials has been crucial to our success.

Professional Development and Recognition

As a health care organization, we know we have the best and most talented,missiondriven people.We value recognizing and promoting them. Human Resources partners with our executive leadership team to recognize and appreciate those who go above and beyond, from monthly and yearly recognition to special shoutouts and highlights on social media and in the newsletter. To retain top talent, leaders need to recognize achievements and promote growth on an ongoing basis. Last year alone, we promoted over a hundred well-deserving staff to leadership positions.

Professional development is our priority, so we implemented new programs and continuous learning opportunities for all our staff to help them grow professionally and feel comfortable taking on new challenges. We focused on building the skills and competencies needed for this new hybrid work world while delivering employee learning opportunities, covering topics such as Delegating for Growth, Management Essentials, Ideas into Action, and Lean Six Sigma. Through our new partnership with the Degreed learning platform, targeted learning modules will soon be available based on customized development plans

As a recruitment leader with almost 20 years of experience, I am fortunate to work for an organization that puts people, not profit, first. That translates to our members, the public, and the organization. As we continue to grow and expand, it is exciting to be part of a company that continues to innovate to help the New York City community live their best and healthiest lives.

I am grateful that I can lean on my leadership team for support and guidance and work for individuals who understand that hiring and retaining top talent goes beyond the company’s perks. At MetroPlusHealth, our recruitment team takes great pride in their work, which translates to excellent results. We are committed to finding top-notch candidates for every position.