Shifting from Recruitment to Retention
Shifting from Recruitment to Retention
Research Update – March 2026 – this article is part of a series reviewing recent research related to healthcare workforce resilience, retention, and system performance.
Several recent healthcare workforce reports highlight a shift in how leaders and researchers are approaching workforce stability.
Instead of focusing primarily on recruitment, organizations are beginning to examine how work itself is designed – including leadership relationships, workload expectations, and workforce analytics.
Three recent reports worth reviewing.
1. Deloitte – Global Health Care Outlook (February 2026)
Deloitte’s latest global outlook identifies workforce challenges as one of the most significant pressures facing healthcare organizations worldwide. Leaders cited workforce engagement, retention, and productivity as major factors influencing financial sustainability and operational stability.
Key findings:
- 56% of healthcare executives surveyed said workforce challenges are one of the most significant risks to organizational performance
- Health systems are increasingly investing in predictive workforce analytics to better match staffing with patient demand
- Workforce engagement and retention are now being discussed alongside revenue growth and cost management in leadership strategy
- Deloitte highlights retention levers including greater work flexibility, redistribution of administrative workload, and ongoing digital upskilling to help clinicians adapt to new technologies.
2. Becker’s Hospital Review – Workforce Challenges Defining Healthcare (Feb 24, 2026)
A recent analysis of healthcare leaders highlights the expanding range of pressures shaping workforce strategy in 2026. The article draws on insights from health system executives across the U.S. and suggests that workforce instability is being driven by multiple overlapping forces.
The analysis also notes that 55% of healthcare workers report considering leaving their job within the next year, underscoring the urgency of retention efforts.
Key themes emerging across leadership responses:
- Technology transformation: Health systems are moving from AI pilots to large-scale deployment, requiring training, governance, and redesign of clinical workflows.
- Workforce supply constraints: Physician shortages and long training pipelines mean staffing challenges cannot be solved quickly through recruitment alone.
- Operational and financial pressures: Labor costs represent roughly half of hospital expenses, pushing organizations to align staffing more closely with demand and patient acuity.
- Workforce experience and engagement: Leaders emphasize that trust, belonging, and leadership capability are becoming central drivers of retention.
- Work environment and safety: Workplace violence, administrative burden, and generational shifts in expectations are influencing both recruitment and retention decisions.
3. SullivanCotter – The Science of Staying Clinician Retention Study (January 2026)
This clinician retention study examined factors associated with stronger retention outcomes across healthcare organizations despite ongoing workforce pressures. 70% of medical groups report turnover has stabilized, compared to recent years, but has not yet improved.
The report emphasizes that retention decisions are shaped by how roles are structured, supported, and sustained over time, particularly during early career stages and mid-career transitions.
Key findings:
- Early-tenure retention matters: Organizations are placing greater emphasis on onboarding quality, role clarity, and early support structures that influence long-term commitment.
- Employee value propositions must reflect reality: Retention strategies are increasingly based on evidence about why clinicians actually stay or leave, rather than assumptions about motivation.
- Workforce sustainability requires structural changes: Leaders are addressing emotional stress, rigid scheduling, and workload imbalance before they become drivers of exit.
- Mid-career engagement is a growing risk area: Organizations are modernizing career development and reward pathways to prevent stagnation among experienced clinicians and advanced practice providers.
- Role-specific retention strategies are emerging: Health systems are developing tailored approaches for different clinical groups, including enabling nurses and APPs to practice at the top of their license and creating distinct retention strategies for physicians.
A Pattern is Emerging
Individually, these reports examine different parts of the workforce challenge.
Taken together, they point toward a similar idea: workforce stability is increasingly influenced by how healthcare work is designed and managed – not simply how many people are hired.
Leadership capability and behaviours, workload expectations, and workforce analytics are increasingly becoming central to the conversation.
Across these studies, retention appears less like an HR outcome and more like the result of everyday leadership decisions about how work is structured, supported, and sustained.
Related Reading
For those interested in the financial impact of workforce instability in Canadian healthcare, I explore this topic further in my white paper:
The Hidden Cost of Healthcare Turnover in Canada
Sources
2026 Global health care outlook | Deloitte Insights