Healthcare is hiring. Workers are exhausted. And healthcare leaders are caught in the middle.
Healthcare continues to drive job growth, but the workforce behind that growth is under serious pressure.
Burnout, staffing strain, limited flexibility and emotional exhaustion are forcing hospitals and health systems to rethink what it takes to attract and retain talent.
Competitive pay remains important, but today’s healthcare workers also want practical support, better work environments and benefits that reflect the realities of their lives inside and outside of work.
In our latest blog, we explore what healthcare employees want from employers now — and why support has become a critical part of the employee value proposition.
Healthcare Is Operating in a Different Labor Market
Across much of the U.S. economy, hiring has cooled. White-collar workers are facing fewer openings, and industries such as manufacturing, construction, warehousing and retail continue to navigate uncertainty, labor constraints and shifting demand.
Healthcare is in a different position.
Through November 2025, the healthcare and social services sector added 695,000 jobs, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Total U.S. employment grew by 610,000 jobs during the same period.
That means healthcare and social services accounted for more than all net job growth. Excluding that sector, the broader economy would have lost roughly 85,000 jobs.
In other words, healthcare isn’t simply participating in the labor market. In many ways, it’s carrying it.
For healthcare leaders, that growth is both encouraging and challenging.
Demand is strong. The industry is essential. And long-term demographic trends suggest the need for healthcare services will continue to rise.
But a growing labor market also means healthcare workers have options. And when workers have options, they have leverage.
That leverage is showing up in pay negotiations, staffing demands, signing bonuses and increased competition for clinical and non-clinical talent.
Healthcare organizations aren’t just competing with one another for new hires. They’re competing to keep the people they already have.
That is where the pressure intensifies.
Hospitals must recruit into an already strained workforce while also reducing turnover, protecting morale and preventing burnout from becoming the cost of doing business.
Increasingly, healthcare workers want proof that choosing an employer will not come at the expense of their health, family, time or life outside of work.
Growth Comes With a Workforce Warning
Healthcare employment may be growing, but the workforce itself is under pressure.
Pandemic stress intensified industry-wide burnout, and many healthcare workers still face understaffing, administrative strain, safety concerns and emotional exhaustion.
The result is a workforce that’s deeply needed and deeply depleted.
A 2025 AMN Healthcare survey found burnout, staffing and schedule flexibility remain top nurse concerns. Fifty-eight percent feel burned out most days, with only 39% intending to continue working as they are.
Another 2025 survey from The Harris Poll found that 84% of healthcare workers feel taken for granted. More than half said they plan to look for a new job or switch roles within the next year, and less than one-third said they feel valued by their current employer.
Those numbers should get every healthcare executive’s attention.
The issue is not just finding workers but also creating an environment they want to stay in.
Recruitment still matters. Hospitals and health systems need strong talent pipelines, competitive compensation, clear career paths and compelling employer brands.
But recruitment alone can’t solve a retention problem.
If healthcare workers enter an organization only to burn out, disengage or leave, the system becomes a revolving door. That’s expensive, disruptive and damaging to morale.
The real challenge for healthcare leaders isn’t only hiring more people. It’s losing fewer people to exhaustion.
What Healthcare Workers Want Now
Healthcare workers aren’t asking for one single thing. Their needs vary by role, generation, career stage, family situation and work environment.
But across the industry, several expectations are becoming clear.
Healthcare workers want to feel supported, respected and protected from unsustainable conditions.
They also want leaders who understand the realities of healthcare work and offer practical solutions for daily challenges.
Here are four areas healthcare employers should pay close attention to.
1. Competitive Pay, But Not Pay Alone
Compensation will always matter. In a competitive labor market, healthcare employers cannot ignore wages, bonuses or financial incentives.
But pay is the foundation, not the full house.
A higher paycheck may attract talent, but it doesn’t automatically create loyalty.
If the work environment remains overwhelming, employees may still leave for an organization that offers better staffing, stronger leadership, more flexibility or a culture that feels more humane.
That’s especially true in a high-demand market where healthcare workers can compare opportunities.
Signing bonuses and pay increases may get attention. The full employee experience determines whether people stay.
Healthcare workers want to be paid fairly. But they also want to know their employer sees them as people, not just labor hours on a staffing grid.
2. Flexibility Where Flexibility Is Possible
Healthcare will never have the same flexibility as many office-based professions. Patients need care around the clock. Hospitals cannot send everyone home with a laptop and a Microsoft Teams login.
But that doesn’t mean flexibility is off the table.
For clinical teams, flexibility may look like more predictable scheduling, self-scheduling options, creative shift design, part-time pathways, reduced mandatory overtime or more input into staffing decisions.
For non-clinical healthcare employees, it may include hybrid work, flexible start times or more autonomy in how work gets done.
The point isn’t that every role can be flexible in the same way. It’s that healthcare workers want employers to prioritize flexibility rather than default to “this is how we’ve always done it.”
When Healthcare Work Can’t Flex, Support Should
When flexibility is limited, support matters even more.
Healthcare employers may not be able to change the realities of shift work, patient care demands or around-the-clock operations. But they can offer benefits that help offset those pressures.
The most meaningful benefits give employees time back, reduce stress and ease the personal burdens that don’t disappear when a shift begins.
3. A Work Environment That Doesn’t Normalize Burnout
Burnout is often framed as an individual problem. But in healthcare, it’s frequently a systemic challenge.
This means healthcare workers don’t want more reminders to practice self-care. They want meaningful action.
- Better staffing strategies.
- Stronger manager support.
- Safer workplaces.
- Realistic workloads.
- Mental health resources.
- Benefits that address the stress in their lives.
That last point matters.
Burnout does not begin and end inside the hospital. Healthcare workers carry full lives outside of work.
They are parents, caregivers, spouses, students and household managers.
After a demanding shift, they still have groceries to buy, appointments to schedule, errands to run, family needs to manage and homes to maintain.
The workday may end, but the second shift often begins immediately.
That is why benefits designed to reduce everyday friction can have an outsized impact.
When employers help remove some of that load, they send a message workers can feel: We know your life doesn’t stop when your shift starts.
4. Benefits That Solve Real-Life Problems
Healthcare workers desperately need benefits that are practical, accessible and relevant to the daily pressures they face.
Traditional benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans and paid time off remain essential. But healthcare employers are increasingly looking beyond the basics to support the full employee experience.
That includes benefits related to mental health, caregiving, financial wellness, family support and work-life balance.
For healthcare employees, time is especially valuable. Long shifts, emotional labor, weekend schedules and physical demands can make ordinary life overwhelming.
Even a small errand can feel insurmountable: one more thing standing between them and rest, family time or recovery.
When employers help reduce that friction, they do more than offer a perk. They create capacity.
And in healthcare, capacity matters.
What Healthcare Leaders Should Consider
As healthcare organizations evaluate their workforce strategies, leaders should ask:
- Are we competing only on pay, or on the full employee experience?
- Do our benefits reflect what healthcare workers actually need right now?
- Are we addressing burnout as a system issue, not just an individual wellness issue?
- Are we offering practical support that helps employees manage life outside of work?
- Does our recruitment message align with employees’ day-to-day experiences?
These questions matter because healthcare workers are paying attention.
They’re evaluating whether employers understand the pressures they face — and whether the organization is willing to take meaningful action to address them.
In a competitive labor market, support is not a nice-to-have. It’s part of the employment value proposition.
A Smarter Way to Support Healthcare Employees
Best Upon Request helps healthcare organizations support employees with concierge services that reduce everyday stress and give workers valuable time back.
From errands and appointment scheduling to personal task support, BEST’s healthcare employee concierge programs help hospitals offer a practical, high-touch benefit that supports well-being while creating a meaningful advantage in a competitive talent market.