The case study for a more digitally enabled workforce

A blog by Hannah Rogers, workpal, Lead Partner in Organisational Effectiveness

Over the years and particularly since COVID-19, the digital agenda in the NHS has become increasingly important to the way that care is delivered, and patient services are run. It has been the long-term goal of the NHS to establish the right digital foundations to facilitate this. Systems are being revamped to incorporate digital infrastructure and connectivity, while apps are developed and integrated to provide the public with a ‘digital first’ option. However, as the NHS’s understanding of digital improves, it is predicted that within 20 years 90% of all jobs in the NHS will require some element of digital skills. Along with employees increasingly wanting and expecting a modern, digital experience at work, the focus has broadened to also include how digital can be used to enhance the workforce’s experience. We’re all familiar with the NHS Future of HR & OD report that highlights the need for embedding digitally enabled solutions and the more recent NHSE expectation around Employee Experience, Talent and the EDI agenda within 12 months also suggesting this can only be met with digital assistance.

As we embark on our digital journeys, it is important to establish an understanding of two key terms, digitisation, and digitalisation as despite sounding the same there are significant differences between the two.

• Digitisation is a process that has been ongoing since around 1986 and is the conversion of something physical into bits and bytes. A good example of this would be the scanning of a document or patient records into a digital archive, meaning it can now be accessed online rather than just physically.
• Digitalisation however is the one most of us would default to i.e., the use of digital technologies to fundamentally change an organisations model and processes. The establishing of virtual wards is one consideration that is possible thanks to digitalisation. This can make the consultation of less mobile patients or quarantined patients more accessible as well as maximise resource efficiency.

With how quickly technology moves and digitalisation takes place, it is very easy to just get swept along with the process, but with the significant impact digitalisation has and will have on you as a workforce it is essential to ask ‘why?’. Why is digitalisation important? Why should I care? What’s in it for me? This is something we will look to explore here.

As I previously alluded to, one of the key arguments for bringing digitalisation to the workforce is the increased efficiency it can bring. Through the automation of the more mundane and repetitive tasks such as an appointment booking/cancellations, employees are enabled to focus their time and efforts on more meaningful tasks especially patient facing ones given current productivity challenges. This blog by the NHS Transformation Directorate highlights such cases where digitalisation has been used to make processes more efficient yet also demonstrates the need for upskilling in this area to have the greatest impact.

From a more technical aspect, digitalisation has the exciting benefit of dramatically improving the speed and quality of decision making. Through digital platforms and online databases, we can store and have access to huge arrays of data and through using the right analytical tools, this data can be unlocked and can drive important decisions of measurable impact. Gathering data isn’t a new phenomenon in people functions – we’ve been presenting KPI’s for years – however, this tends to be retrospective and doesn’t necessarily provide a meaningful story that can be acted on in real-time. We’re also seeing an increase in organisation’s using data to facilitate predictive analysis to forecast future scenarios and take preventative action. A great example of this in practice is Medway NHS Foundation Trust and how they tackled their nurse retention challenge.

With the current workforce challenges being faced in the NHS, my experience tells me there is a significant opportunity for data to provide critical insights to address systemic challenges such as attraction, retention, engagement, and performance, and we, at workpal, are seeing this appetite grow at an ICS/system level.

There is also a strong case to be made for digitalisation improving the employee experience, and this is in fact driven by the employees themselves. There is an expectation particularly from millennials and Gen Zs (the workforce of the future) for a ‘consumer grade tech experience’. Those who are already comfortable with these new technologies expect to have these tools at their disposal to perform in their role. If the tools are not available, a degree of frustration and resentment can build up and workforce experience takes a hit. This is supported by research with studies showing organisations with the most compelling workforce experiences generate 22% higher engagement among their workforce than those with a less compelling workforce experience. This also plays a large role in attraction and recruitment, and workforce retention with those with a more compelling workforce experience also being 4x more likely to remain in their jobs.

We’re also seeing an increasing shift in how and where people work, with more hybrid, remote and mobile working. This flexibility has shown to benefit the employee experience and performance, and digital is critical to this. We’re relying less on face-to-face interactions so re-design of the way that we interact, communicate, share with our colleagues relies on well designed and considered digital methods beyond emails and shared files. This is especially important in an institution such as the NHS, which is large, complex and operates 24/7/365.

This also lends itself to enhancing workforce productivity and digital making a place for itself within the NHS productivity agenda. We’ve already touched on some examples where digitalising patient services is driving efficiencies, however, we’re also seeing this through design of people services. A key opportunity that exists is looking beyond organisational boundaries and how digital people services can drive productivity at an ICS level. Not only does this create efficiencies – having a well-designed digital intervention is always going to be more efficient than seven different versions – system wide data also allows for true collaboration in areas such as talent management and development, EDI, and employee experience.

We know that the case for digital is strong and I hope that this article helps you to consider this in your own Trust. It’s now less about the why and the when, and more about the how, and the what, and over the next couple of months we will be sharing more on this. In the meantime, to optimise this programme its vital to hear your thoughts, your own experiences, any questions that you may have, and what else would be helpful for us to share in the future. Get involved to shape our Digital Workforce future!