Staffing has been a major challenge for businesses across the board in recent years. But it’s been especially challenging for nonprofit Health and Human Services (HHS) organizations. Staffing in this industry has always been particularly difficult due to limited budgets, high employee turnover rates, and the level of specialized skills and certifications required for these roles.

These issues create a revolving door of employees and worsen burnout among staff who do stick around. Leaders continue to rank recruiting and retention as top organizational priorities yet struggle to make progress on these staffing issues. However, there are solutions to alleviate nonprofit and HHS staffing problems.

Software services like a Human Capital Management (HCM) system can improve recruiting processes and talent management strategies to meet your staffing needs. Let’s explore how an HCM platform can address key staffing issues to maintain strong engagement through the entire employee lifecycle.

Why Do Nonprofit HHS Organizations Struggle With Staffing?

Maintaining adequate staffing levels is imperative for providing high-quality care and services for our communities. Short-staffed organizations may have longer wait times for appointments or higher provider turnover, resulting in less consistent care. For inpatient behavioral health facilities, for example, understaffing can also present safety concerns for patients and staff.

However, many organizations still struggle to meet staffing demands, even as nonprofit HHS leaders continue to rank recruiting and retention as a top focus. Before getting to solutions, here’s a deeper look at some common pain points.

Limited Budgets and Lack of Competitive Pay

Whether nonprofit and HHS organizations make full-time direct hires or build partnerships with staffing agencies to fill short-term roles, filling positions can be tricky when working with a tight budget.

Many nonprofit organizations rely, at least in part, on grant funding to operate. Additionally, reimbursement rates for services provided, often a primary source of revenue for healthcare entities, tend to be lower for HHS organizations than for other medical providers. This does not leave a lot of room in the budget for competitive staff pay, making it more difficult to attract top candidates.

Lack of Qualified Candidates

Nonprofit behavioral healthcare facilities and HHS providers also have a smaller talent pool than other healthcare fields. Licensed mental health and human services professionals are in high demand, but there’s often a limited supply of candidates in specific regions with the credentials, skills, and experience required for the job. In ContinuumCloud’s 2024 Behavioral Health Industry Trends Report, only 13% of organizations indicated that they can fill key positions quickly.

HHS professionals such as clinical social workers, nurse practitioners, substance use counselors, clinicians, and other patient care workers must meet strict licensing and educational requirements. These aren’t typically skills that can be taught on the job, so companies must fight for a sparse supply of talent with the right licensing and backgrounds.

High Turnover Rates

A large part of the issue with nonprofit HHS staffing is that these organizations have higher-than-average turnover rates. In the 2023 Behavioral Health Industries Report from ContinuumCloud, it was found that 91% of behavioral health organizations have a turnover rate of 20% or greater.

You may be surprised by how many star employees are contemplating quitting. In Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace Report, 51% of employees surveyed across different fields and regions indicated that they were actively or passively looking for a new job. Since HHS professionals are at an increased risk of experiencing employee burnout, that percentage may even be higher among nonprofit HHS organizations.

How Can a Human Capital Management System Improve Staffing Issues?

The right software solution can help address common pain points in nonprofit HHS staffing. Explore how an HCM platform can be leveraged as an effective solution.

Better Visibility of Staffing Needs and Costs

Nonprofit and HHS staffing is a bit different than traditional office staffing. You’re often working with different labor allocations and cost centers, non-traditional staff schedules, and may not always have the budget to fill vacant roles.

An HCM platform can help navigate these issues by providing a more organized view of your vacancies, labor budget, and staffing needs so that you can properly prioritize hiring. ContinuumCloud’s HCM system includes Position Control as its foundation, which allows employers to clearly review open roles, set specific salary ranges, and create streamlined hiring approval workflows. This ensures the right jobs are being filled and everyone is clear on the budgeted salary.

Streamlined Recruiting and Onboarding

Recruiting and onboarding are the first two stages of the employee lifecycle, and they are your best opportunity to nurture employee relations right away. Connecting with and engaging new team members can build a strong foundation for job satisfaction.

Using an HCM platform to manage recruiting and onboarding can provide a better candidate and new hire experience by improving communication throughout the process and streamlining the paperwork and data entry components.

One of the biggest recruiting frustrations from the candidate’s perspective is slow processes and poor communication. Candidates don’t want to wait weeks to hear back after applying. As such, employers must streamline their processes to improve response times.

With the right HCM solution, employers can collect applicant data in one centralized location to quickly review and rate applicants, communicate with candidates, and gain approval to make the hire promptly. Streamlining the recruiting and onboarding process also helps you fill roles faster and get new hires up to speed and ready to work more efficiently.

Engaging and Retaining Existing Staff

Human capital management software like ContinuumCloud’s HCM platform can help nonprofit and HHS organizations better engage and connect with employees through simplified communication tools. One example is to leverage company news feeds to share information and exciting updates with team members. Additionally, app-based employee recognition tools (think virtual “high-fives”) can be very impactful by making it easier for leaders, supervisors, and peers to recognize one another for their contributions and achievements.

In fact, Harvard Business Review found that employees who rated their leaders as “great” at providing recognition were 40% more engaged than other employees. Since higher employee engagement is correlated to better retention rates and greater productivity, this small investment of time and resources can have a huge payoff.

Improve Nonprofit HHS Staffing With ContinuumCloud

Maintaining appropriate staffing levels is essential for nonprofit and Health & Human Services organizations to maintain operational efficiency and deliver high-quality care. Without the right solution, it can be hard to fill roles and keep people engaged and happy in those roles.

ContinuumCloud’s HCM platform has the tools that nonprofit HHS organizations need to effectively track staffing levels, recruit for open roles, onboard new hires, and retain staff. ContinuumCloud’s HCM was built specifically to address the needs of nonprofit and HHS organizations, including the unique staffing challenges they face.

Get in touch to learn more about ContinuumCloud’s HCM solution and how it can boost your staffing goals.