Career Progression and Satisfaction in Hospital Administration

1. Career Progression and Satisfaction in Hospital Administration Amy Meikleham Department of Health Management & Policy School of Health and Human Services University of New Hampshire BackGround Understanding the factors that lead to career progression and satisfaction is essential in developing successful, well-rounded and influential health care leaders leaders. Key factors in career progression and satisfaction have been identified as: Gender and Education: 2012 research study by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) found that there are fewer women in CEO positions and that women earned a lower salary compare to men with similar education and experience2. Family Obligations: The ACHE study also cited that women would be more affected by children and family obligations than that of men2. Family obligations have been shown to interrupt career progression, experience and affect the long-term earnings of employees4. Mentorship: Mentorship has been identified as a major determinant of career progression and is known to lead to increased performance, promotion rate, greater job satisfaction and higher income 1,5. Opportunities for Advancement: A 2012 study by Right Management found that organizations that provide opportunities for advancement are “four times less likely to lose talent in the next year than organizations that do not”8. Lack of opportunities for promotion and costs associated with career advancement have also been found to lead to a greater feeling of job dissatisfaction3. Objective The specific aim of this study was to examine what factors relate to career satisfaction for both men and women senior healthcare executives in Northern New England hospitals. Methods Participants: Made up of chief executives from New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine hospitals. Emails and names of participants were gathered from attendees of the Northern New England Association of Healthcare Executives’ annual meeting as well as information provided by the hospitals’ websites Materials: Research was conducted via the web through a web-based survey using the UNH survey partner, Qualtrics Design: Based off a New Zealand Public Service 2005 Career Progression and Development Survey 27 questions (21 Job/Career questions & 6 Background questions) Multiple choice questions with one fill in the blank question Procedure: Participants were contacted through email and asked to follow a link to survey Data was collected and analyzed in Qualtrics, SPSS, and Excel Developed a satisfaction score: -Based upon the participants’ coded values of their ideal job versus actual job (Questions 1 & 2) -Highest dissatisfaction would be a difference of 2 from actual to ideal -Then weighted the scores and added them up for each participant; those with a difference of 2= 2 points, difference of 1= 1 point -Scores could be from 0-18 (18 representing the highest dissatisfaction score) Created dissatisfaction categories using the scores -Low dissatisfaction= 0-2 -Moderate dissatisfaction= 3-6 -High dissatisfaction= 7+ Ran cross tabulations between each question and the dissatisfaction categories Findings 31 responses (38.3% response rate) 61% Male and 31% Female Majority of respondents were CEOs from NH (69.23%) 42% worked for a hospital with 25-99 beds and 35% worked for a hospital with 100-300 beds Similar numbers reported having a mentor (55%) compared to those who did not (45%) 67% said that mentoring was highly important to their career development Only 19% had primary caring responsibility for children or adults at home A large portion of respondents reported having a family with two or more incomes (63%) Of the 31 respondents, 22 (71%) had some degree of dissatisfaction in their career “Opportunities for advancement” had the highest levels of dissatisfaction (14 respondents) Females had slightly higher dissatisfaction scores (2.6 compared to 1.6) Of the dissatisfied respondents, 23 (74%) had low dissatisfaction (scores between 0 and 2) As the number of years working for the same organization increase, dissatisfaction decreases by .5 Those that reported having a MHA, had only low dissatisfaction scores and therefore were found to be more satisfied Discussion Professor Robert J. McGrath, Ph.D. Department of Health Management & Policy School of Health and Human Services University of New Hampshire There were disparities between those that were highly dissatisfied and those that were more satisfied Highly dissatisfied respondents: Female Prepared to move to develop career and were thinking about changing jobs or were actively applying to other jobs Flexible working hours were highly important Having support from friends was highly important Have worked at the same organization for fewer than five years, yet have worked in healthcare for more than 16 years Make $150,000-$199,000, which is less then the majority (72%) of respondents who are making $200,000 or more Satisfied respondents: 65% male and 35% female Majority plan to stay in their current position Demonstrating skills and abilities as well as having their ideas valued was highly important to their career development Having support from immediate manager was highly important to 91% of the more satisfied respondents 61% have worked in their current organization for 11or more years and 76% have worked in healthcare for 16 years or longer Most do not have primary caring responsibilities for children or adults and live with a spouse http://www.ssa.gov/careers/images/workLife.jpg