The Importance of Labor Market Analysis in Health Organizations

Introduction:

Labor market serves to be the backbone of any successfully running organization. It acts as the sole influence for employment processes. The analysis of labor market helps to determine the forces that are driving the employees of the organization to leave the institute or perform at a suboptimal level. It also highlights the areas where the policies are to be mended in an institute and stresses on the needed interventions. In case of health organizations, the analysis of labor market renders a better understanding of the forces that are creating a shortage in the number of health workers as we find in the case of National Health Service of UK, also known as NHS. The organization has been reported to have lower funding that act as barriers in their effective functioning. Thus, there is a need of proper planning method that helps organizations to be successful and progressive in their business renderings for a long-term.

Discussion:

Relevance of conducting labor market analysis:

The NHS is the largest single employer, providing employment to about 5% of all employees in the United Kingdom (Vernon and Marsh, 2018). The local markets serve to be the major source of employees who are greatly influenced by the local market conditions. Thus, it is very essential for the NHS to attract the health workers that they recruit, providing them with working conditions that they are willing to serve (Cascio 2018). The low funding in NHS has resulted to a frozen salary condition for the nurses working there. It has been facing serious work force issues and it is identifiable that the organization needs greater investment to improve staff quality and quantity. They must feel motivated to work in collaboration with the organization. Interventions in skill mix and proper allocation of tasks to the various work-force would help the organization to retain its workers, that involve fork force from both the National and International market. A high quality treatment and patient care is possible only when an organization becomes responsive and adaptable to the changes in local labor market conditions. It requires a continuous monitoring of the labor market situation to work in a stable and progressive manner. The reports of NHS show that the good will of its staff that it had will be collapsing in the near future for the condition of the labor market where the nurses are found to be performing their 12 hours of duty regularly without being paid (Faggio and Overman 2014). The total workforce comprised of 2,165,043 nurses, which reduced to only 691,000 in 2017 (Theguardian.com, 2018). Thus, NHS organization needs to realize the labor market conditions where it operates to deliver its services properly and compete with the other health organizations present in the market scenario. The shortage of the staffs in NHS signifies a shift of them to the other health organizations, which is defaming the organization who serves to be the largest employer. The NHS has witnessed a rise of only 1% in the salary of the doctors with no equivalent promise of any increase in the future (Theguardian.com, 2018). Thus, it is very essential to conduct labor market analysis in order to plan effectively to get the best outcome from an organization. 

The Labor Market Situation in NHS

Considering the labor situation in NHS, announcements were made to have a capital funding of £3.5bn to redesign the services in NHS (Wooller, 2018). Considering all other aspects and the labor market scenario of the organization, a total funding of £6.3bn was proposed (Wooller, 2018). However, the organization was funded with a lower amount than the proposed one, which led to severe warning from the staffs who frame the major labor force for NHS (McPake et al. 2013). The organization further showed its commitment to provide a meaningful rise in the salary structure of the staffs that has been further warned by the Royal College of Nursing that emphasized the organization to raise the salary of the workers who were barred from having any increase in their pay scale since the year 2010 (Lepping et al. 2013).

With the lack of proper labor market analysis and effective planning, the NHS has been deviating from the goodwill it had among the staffs (Wilkinson 2015). It has been facing a gradual shortage of labor left with nurses who are reported to be unpaid for their services (Drummond et al. 2015). This has been leading to grievous situations of cancelling operations and increasing the waiting time due to lack of staffs, hinting at the deteriorating condition of the organization as a whole. England has established various Workforce Development confederations (WCDs) to provide emphasis and create integrated approaches to aid the needs of the labor forces in health and social care organizations in order to promote their successful functioning in any market situation.

Importance of short-term and long-term business planning:

An adoption of both short and long term planning is very essential for any business to function properly. Companies like the NHS have a lack of proper analysis methods and human resource management that has deviated it from having a clear idea of the labor market situation (Wrenn and Mansfield 2014). This has been affecting the growth and functioning of the organization in a very negative way. Thus, it is very important to have short term planning to concentrate on the present condition of the company and develop methods to improve the loopholes (Ashton, Maguire and Spilsbury 2016). The planning includes the efficiency of labors on which they must be paid. They must keep the government informed about all the fund that they need with proper data analysis and list of requirements that would help NHS to work with proper collaboration with the government. Analyzing the productivity and outcome reports of any organization also fall in the short-term concern that requires a regular assessment. The NHS has been rendering training courses to their newly recruited members, which is an effective way of short-term solution for the organization. Various organization render special attention to their short-term planning in order to have solutions to all the problems it could face in the long run (Tomczak, Reinecke and Kuss 2018). 

Short-term and Long-term Planning for an Effective Workforce

In long-term, companies are more concerned in permanently solving issues to achieve their target in the business. It focuses on the environmental situation including the social, economic, political and other factors that largely influence the long-term objectives of the organization (Barton and Wiseman 2014). It concentrates on the buying of equipments and implementation of policies that would enhance the better quality of production in the organization. NHS is having a huge problem regarding the lack of funds to buy equipments and pay the staffs. With a proper long-term planning, the organization would have been free of such issues it has been facing in recent times. The short-term planning of analyzing and being updated with the labor situation would have made the business proceedings of NHS successful with the elevated long-term planning that would have ensured its progress. Adapting the planned method of business would help NHS to overcome such issues in future, helping it to be progressive in the future.

Conclusion:

From the report it can be concluded that NHS being the largest employer in health organizations in UK, has various discrepancies that has been ruining its fame and business proceedings. With lack of proper labor market analysis the company has not been able to analyze the present situation of the work force that serve as the basis for the organization. Thus, an effective planning concerning the short-term objectives is the primary area that NHS needs to focus on to elevate its position that has been facing issues. It must also integrate a proper long-term planning so that it does not face any turmoil and disturbances in its business process in the future and stand out to be a successful organization 

Job Interview for NHS:

NHS has been suffering from a loss of working staffs due to the lack of funding that has disabled it to increase the salary of the staffs (Carter et al. 2013). I will be recruiting nurses in the organization since there has been a steady decline in the total number of nurses in NHS. Since the government has not rendered any written confirmation about the funding that it promises to provide to solve the issue, the interview that I will be conducting for the nurses would emphasize more on ethical considerations of the noble service that the nurses will be engaged in. NHS renders free treatment to the people coming here. Thus, it fails to incur the cost that a health organization spends for its functioning. The strategic goal of NHS is to provide free and effective service to the people with proper coordinated work by the people that serve as the workforce. The interview that I will be conducting would elevate the role of the nurses, who would be serving as the basis of the organization than any monetary aspect that seems trivial before the motive of the organization.

The Role of Nurses in NHS

Due to lack of sufficient funds, the people resourcing will be done with prior emphasis on the vacant places. In NHS, a number of nurses have dropped out. Thus, my interview will only encompass the nurses who have a proper nursing course done with basic knowledge of medication. I will be interviewing them on a very general basis to identify whether they will be able to perform their duty efficiently, irrespective of the working situation that is presently facing turmoil. It will be made clear to them that monetary issues, work shifts are all important aspects of work life. However, their work differs from other services since it concerns the life of people. All my words in the interview process would connote to the major idea that the nurses who are going to get associated with NHS must perform their duty as a responsible nurse before being professional (Holloway and Galvin 2016). The interview will highlight that the career growth may seem not very attractive for the ones coming for the process but would definitely be a very effective learning process for the new comers. This would also enable them to work with a motivated concern of social work for the people of their own nation. 

The best thing about the job interview was I acknowledged many nurses who are really determined to work in NHS just because it is a government concern that aids to people for free. Young talents striving to work selflessly for fellow beings was something that made me proud. The people were also interested in communicating on what kind of diseases are more prevalent in the patients coming for treatment in NHS. They seemed quite concerned and interested about the working processes in NHS and the duties that the nurses are suppose to perform. The number of applicants is about 6500 out of which I interviewed 115 graduates of nursing education. Based on their knowledge and vision, 72 nurses were selected out of the 115 people that came for the interview for further interview processes. The interview as a whole connotes to the fact that NHS in UK is an organization of repute that many people strive to associate with, irrespective of the problems it has been undergoing recently.

The interview was very successful in bringing out young talents to be imbibed in the NHS structure. However, there were certain issues that made the process a slight abstaining and abrupt. Multiple students were found to be more concerned about the pay scale than their role in the work place. They were not ready to serve the patients in case there is a delay in the initiation of their salaries (Heinen et al. 2013). The students were asking about the increment processes without which they were not ready to perform their duties. When I was trying to switch their viewpoint to the role that nurses play in NHS, they seemed to be uninterested to work.

Ethical Considerations in the Recruitment Process

The interview was more of a success since I got a handful of young talents to be recruited as nurses in NHS. However, I believe that had the interview process been more informal, it would have been able to motivate the other students as well. NHS has been working for about 70 years that itself is glorifying. Thus, a presentation of the various services that the organization has been giving to the people since the Second World War would have inspired the employees. 

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