Strategy&: Investing in wellbeing of GCC healthcare workers could save $2.5 billion

Investing in workforce wellbeing in the healthcare sector comes with considerable effort and cost – yet the return on these investments is significantly larger for the sector and society as a whole, according to new research by Strategy&.

Long hours in healthcare, high-intensity work environments, and physically demanding tasks contribute to chronic fatigue and other problems. According to the Strategy& report, almost 50% of healthcare professionals worldwide are affected by job related stress or event burnout, while nearly 48% globally suffer from musculoskeletal issues each year.

The economic cost of such issues is huge – studies show that healthcare burnout puts a significant strain on the delivery of healthcare, while dragging down job satisfaction, which hampers sector hiring and retention.

Additionally, stress and burnout have a detrimental impact on the quality of healthcare, with a study finding that doctors experiencing burnout are 2.2 times more likely to have made a medical error in the past three months.

“Poor wellbeing drives absenteeism, staff turnover, and declining job satisfaction, creating a vicious cycle that harms both healthcare workers and patients,” said Christelle Abou Nader, one of the authors of the Strategy& report.

In light of these issues, investing in workforce wellbeing is key, emphasized the study. “Investing in workforce wellbeing isn’t just the right thing to do; it is essential to create a resilient system that enables better outcomes for all. By prioritizing their wellbeing, the sector ensures long-term quality, efficiency, and sustainability of the entire healthcare system,” said Nader, who is a Manager at Strategy&, one of the world’s leading strategic consulting firms.

The return on investment

In its report, Strategy& crunched the numbers in order to estimate what the economic benefit could be of investing in employee wellbeing. This analysis found that prioritizing workforce wellbeing can lead to an increase of up to 25% in productivity, a 17% reduction in absenteeism and an 11% decrease in staff turnover. This also includes an overall impact on the sector including higher job satisfaction, fewer medical errors, and enhanced patient outcomes.

Plugging these findings on the size of the healthcare workforce in the GCC, around 800,000 workers, leads to the potential for a massive benefit: a system-wide saving of $2.5 billion.

“With the GCC healthcare sector undergoing rapid transformation and a sizable workforce already employed in the industry, prioritizing workforce wellbeing is more critical than ever. Beyond benefiting employees, efforts in this area could deliver clear financial gains and drive broader improvements across the sector, enhancing overall system performance,” said Irfan Merali, partner at Strategy&.

Adopting a pro-active approach

To help capture the ‘$2.5 billion wellbeing opportunity, the research suggests healthcare providers should adopt a structured approach that combines preventative and intervention strategies:

Primary interventions, which aim to eliminate or mitigate workplace stressors at their source, could help to foster long-term improvements over temporary morale boosts. By assessing the work environment, organizational practices, and job roles, healthcare institutions can tackle issues such as excessive workloads, rigid shifts, and role ambiguity.

Secondary interventions, focus on empowering healthcare workers with the skills and strategies to cope with stressors that cannot be avoided or eliminated, such as high patient volumes, ethical dilemmas, and emotional strain. This can be achieved through resilience training, stress management workshops, mindfulness programs, and peer support networks to help employees navigate high-pressure situations effectively.

Tertiary interventions, designed to assist healthcare professionals already experiencing significant stress-related symptoms can ensure they receive the support needed to recover and reintegrate effectively. Access to counseling, physiotherapy and employee assistance programs can help professionals recover, reduce the risk of physical strain and chronic musculoskeletal conditions, as well as return to optimal functioning.

Mounting healthcare costs

Strategy&’s report comes in the wake of a number of other repots warning about the growing cost of healthcare systems in the GCC.

In response, a range of solutions are being worked on, including digitization, which according to Strategy& rival McKinsey & Company could save GCC systems billions through enhanced productivity and patient outcomes.