Building Relationships that Last in Occupational Health

These last few months have been difficult for all of us: businesses, families and individuals. As we begin to move towards a new normal, the need to continue growing your business by attracting new employers and retaining existing ones, is as important as ever. For the employers using and considering your service, it is critical that you build a relationship based on tangible value. One of the best ways to do that is to provide an experience that differentiates you and delivers a level of service that resonates not only with your patients, but also with those that employ them.

During this pandemic, we have been working closely with Heather Manley (WorkPartners OHS), and Katrina Barnes (WorkHealth LLC / Northern Light) to better understand the importance the Employer Experience has, in addition to the Patient Experience. We would like to share some of our findings, as all the occupational health practices start to look at moving forward for the rest of 2020.

Differentiating Your Experience 

One of the foundations of the Well iQ platform is that patients know they have a voice, and employees know they are being valued. We know that combination can drive significant organizational improvements. But, how do you translate those improvements into competitive advantage that existing and prospective employers recognize? And, more importantly, in a sea of choices, how will you influence them to choose you?

Walk the Walk. 

When a patient walks into your facility, does it feel different than walking into another facility? Does that patient know that they can give feedback that will be used to improve their experience? That patient is a direct line to their employer, and if they have a bad experience, or a great experience, it will get back to the employer. It is crucial to showcase your commitment to doing things differently. Put the patient experience up-front and lead by example. If an employer walks in to tour your clinic, send them a Well iQ survey to show that your focus is to provide their employees with the best experience possible. This allows you to link a patient experience to staff performance, and recognize those doing a great job, based on tangible metrics given to you by your patients. As recognition brings about engagement, engagement drives great customer experience. And people are prone to talk about good experiences on public review sites, which is another way to generate new and loyal clients. This helps you talk the talk and walk the walk of being the best option for an employers’ most valuable asset- their employees.

Build the Relationship 

When we first implemented the Well iQ Digital Patient Survey Platform, we knew that clinics should focus on the relationship between patient experience and staff engagement. Our first occupational health clinics have helped us understand that Occupational Health is a bit different. Not only is the direct feedback from the patients important, the relationship with the employer is also very important. Katrina Barnes and Work Health, a Well iQ client, were instrumental in us enhancing our platform to include an Employer component- specifically for Occupational Health. Katrina shared that “The heart of what we do lies in the customer service we provide. The direct patient feedback validates what we are doing well and where we can improve. Now that we can request feedback from the employers too, it helps us nurture the relationship and establish a new contact cadence that is important.”

Katrina nailed it. However, sometimes your commitment to delivering excellence to your patients every day, can distract you from nurturing the relationships that brought you those patients in the first place. Staying in touch with those employers is critical but can be a challenge as your business grows. That is why we created an employer survey that can be sent out as frequently as you desire, and to as many of your employers as you see fit.

What Can You Do? 

For any occupational health practice you can make use of our platform’s new Employer Survey option. Well iQ has the solution for you to engage your patients, your employers, and your staff. We would love to talk one- on- one with everyone reading this article, but short of that, we encourage you to focus on:

1. Differentiating your brand as one that focuses on the patient experience first and foremost, for a clear competitive advantage.

2. Building a relationship with your prospective and existing employers, by keeping them involved in the service that you are providing to their employees.

3. Recognizing your staff frequently, so that the quality of your service shines through from the patient to the employer and strengthens the culture of your organization.

Finally, I would like to share a quote from Heather Manley of WorkPartners OHS, another one of our clients. In response to our question about the impact our platform has had on her organization, she said, “Constantly measuring our performance is just how we do things now. It is part of our corporate DNA. Without your platform, we would have never received the hundreds of patient reviews that we now have, our social media rankings would not be as high as they are now, and our team would not have anything tangible to celebrate.”

We are excited that now you can receive those reviews from patients, and from employers.