Cultivating healthcare workforce fulfillment through educational access

Baptist Health partners with Strategic Education to address staffing shortages, turnover and employee satisfaction

Healthcare organizations face systemic challenges regarding employee morale, job satisfaction, and retention, which can impact patient care. Staffing issues have pushed some organizations almost to the breaking point.

Many find themselves on a training treadmill, where they’re forced to increase hiring and training because of the high number of positions vacated due to turnover, which reduces the amount of time and energy available that can be directed toward productivity.

In spite of employers’ best efforts, employees across organizations continue to express decreased job satisfaction and increased intent to leave the workforce. But there may be an impactful way healthcare providers can turn the tide: building a more satisfied and fulfilled workforce, which can, in turn, create a healthier work environment.

Raising and meeting the standards of a healthy work environment 

“This is really the big question for nursing professionals and healthcare organizations right now,” says Adele Webb, PhD, executive dean of healthcare initiatives at Strategic Education, Inc. “How do we create work environments that support our providers, support recruitment, and support retention?”

To address these critical questions, the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) has proposed six essential standards for creating a healthy work environment. These include skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision-making, appropriate staffing levels, meaningful recognition, and authentic nurse leadership.

Healthcare organizations have rallied around these standards and are doing what they can to ensure healthy, safe, and thriving environments. But some organizations are going a step further, leveraging a powerful tool that can help make progress against the key areas identified by the AACN. How? By implementing education and professional development solutions.

According to a 2024 Consumer Survey, 91% of workers believe employers should be investing in their continued education and 93% of employees say learning new skills keeps them motivated at work.

Baptist Health goes all-in on healthy work environments

Baptist Health consists of 10 hospitals and over 470 points of care, including outpatient facilities, physician practices, fitness centers and occupational medicine and physical therapy clinics. Baptist Health employs more than 24,000 people in Kentucky and surrounding states. To measure their progress, they developed a People and Culture Scorecard that tracks workplace satisfaction and engagement. 

By gathering employee input, Baptist Health found three key areas that impact nurse turnover: inclusion, recognition, and collaboration. In other words, employees want an environment where they are valued, heard, and involved.

But something else is emerging at organizations, including Baptist Health: a clear desire for more education and professional development opportunities.

Educational opportunities can improve recruitment, retention, and more

Baptist Health knew that education could be a powerful way to address the areas of emphasis identified by the scorecard. Employee opinion data backs up Bloyd’s observation. According to a 2024 Consumer Survey, 91% of workers believe employers should be investing in their continued education and 93% of employees say learning new skills keeps them motivated at work. Recognizing that education can set employers apart, Baptist Health sought additional opportunities to help employees build job-ready skills for their current roles — to support and retain their future career success.

“When employees feel that their employer is invested in their future, they are more likely to stay with the company long term and be motivated to perform well.”
Katelyn Bloyd, System Director, Employee Experience, Baptist Health

Partnering with Strategic Education for employee educational opportunities

In their search for employee-friendly, efficient and affordable education solutions, Baptist Health connected with Strategic Education. Among its many educational and developmental offerings, two solutions stood out:

Tuition Assistance Aligned Pricing (TAAP). In this innovative program, Strategic Education aligns tuition prices on select degree programs from its affiliates Strayer University and Capella University with the tuition assistance the employer already provides. This can enable employees to pursue education with little or no out-of-pocket tuition cost.

Workforce Edge. A tech-enabled upskilling and reskilling solution that gives employees one simple and intuitive tool to access educational opportunities, including TAAP options at Strayer and Capella. Workforce Edge is also a gateway to discounts on everything from high school credentials and certificates to professional development and doctoral degrees — from more than 60 educational providers. Plus, it gives employers an efficient way to manage, track, and analyze employee education usage.

Powerful benefits for organizations and employees

With TAAP and Workforce Edge in place, employees at every level can find opportunities to pursue learning that is accessible, flexible — and affordable. Research shows that Americans view cost as one of the largest barriers to attending college. To address this barrier, Strategic Education comes to the table with solutions. For employers, Workforce Edge makes the deployment and management of education benefits seamless. Employers can view utilization, generate reports, and track return on investment all through seamless dashboard reporting.

Each program is powerful on its own, but they’re a dynamic duo when used together — as Baptist Health has learned firsthand. From bedside to business office, Baptist Health can offer both affordable and flexible learning options, thanks to this education investment in Workforce Edge, part of the Strategic Education portfolio.

Baptist Health employees benefit from respected programs, expanded choice

By leveraging TAAP, employees at Baptist Health can benefit from the relationship between Baptist and Strategic Education. For example, many clinical employees pursue degrees at Capella University, a school within Strategic Education’s portfolio of offerings, and a recognized leader in flexible, online, accredited degrees from bachelor’s to doctoral levels. Capella has historically attracted nurses to its programs through the school’s employer partnerships with nationally recognized healthcare organizations.

Workforce Edge also enables employees across the enterprise to enroll in programs through a network of over 60 learning providers — allowing both clinical and nonclinical staff to pursue programs that align with their career goals. Workforce Edge provides the flexibility employees want when it comes to choosing their own school and program while removing the administrative burden from Baptist Health. 

Education designed for organizational impact and career growth

Strategic Education’s suite of offerings enables employers to target specific areas of skill. It’s a collaborative approach that matches programs to the learning and development goals that an organization has set for its employees — now and in the future.

For example, in addition to bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs in nursing and healthcare, Capella University offers various skills pathways, including the Nurse Leadership Development Series, a leadership-focused module comprised of college-level courses. It also offers a set of online, self-paced continuing education courses — from risk management to telehealth to Spanish for nurses. With select courses that are CE-accredited, there’s even more value to frontline nurses.

“At Strategic Education, we work with our partners to identify educational gaps and put together programs that fill those gaps.”
Adele Webb, PhD, Executive Dean of Healthcare Initiatives, Strategic Education, Inc.

So, whether a nurse wants bite-sized learning to build new skills or an advanced degree to fuel long-term career growth, there is a full range of options to choose from through Capella.

In a 2024 survey by Workforce Edge, 96% of Workforce Edge users surveyed are using their education benefits to improve their opportunities for future promotion, career advancement, or higher salary.

“The Workforce Edge partnership changed the game dramatically.”
Katelyn Bloyd,System Director, Employee Experience, Baptist Health

Positive results for a brighter future

With these educational solutions, Baptist Health has increased employee educational participation through the use of Workforce Edge and TAAP while significantly reducing the administrative burden of managing tuition assistance. “We’ve had tuition assistance and eimbursement at Baptist Health for quite some time, but utilization was frustrating,” Bloyd explains. “The Workforce Edge partnership changed the game dramatically. It took our processes from being very manual and cumbersome to an easy-to-follow automated process.”

Along with greater participation, Baptist Health also gained powerful tracking and analytics tools through Workforce Edge. “With a click, we have a dashboard that gives us insights into our tuition assistance and reimbursement program,” Bloyd explains.

Increased participation also leads to positive outcomes for employees and the organization. “We’ve seen that offering tuition assistance demonstrated a commitment to employee development and career growth,” Bloyd says. “Which, among other initiatives together, has led to increased employee engagement and job satisfaction and, of course, retention.”

“Along with greater participation, Baptist Health also gained powerful tracking and analytics tools.”

“We’ve seen that offering tuition assistance demonstrated a commitment to employee development and career growth, which, among other initiatives together, has led to increased employee engagement and job satisfaction and, of course, retention.”
Katelyn Bloyd, System Director, Employee Experience, Baptist Health

Baptist employees’ attitudes toward their jobs

2024 WORKFORCE EDGE LEARNER SURVEY

feel engaged with their jobs.	see themselves working at Baptist two years from now.	rarely think about looking for a job at another company.

Workforce Edge 2024 Learner Survey: Baptist Health

• Thanks to using their education benefits through Workforce Edge, the majority of employees (66.2%) replied that using their education benefit has helped them advance their career.
• Of the employees who are using their education benefit, 94.5% are doing so to improve their opportunities for promotion, career advancement, or a higher salary.
• When asked, “In what ways do you believe using your education benefit to go back to school has helped you?”
  
  

replied “I assumed more leadership responsibilities.”	replied “I gained confidence in my role.”	replied “I applied skills I learned to my job.”

About the survey

Learner surveys are conducted biannually and are fielded to employees who have received an approved funding request through Workforce Edge. Out of a total sample of 1,425 employees, the sample size of this survey is 145 employees (10%)

Other organizations see positive results with Strategic Education

The engagement and job satisfaction results at Baptist Health are in line with other organizations that have partnered with Strategic Education. In a 2024 survey by Workforce Edge, 96% of Workforce Edge users surveyed are using their education benefits to improve their opportunities for future promotion, career advancement, or higher salary. “When employees feel valued by their employer, their potential contributions, including their investment in quality patient care, are limitless,” Webb explains.

“When employees feel valued by their employer, their potential contributions, including their investment in quality patient care, are limitless.”
Adele Webb, PhD, Executive Dean, Healthcare Initiatives, Strategic Education, Inc.

Through TAAP and Workforce Edge, Baptist Health can offer something for everyone, regardless of background or where they are in their career. In fact, Bloyd believes in the new Strategic Education solutions so much, she’s taking advantage of the benefits herself. “I use Workforce Edge personally. I’m in school, and it’s so easy now,” she says.

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