How should personnel assessment in hospitals differ from other organizations?

“A healthy organizational culture is the goal of personnel assessment and the goal of management.”

Chung Hyuk-sang, head of HR Planning at Yonsei University Health System (YUHS)’s Human Resources Office, brings up the topic of personnel assessment in medical institutions at the Hospital Innovation and Patient Experience Conference 2024 (HiPex 2024), which focuses on hospital innovation through patient experience and service design.

At HiPex 2024, which will be held at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, from June 19 to 21, Chung will discuss the direction of personnel evaluation in hospitals, a dinosaur organization composed of professionals, with the theme of “How you should assess personnel – an issue without answers?”

A hospital's personnel assessment is quite different from that of a business corporation, as it is composed of numerous professionals, Chung said in an interview with Korea Biomedical Review. The labor-intensive, round-the-clock work environment also makes it unique, and it is inevitable that “performance appraisal” is a sensitive issue for those who are on the front lines of healthcare organizations where they are the watchdogs who “protect lives.” Even if the evaluation is “quantitative and fair,” they tend to have difficulty accepting it.

YUHS is an organization of 14,000 people. As such, personnel evaluations are difficult for those who conduct them and those who receive them, according to Chung.

Chung talked about the essence of assessment. While there are performance management indicators to improve individual and organizational performance and motivate people to achieve their goals, he says appraisals shouldn't be viewed as a “lining-up” assessment tool.

“The biggest difference between a hospital organization and a regular organization is that the former is made up of various different professions, each with a strong sense of self-worth, who are considered experts in their field,” Chung said. “Due to the industrial nature and work environment, there are many environments where the evaluator cannot see all of the employees because they are needed and must be retained, which is not the case in a regular company or building. Therefore, there are many indirect assessments. That's why it's important to have a stable organizational culture.”

YUHS's goal of HR evaluation is to “create a healthy organizational culture.” This means that while it is important for an organization to generate profits and grow, it must first have an organizational culture that enables employees to pursue the organization's mission together. YUHS's “Concept of Talent,” which it declared in January this year with its own identity, is part of that direction.

YUHS declared its concept of talent as “a guardian of life who practices love and respect,” while also establishing core values and behaviors as specific guidelines for implementing them.

“I believe that a culture that enables the members of an organization to follow the company's pursuits together has a greater social impact. One of the many systems that help build a strong organizational culture is HR appraisal,” Chung said. “If you have a healthy organizational culture, appraisal could be redundant. We need to continue to think about what we can do to keep our employees aware of the direction the hospital is headed.”

Chung said that personnel appraisals, which embody organizational culture, are linked to the patient experience. This is because personnel rating can be a system that can send positive signals to employees who are in contact with patients and their caregivers.

“We need to create an environment where employees can work in a healthier way, and that organizational culture will lead to excellent and high-quality medical services,” he said.