Forging a path to workplace wellness: Insights from the diagnostic lab

For decades, diagnostic laboratories — from the physician’s office to the core lab — have faced a critical shortage of skilled workers, increasingly frustrating their ability to keep up with growing healthcare testing demands. As the average age of the lab workforce steadily increases, academic programs are generating less than 42% of the workers needed to grow with demands and to fill the volume of open and new roles as forecasted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.¹

Compensation, turnover and workplace stress are contributing factors to the shortfall in workers, yet these challenges have only worsened against a backdrop of heightened employment incentives, like increased pay, sign-on bonuses and employer efforts to strike a better work-life balance. A 2023 study by QuidelOrtho (linked here) found that the issues run deeper, including:

• A growing disconnect between upper management and lab techs, where 85% are optimistic about the industry’s future compared to 47%, respectively
• Just 36% of laboratory employees expressed strong likelihood of remaining in diagnostics
• Slightly more than half of all employees surveyed gave favorable ratings of their access to up-to-date diagnostic tests and instruments

So, what’s at the heart of the laboratory staffing crisis, and how can healthcare teams address these critical issues? Download the new white paper, Forging a path to workplace wellness: Insights from the diagnostic lab, to learn more. 

Occupational Outlook Handbook: Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Updated September 14, 2023. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/clinical-laboratory-technologists-and-technicians.htm