PHILADELPHIA, PA – Hospitals that rely on employee surveys to gauge burnout and prevent resignations may be missing their most at-risk workers, according to new research from Atalan published in the Journal of Healthcare Management.
The study, co-authored by Harvard labor economist Richard B. Freeman, found that clinicians who do not respond to surveys face dramatically higher risks of leaving their jobs. Advanced practitioners such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners who skipped surveys were 12 times more likely to resign than respondents. Among physicians, nonrespondents were five times more likely to quit. These clinicians also showed consistently lower productivity.
The findings highlight a major blind spot for health systems. Employee surveys are widely used to track morale and burnout, but the very people most likely to leave are least likely to answer them. This gap can skew results and undermine efforts to address workforce stability.
“Given hospitals’ concerns with surprise resignations, they often rely on employee surveys to assess the severity of the problem. But the results of this study confirm a significant blind spot,” said Tiffany Chan, Atalan’s CEO and founder. “Our predictive machine learning models show that those at the highest risk of resigning are the least likely to respond, which means hospitals may be missing crucial warning signs.”
The study, titled “Who’s Not Talking? Nonresponse Bias in Healthcare Employee Surveys,” analyzed data from 346 physicians and 143 advanced practitioners. Researchers used electronic health records and human resources information systems to compare respondents and nonrespondents, providing a fuller picture of wellbeing, productivity, and turnover risk.
Atalan, which develops Clinician Retention Intelligence platforms, argues that integrated data solutions can fill the gap left by traditional surveys. By analyzing existing hospital data, its system predicts potential resignations up to a year in advance and identifies underlying causes, helping hospitals intervene before losing staff.
With burnout and turnover straining health systems nationwide, the research suggests hospitals will need more sophisticated approaches than surveys alone to understand—and retain—their clinical workforce.
Atalan Study Finds Hospitals’ Employee Surveys Miss Clinicians Most Likely to Quit
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Hospitals that rely on employee surveys to gauge burnout and prevent resignations may be missing their most at-risk workers, according to new research from Atalan published in the Journal of Healthcare Management.
The study, co-authored by Harvard labor economist Richard B. Freeman, found that clinicians who do not respond to surveys face dramatically higher risks of leaving their jobs. Advanced practitioners such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners who skipped surveys were 12 times more likely to resign than respondents. Among physicians, nonrespondents were five times more likely to quit. These clinicians also showed consistently lower productivity.
The findings highlight a major blind spot for health systems. Employee surveys are widely used to track morale and burnout, but the very people most likely to leave are least likely to answer them. This gap can skew results and undermine efforts to address workforce stability.
“Given hospitals’ concerns with surprise resignations, they often rely on employee surveys to assess the severity of the problem. But the results of this study confirm a significant blind spot,” said Tiffany Chan, Atalan’s CEO and founder. “Our predictive machine learning models show that those at the highest risk of resigning are the least likely to respond, which means hospitals may be missing crucial warning signs.”
The study, titled “Who’s Not Talking? Nonresponse Bias in Healthcare Employee Surveys,” analyzed data from 346 physicians and 143 advanced practitioners. Researchers used electronic health records and human resources information systems to compare respondents and nonrespondents, providing a fuller picture of wellbeing, productivity, and turnover risk.
Atalan, which develops Clinician Retention Intelligence platforms, argues that integrated data solutions can fill the gap left by traditional surveys. By analyzing existing hospital data, its system predicts potential resignations up to a year in advance and identifies underlying causes, helping hospitals intervene before losing staff.
With burnout and turnover straining health systems nationwide, the research suggests hospitals will need more sophisticated approaches than surveys alone to understand—and retain—their clinical workforce.
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