​Indonesia’s healthcare industry is evolving rapidly. As healthcare demand grows, organizations are facing a growing need for skilled professionals, strong leadership, digital capabilities, and sustainable workforce strategies.

The talent landscape also presents real challenges. Specialist talent is difficult to source, healthcare operations often require 24/7 staffing, and employers must compete for professionals with increasingly diverse skills. So how can healthcare organizations attract, develop, and retain the talent they need for long-term growth? During a recent industry leader sharing session hosted by Monroe Consulting Indonesia, Anna Febriana Triastuti, the Chief Human Capital Officer of Mayapada Healthcare Group, shared insights into the changing healthcare workforce and the strategies organizations can use to navigate talent and leadership challenges.

With 20 years of human capital experience across healthcare, financial services, insurance, and retail, she stressed the need to look beyond recruitment and build a sustainable healthcare talent strategy.

In this article:

1. The Healthcare Talent Shortage is Becoming More Complex

2. What Skills Are Becoming More Important in Healthcare?

3. Why Retaining Healthcare Talent Matters

4. Leadership Development in Healthcare: The Key to Retention

5. Building a Stronger Healthcare Workforce

6. Four ways to strengthen talent management

7. What this means for healthcare employers

The Healthcare Talent Shortage is Becoming More Complex

Healthcare demand is increasing around the world as populations age and chronic diseases become more common. However, the supply of healthcare workers continues to face challenges. It was highlighted during the session that the projected global shortfall of 11.1 million health workers by 2030.

Indonesia is experiencing similar challenges. Healthcare demand is growing, while specialist talent and healthcare infrastructure remain limited in some areas. At the same time, organizations are facing higher expectations around accreditation, digital reporting, and leadership capabilities.

This means that recruitment alone cannot solve the healthcare talent shortage.

Healthcare organizations also need to focus on developing their existing employees, keeping critical talent, and building a stronger talent pipeline for the future.

What Skills Are Becoming More Important in Healthcare?

The healthcare workforce is also changing as organizations adopt new technology and improve how they operate.

There are 6 areas where healthcare organizations are increasingly looking for talent:

• Digital and clinical informatics – including electronic medical records, AI, and telehealth

• Data and performance analytics – including workforce data, quality tracking, and capacity planning

• Patient and family experience – including service design and communication

• Clinical governance and quality – including patient safety, accreditation, and risk management

• Payer and commercial capabilities – including insurance, corporate partnerships, and revenue management

• Leadership and change – including clinician leaders and professionals who can manage complex organizations

These changing needs are also creating roles that were less common in healthcare several years ago, such as clinical informatics leaders, healthcare data analysts, patient experience leaders, and clinical educators and workforce planners.

For example, healthcare organizations may find data and analytics talent from finance or consulting, while patient experience professionals may come from hospitality, aviation, or retail.

This allows healthcare employers to look beyond traditional talent pools when hiring for new and specialized roles.

Why Retaining Healthcare Talent Matters

Finding the right people is only part of the challenge. Healthcare organizations also need to create an environment where talented employees want to stay.

According to Ms. Anna, 6 factors that can influence whether people choose to join and stay with an organization:

1. Fair and competitive rewards

2. Sustainable work

3. Growth and learning opportunities

4. Good leadership

5. Meaningful work and responsibilities

6. Pride and belonging

In healthcare, sustainable work can mean having enough staff, predictable schedules, and a workload that employees can manage. Employees also want to see opportunities to grow and have managers who support their development.

Leadership Development in Healthcare: The Key to Retention

Building a strong healthcare workforce also means developing better leaders.

One challenge highlighted during the session is that healthcare professionals may be promoted because of their clinical skills without always receiving enough preparation for leadership responsibilities. This makes leadership development an important part of healthcare talent strategy.

Good managers can help employees understand their career opportunities, support their development, and create a better working environment. On the other hand, limited career growth, poor relationships with managers, values that do not match, and burnout can lead employees to consider other opportunities.

For healthcare organizations, developing future leaders early can help build a stronger leadership pipeline and reduce the risk of being unprepared when important roles become available.

Building a Stronger Healthcare Workforce

Not every role requires the same talent strategy. Some positions are highly specialized and difficult to replace, while others can be supported through internal development, larger pipelines, or technology.

This creates a more strategic approach to workforce planning:

·       Build pipeline where possible

·       Invest and protect critical talent

·       Hire strategically where skills are scarce

·       Standardize and automate where appropriate

The goal is not simply to have more employees, but to make sure organizations have the right capabilities in the roles that matter most.

1. Four Ways to Strengthen Healthcare Talent Management

   Building a stronger healthcare workforce requires more than recruitment. The sharing session highlighted four areas organizations can focus on:

2. Make Career Growth Clear

   Employees need to understand how they can grow within an organization.

3. Develop Better Leaders

   Leadership skills are just as important as technical or clinical expertise when someone moves into a management role.

4. Build a Strong Workplace Culture

   Healthcare organizations need to maintain high standards for patient safety while also creating an environment where employees feel comfortable speaking up and sharing concerns.

5. Improve the Employee Experience

   A well-planned onboarding process, technology that reduces unnecessary administrative work, regular employee feedback, and useful exit and stay interviews can help organizations understand what employees need and where improvement can be made

What This Means for Healthcare Employers

The healthcare talent landscape is becoming more complex. Organizations need clinical expertise, but they also need digital, commercial, leadership, and service capabilities to support future growth.

This means healthcare employers may need to rethink how they attract and develop talent. Rather than relying only on traditional recruitment, organizations can consider:

• Building internal talent pipelines

• Developing future leaders earlier

• Expanding talent searches beyond traditional healthcare backgrounds

• Creating clearer career pathways

• Investing in digital and specialist capabilities

• Strengthening manager quality

• Improving the employee experience

• Using targeted retention strategies for critical talent

Ultimately, the organization that can attract, develop, and retain the right people will be better positioned to navigate the changing healthcare landscape.

Monroe’s Perspective: Talent Strategy Must Keep Evolving

The healthcare industry is changing, and so are the capabilities organizations need to succeed.

For healthcare employers, talent strategy is becoming increasingly connected to business strategy.

Recruitment is important, but it is only one part of the equation. Organizations also need to understand where critical talent sits in the market, which capabilities will be needed in the future, and how to create an environment where high-performing professionals want to stay.

As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, building strong talent pipelines, developing effective leaders, and creating meaningful employee experiences will be essential to building a sustainable healthcare workforce.