Abstract
In the past decade there has been a growing concern about human resources practices and outcomes in business. The main conclusion of the studies is that getting the "right" human resources policies and practices has a huge positive impact on the overall organization, its performances and sustainability (Richardson & Thompson, 1999; West, Patterson, Lawthom & Nickell, 1997). Due to the nature of the healthcare sector that is very labor-intensive and in which people play a very significant role in quality, safety and more generally performance, this is very surprising to discover that human resources practices in the field are far from being the best. Some authors such as Bach, 2001 or Buchan, 2004 found out that current human resources practices and systems enabled healthcare organizations to use only 60% to 70% of the capacity of their workforce, at best. In this essay, we will try to understand why many organizations in the healthcare sector are "late" concerning human resources issues, by explaining how the healthcare domain is different from other sectors and consequently why "traditional" good management practices cannot be directly implemented. After a general literature review concerning the specificities of the healthcare domain, we will study the implications for human resources practices and their needed "adaptation", using two broad examples that are recruitment & retention and assessment & control in public hospitals.
