WHA 2025 Health Care Workforce Report highlights persistent shortages and growing demand for care
The Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) recently released its 2025 Workforce Report, revealing that while some progress has been made in stabilizing workforce shortages, vacancy rates remain high across the state’s hospitals. Stoughton Health has been fortunate to have much lower vacancy rates by facing those challenges head-on and employing innovative ideas to increase the applicant pool, focus on retention, provide opportunities for growth for its employees, and create an engaging, supportive culture.
According to the report, Wisconsin’s aging workforce continues to create vacancy strains across many industries, but specific to healthcare, the aging population increases the need for healthcare services, compounding challenges for Wisconsin’s hospitals and health systems. While hospital employment has grown, vacancy rates remain elevated, particularly in nursing, frontline technical, and entry-level positions. Nearly one-third of tracked healthcare professions in Wisconsin still report double-digit vacancy rates.
To face these challenges Stoughton Health has used creative strategies such as providing new employees one week of paid time off (PTO) upon employment. They also have a robust onboarding program and new employee orientation to acclimate new employees to Stoughton Health and bring them into the Stoughton Health family.
For almost 20 years, Stoughton Health has had an employee-driven initiative, Excellence Together, that encourages employees to participate in various teams to improve communication, support employees, and empower employees to provide exceptional customer service to their patients.
“Starting a new job is incredibly stressful and full of unknowns. We do all we can with our new employees to make them feel they are part of the team and reduce stressors. Doing things like giving them a week’s PTO at the start of employment helps for those unexpected sick days or vacations that were already planned,” shared Christopher Schmitz, Vice President of Human Resources.
Stoughton Health also invests in its employees with Workforce Development Grants which are awarded to employees seeking to further their learning in a healthcare-related, clinical or non-clinical field to fill a workforce need. Programs are funded in full with a two-year post-completion commitment to Stoughton Health. They also work to develop their leaders through their Emerging Leaders Program designed to create leaders within the organization by having them work with an employee mentor on a project.
“Our employees are our greatest asset and investing in them strengthens our workforce. Once we hire an employee, we strive to provide them with a sense of belonging from day one. We know what we’re doing is working, we were recently named the Top Large Employer by Madison.com. We earned this designation based on our annual employee engagement survey,” explains Schmitz.
As Wisconsin hospitals work to attract new professionals, develop career pathways, and build a sustainable multi-generational workforce, Stoughton Health joins WHA in calling for action from policymakers, educators, employers, and healthcare professionals to:
- Create, expand and support educational and occupational pathways to attract new entrants to in-demand frontline technical and clinical positions in the healthcare workforce.
- Break down barriers to entering and remaining in Wisconsin’s healthcare workforce, including legal, regulatory and payer barriers, burden and burnout.
- Support the use of technology for the benefit of patients and the healthcare workforce.
“Wisconsin’s health care workforce challenges extend beyond hospitals—they impact the entire state. To keep pace with rising healthcare demands, we need to take immediate and sustained action to minimize barriers, foster innovation, and support the development of a strong and sustainable workforce,” said WHA President and CEO Eric Borgerding. “Addressing these issues requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders –policymakers, educators, and health care leaders alike.”
