Managing a Multicultural Diversity Workforce in the Medical Laboratory Environment at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC)

Abstract

Governmental facilities are expected to provide public services to meet the demands of the society. Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), being the main health care provider in Qatar is no difference. By 2030, Qatar aims to be an advanced society capable of sustaining its development and providing a high standard of living for its entire population. To achieve this vision, a wide range of facilities with advanced healthcare technology already in operation or in the near future will be operating by high-skilled expatriates' workforce from other countries due to the national workforce shortage. The diverse workforce coming from different cultural background presents a big challenge for any organization. The dual purpose of this project is to study the employment pattern of laboratory personnel at the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology HMC-DLMP, and to investigate HMC-Human Resource (HR) practices in implementing best recruitment approaches of allied health professionals recruiting programs. Ultimately, the project aims to make recommendations regarding diversity issues and to understand the influence of diversity management in the retention of the multicultural workforce at the DLMP at HMC. Laboratory personnel at HMC come from 28 different nationalities with a majority of 28% from the Philippines followed by Indians and Qataris representing 15% and 14%, respectively. The turnover incidents accounted for 85 occurrences in a period of 3 year (2011-2013) questioning the effectiveness of an already existing retention policy. Furthermore, HMC-HR did not have a dedicated recruitment policy for allied health professionals nor it had a diversity strategy. The project concluded the adoption and implementation of diversity strategy management to help HMC achieve the National Health Strategy (NHS) 2011-2016 and Qatar National Vision (QNV) 2030.