The Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN) has released the Impact Workforce Toolkit, a practical resource that captures a decade of learning on how health systems can use their hiring and workforce practices to create meaningful economic opportunity in their communities. The results are that community members get a fair shot at a good job with career pathways and health systems are able to address critical workforce shortages.
The toolkit reflects how the field has matured since HAN’s original Inclusive, Local Hiring Toolkit—moving beyond a focus on local hiring alone to encompass career advancement pathways that help residents turn entry-level positions into long-term careers, and concrete systems changes like removing unnecessary degree requirements, standardizing hiring practices across locations, and building community partnerships that expand who gets a fair shot at a job.
Built from case studies and tools drawn directly from health systems across the country, the Impact Workforce Toolkit is designed for practitioners at every stage—whether a health system is just beginning its impact workforce journey or looking to go deeper on strategies already underway. At its core, the toolkit makes a straightforward case: health systems already have the resources and spending power to open doors for local residents. The question is whether those assets are being deployed in ways that give working individuals and their families a genuine path to better jobs and greater economic stability.