Health trust gap 3

There are few industries where trust is as vital as in health services. Businesses in this sector have people's lives in their hands daily – but, worryingly, trust is in decline.

According to the 2023 Edelman Trust Barometer, only 62% of people worldwide trust healthcare companies to 'do what is right', marking no improvement since March 2022 and a significant decline from the 73% recorded in 2020.

No doubt the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll, but several other factors may be unsettling internal and external stakeholders. Health services and providers are navigating a period of rapid change, from the digitalization of services to the increasing complexity of data privacy regulations to further industry consolidation.

Meanwhile, burnout is eroding employee trust, contributing to the industry's unprecedented staffing shortage. And with trust falling among employees and consumers, investors will be feeling cautious too.

Improving trust is business critical. Recent Huron Consulting Group research found that 70% of consumers would switch to another healthcare provider based on trust alone, while a US study in 2016 saw workers at high-trust companies report 50% higher productivity and 40% less burnout.

A business's most powerful vehicle for trust among all stakeholders is its corporate brand. Revitalizing it, ensuring it speaks to the concerns of patients and employees, and making it purposeful is a crucial starting point.

70%

of consumers would switch to another healthcare provider based on trust alone

Here, we'll explore how a strong corporate brand can support businesses in the shifting health services sector by:

1

Addressing burnout and re-inspiring employee trust.

2

Protecting reputation during periods of consolidation.

3

Setting a clear strategic direction.

1

From burnout to empowerment

From pharmaceuticals to Medtech, the entire healthcare industry faces an unprecedented talent emergency, and it's no different in the health services sub-sector. Experts project a physician shortage of up to 124,000 by 2034, while 29% of nurses are considering leaving the profession.

A report by Deloitte suggests high levels of burnout and falling employee trust are driving this talent shortage. Only 45% of frontline clinicians trust their organization's leadership to do what's right for patients, while even fewer (23%) trust their leadership to do what's right for workers. Clinician burnout was found to be higher among those with lower trust.

It's therefore of vital importance that health services leaders find a way to rebuild trust and give clinicians their sense of purpose back. Employees want to work for organizations with a clear purpose underpinned by a strong corporate brand; making both a priority can be the ticket to an engaged and empowered workforce that leaders are looking for.

In fact, inspiring employees was a key objective in our work for one of the US's leading health systems, ScionHealth. The group was formed in 2021 from a number of existing specialty and community hospitals and senior living facilities, and so needed a new and compelling story to unite every unique business and their employees.

We concluded that ScionHealth's business would thrive if it followed a caregiver-focused strategy and promised to equip employees with the tools, technologies and resources they need to deliver exceptional patient experiences. A new purpose was born: 'To empower the hands that heal to do what they do best'.

That purpose also comes through in ScionHealth's brand positioning, 'Empowering the hands that heal'. The positioning is a genuine commitment from the business's leaders to trust, empower and elevate their frontline staff and reflects the innovative, start-up mentality of the company.

Knowing they have the backing of their leadership is highly motivating and engaging for employees, and that has a knock-on effect on commercial outcomes. A recent Gallup report found organizations with high levels of employee engagement are 23% more profitable than those with low engagement.

124,000

Physician shortage by 2034

29%

of nurses are considering leaving the profession.

Having a brand that better represents who we are and where we are going will pay large dividends with employees and in the market.
Joe Eazor

Former CEO, Clario

2

Navigating consolidation

Meanwhile, with so much change in the market and new technologies evolving at pace, many in the health services sector are turning to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to drive long-term growth.

M&A was exceptionally high in 2021 and 2022, and according to PwC, 2023 wasn't too far behind. Deal volumes declined just 4%, remaining nearly twice the level seen from 2018 to 2020.

Consolidation can naturally confuse both internally and externally. What the business does, stands for, and aims to achieve can all become difficult to decipher - and the murkier the brand, the harder it is to trust.

So realigning around a purpose-driven corporate brand can be critical to successful M&A, as we saw in our work for clinical trial management company Clario when it formed following the merger between market-leading firms ERT and Bioclinica in 2021.

The merger extended both firms’ global leadership, but brought notable challenges with it. The newly formed business had 6,000 employees to reassure and inspire about the journey ahead, while externally, it needed a way to articulate its new value to clients and the industry.

Brandpie led the company through a large transformation programme. To foster clarity in the business’s direction and confidence among leaders and employees, we crafted a new, distinct purpose to define its story and value: ‘to transform lives by unlocking better evidence’.

A core brand idea emerged from this purpose: ‘the power of certainty’. Through expertise, experience and technology, better evidence results in absolute confidence in clinical trial results. We wove this brand idea through the business’s new visual identity and tone of voice and used it to develop the Clario brand name.

The brand was unveiled in four stages, with employees encouraged to ask questions and share stories throughout the process to generate real passion and enthusiasm. And to ensure every employee understood the role they could personally play in Clario’s future, we built a purpose-driven cultural framework with values and behaviors that everyone in the business could relate to and aspire towards.

Feedback from employees was overwhelmingly positive. As one put it: “[I’m] incredibly proud to be here for such an inspiring moment in the company’s history.”

The power of a coherent, purpose-driven brand in fostering trust is clear. As said by Clario’s former CEO, Joe Eazor: “Having a brand that better represents who we are and where we are going will pay large dividends with employees and in the market.”

[I’m] incredibly proud to be here for such an inspiring moment in the company’s history.
Clario Employee

3

In summary

There's no doubt that declining trust is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed by health services leaders. Corporate brands have been largely neglected within the industry over past decades; now is the time to make them a priority again.

On top of ScionHealth and Clario, Brandpie has helped clients such as SCYNEXIS, Hikma, and AstraZeneca transform their businesses and inspire trust by instilling clarity of purpose, building compelling brands, driving cultural innovation, and introducing new creative strategies to unlock growth.

Whether it's your purpose, brand or culture that needs revitalizing, we act fast to uncover critical areas of opportunity. For example, we can help you identify:

— How well your purpose inspires your people and drives your business.
— How you can put your corporate brand to work.
— How to align multiple companies under one purpose and direction.

We would be delighted to have a conversation to expand on our approach and explain how it could make a difference to your business.

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