Hospitals, physician practices, public health departments, and health insurance companies: What is one thing all of these organizations had to do for the first time during the COVID-19 crisis?  

Embrace remote working.

Most people who go into healthcare careers imagine working face-to-face with patients and clinical staff.  Even with telehealth growing over the last several years, most healthcare companies still planned to conduct business in-person the majority of the time. If there is one way in which COVID-19 will forever change the working world, it is by forcing entire industries to rethink what has to be done in-person.

The option to work remotely has been around for a while in certain parts of healthcare.  Most health insurance companies employ remote nurses, physicians, and therapists for utilization reviews and care management, for example. With increasing cost pressures made worse by the pandemic, many healthcare leaders are considering remote working as a savings opportunity.  

Everyone from large hospital systems to small independent practices is evaluating limiting office hours to certain days and leasing less office space to save money. Healthcare workers are now finding itself where people in so many other industries have already been: figuring out how to build a career while working remotely.

Remote working loses its stigma

Before COVID-19, many healthcare employers treated working from home as a negative.  Remote healthcare employees were not considered for new opportunities or career-growing projects.  

Employees looking for remote working options had to be satisfied with a limited set of jobs, like being an on-call nurse or physician chart reviewer. Even people who managed to move up the ranks often found promotions came with the requirement to spend more time in the office.

However, in the post-COVID world, more healthcare workers are currently and will continue to work remotely than ever before.  This will include many different types of roles at many different levels in an organization. Because healthcare is a bit late to the game, there are no clear paths to advancing a career while working remotely.  Conventional career-building advice mostly relies on having face-to-face interactions. So, how do you advance a healthcare career when you cannot be face-to-face?

Does traditional career advice still apply?

Networking with peers and more senior level people usually took place in hallways, at conferences, or over lunch.  

These informal interactions were how aspiring professionals built rapport, found mentors, and learned about available stretch assignments. Stretch assignments are especially important as a means of advancing careers.  These are opportunities for employees to learn about a new area, develop new skills, and build relationships outside of their business unit.

My own career experienced tremendous growth after taking on a stretch assignment: Shortly after finishing my degree in Nursing Informatics, I worked as a Clinical Business Analyst at a managed care company.  I was asked to lead a project implementing a new Care Management system. That role required me to host a monthly steering committee for senior leaders, manage a large project budget, and oversee several teams of people who did not directly report to me.  

I came out of that experience forged by fire and capable of taking on bigger roles. If done well, these types of career-advancing assignments can give employees the opportunity to grow in a safe setting where mistakes are acceptable. However, most people are considered for these types of assignments by being present in an office.  How do you translate this to a virtual workplace?

Overcoming the virtual challenge by looking at other industries

The key to advancing your healthcare career in a virtual world is to think differently. Discussing this topic with several friends who work as consultants, they were quick to point out that management consultancies have not had a ‘real’ office environment for some time. Many consultancies have staff spread across the globe.  They have to manage both clients and careers in a virtual environment.

Putting our heads together, here is the best advice coming out of that conversation:

Tip #1: Focus on measurable impact.

You know the person who always seems to move ahead even though you cannot point to anything they have actually accomplished?  Well, that does not work in a virtual office. It is easy in a face-to-face environment to have the relationship component overshadow the work you have actually done. One of the great things about a virtual environment is it is much more egalitarian and focused on accomplishments. As long as you have something demonstrable to show and are able to articulate it quickly and clearly, you can prove your case for advancement.

For some people, being remote has even helped take pressure off of visible communication.  Instead of worrying about the lint on your black shirt or whether your shoes look professional enough, you can focus more on work and showing productivity.

Tip #2: Be respectful of other people’s time.

Strangely, the virtual office can make people seem more accessible than when they were in-person.  We can no longer see an office door closed and know that person is unavailable.

Even with greater access, time to build relationships is more limited.

My friends describe these as ‘little time slices.’  Because you only have little slices of time to build professional relationships, you need to be thoughtful about the stories and information you want to deliver. For example, too many people treat Zoom meetings as more casual simply because they are wearing yoga pants no one can see.  These are the meetings that have no published agenda, do not start on time, and seem to run over by 10 minutes. There are also people who over-communicate because they are remote.  Because of nervousness in job marketplace, people want to be seen as doing valuable work. Many people also miss the social connection, so they hyper-communicate in ways that are not gracious with everyone’s time.

Getting that balance right of being gracious with colleague’s time but remaining connected and part of the team is important. If you want to show value, connect but be thoughtful and succinct.

Tip #3: Show yourself.

One of the biggest career mistakes people make in a virtual environment is disappearing.  

We have all been on Zoom calls where half of the participants do not have cameras turned on.  If you cannot be seen, you will not be top of mind when new opportunities come up.  

Make yourself presentable so you can be seen and turn on your camera.  If you do not have a camera built into your computer, buy an attachment online.  

As the saying goes: ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’

Another disappearing trap is people who do really valuable work, but tend to disappear into the back room to do it.  Getting the balance right of time spent working and time spent with people is important. People who hide to do their work tend to be forgotten about. Even worse, people who disappear can lose calibration.  When alone with our thoughts, we can drift off in a direction.  Keeping calibrated is important.  

Tip #4: Balance work-life and social-life even virtually.

People who are enjoyable to work with are the ones who grow their careers.  That means both showing you have a fun-side at work, and actually having fun outside of work. Plan time to socialize with your co-workers into your day like you would onsite.  This may look different:

• Build time in during your day to have a Zoom lunch together.
• Set up a virtual happy hour with colleagues.  
• Start a book club.  

Doing things like that allows you to build a network in your company. It is also important to find things outside your company in which you can participate.  Join public book clubs, special interest groups, and comment on things on LinkedIn.

Much of what we used to do in person is now available online, so it is even easier to get to. Working at home can make separating work-life from home-life difficult. When you are already at home it is easy to let it bleed into life. However, people who are most successful are those who know how to differentiate.  My friends recommend starting with being thoughtful about your work environment because it matters:

• Making sure you have a good and productive work environment that allows you to focus and also enables you to walk away when not working.
• Setting routines that signal to your brain ‘this is time for working,’ and ‘this is time for not-working.’

One friend even goes out to buy breakfast because it gives the clearest signal to his brain that he is about to start working.

Tip #5: Communicate.

Communicating is even more important when you cannot be seen by someone. Your boss cannot see you down the hall to know you are struggling.  There is nothing wrong with needing help.  

Raise your hand.  People are not psychic – you have to be able to reach out.  Reach out to your colleagues.  

Being present and part of the community looks different when you are virtual.  In this environment, effective communication extends beyond written and verbal.  It requires asking the right questions, being a good partner, being responsive verbally, and having follow through.

Same principles, different look

If there is one thing to take away from the advice on advancing a healthcare career while remote, it is that the approach may look different but the principles are the same. It has always been true that being present, communicating clearly and efficiently, and finding ways to connect with people put you in the right place at the right time.

In a virtual environment, that is still true.  It requires reframing your approach, and being thoughtful about demonstrating your value. As more and more people in healthcare continue the remote-working trend, there will be even more advice on how to build a career here.