In the competitive landscape of healthcare staffing, Express Medical stands out as a beacon of excellence, having secured the prestigious Talent Business of the Year Award. Express Medical provides all HR solutions from temporary staffing and selection to project nurses and healthcare professionals for all institutions active in the healthcare sector. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Leen Verwimp, Unit Manager, and An Aelbrecht, Managing Director of the Unique Group in Belgium - the mother company of Express Medical, to discuss their award-winning approach to healthcare staffing, the challenges they face, and the innovative solutions they've implemented.

The Award-Winning Formula

Congratulations on winning the Talent Business of the Year Award last year. How did you celebrate this achievement? An Aelbrecht: “It was certainly a wonderful recognition of our years of experience and dedication to the healthcare sector. We definitely made some noise about it, especially because it was a surprise for us to win the award, given that we operate in a niche market. We wanted to share this recognition with our clients, candidates, and internal teams.“ Leen Verwimp: “I've been touring all our offices with the award. It's actually still making the rounds in our offices today. It's become a kind of traveling trophy because there's so much pride internally that everyone wanted it in their office. So we created a rotation system.“ Why do you think you won this prestigious award? An Aelbrecht: “It was a huge surprise. I think we've won several awards with the Unique group, but I found this one personally the most beautiful, perhaps because it was specifically for Express Medical within the group. What particularly charmed me was the feedback from the jury, which covered a wide range of factors. Express Medical has grown significantly over the last five years with additional offices. We have five to six thousand healthcare professionals working each year. The high satisfaction scores from clients and candidates were also highlighted. Innovation was another key factor—something not always associated with healthcare. We've developed a new solution called "TODjes (cfr. Tijdelijk contract van Onbepaalde Duur)," which are temporary workers but with permanent contracts. Our digital solutions were also recognized. While personal contact remains our priority, providing customized service for each healthcare institution, you can't ignore the digital tools that support both our temporary workers, clients, and our own employees. What also stood out was our very low staff turnover—less than nine percent in a sector known for high turnover. This means our people continue to grow with us, providing stability and trust for clients and temporary workers. It was really a combination of factors that made winning this Talent Business of the Year Award so special.“

Retention Strategy

You mentioned low staff turnover. What does your retention strategy look like? An Aelbrecht: “We focus on several aspects. For our own employees, we strongly emphasize growth programs. Our values form the acronym GROW: we want people with Guts who dare to color outside the lines, who are Results-oriented, who take Ownership, and value Working together. Teamwork is especially important to us. It's not an individual way of working but team-driven, creating strong connections and a strong company culture. We also ensure people can follow a growth path within the company, which we've focused on strongly in recent years. The fact that we're investing in Express Medical—adding offices and hiring additional staff—and achieving success shows people that their work is paying off. When clients and temporary workers are satisfied and give high satisfaction scores, they come back. That stability is a form of recognition. I think that's the most important thing: feeling good in your job, seeing that your work produces results, and knowing you're making a difference in a sector that's important to all of us—healthcare.“

Healthcare Sector Challenges

Let's talk about the healthcare sector and the market you operate in. How have you seen it evolve, and what's your perspective today? Leen Verwimp: “In healthcare, many professions—particularly nurses and care providers—have been in shortage occupations for many years. The "war for talent" that we often hear about in the media has actually been a reality in the healthcare sector for a long time. There's a significant shortage of these profiles, and it's only become more challenging in recent years. COVID had a huge impact, with many people leaving the sector. We're also noticing, as was recently in the news, that fewer people are choosing to study in the healthcare sector. At the same time, we're seeing many positive initiatives. Healthcare institutions are actively working on this, trying to innovate digitally where possible. But of course, they continue to work with people. In recent years, we've also seen a shift in mentality. COVID probably played a role in healthcare professionals focusing more on self-care and needing more flexibility and opportunities for personal development. I think that's part of our success with our "TOD" project—we give healthcare professionals an option to have the necessary security while maintaining flexibility. They can gain experience in different institutions and different departments to develop themselves. Looking to the future, I believe this trend will continue. The mentality of healthcare providers is changing, similar to other sectors. People expect different things from an employer than they did 10-15 years ago, and this evolution is no different in healthcare than in other sectors. We want to continue addressing these needs while working with healthcare institutions and the government to promote a positive image of the healthcare sector. I think that's also part of Express Medical's success—we work with a great passion for the healthcare sector. We see the difficulties and challenges, and one of our pillars is to improve the image of the healthcare sector and encourage more people to work in it. That remains a significant pain point for the coming years.“

Staffing and Recruitment Market Evolution

You're operating in a changing healthcare sector, but the staffing and recruitment market itself is also evolving. What challenges do you see ahead? An Aelbrecht: “The market is indeed evolving strongly. Looking at recent years, the main challenge was finding and retaining the right candidates. Over the past year and a half, we've also seen some market uncertainty causing companies to be more cautious in their recruiting. However, that doesn't mean the shortages are being addressed. There's still often a mismatch, and the group of shortage profiles continues to expand. So we continue to focus on the candidate experience, ensuring people choose our company. That's partly employer branding, as Leen Verwimp mentioned—it's important to invest in that. Combined with this is digital transformation to make it easier for people to come to us. AI can play an important role not only in recruitment but also in matching, employment, and follow-up afterward. Flexible or hybrid work models are also here to stay, though opinions vary. Some companies are very progressive, while others are scaling back and want more collaboration. But remote work is no longer going away in many sectors. Of course, in some sectors like healthcare, retail, or production, remote work isn't always possible. We need to look at how to make these sectors attractive in other ways. Diversity and inclusion are also crucial. With shortages of specialized personnel, we need to look at how we can either train people from other sectors or attract new people, ensuring they can work well in an inclusive environment. This also means investing in leaders or managers who can handle this. So there are many challenges, and each company deals with them in its own way. It's a broad spectrum that needs to be considered and addressed.“

Technology in Recruitment

You've mentioned using technology in attracting and matching candidates. Could you elaborate on how you use technology in your recruitment processes? An Aelbrecht: “For attracting candidates, we use many different channels. But I think the biggest change we've made is in the matching process. We use what we call the "matchmaker," an AI matching tool that ensures objective matching. It only looks at whether a person has the right abilities and skills, and all biases disappear. This means our people are supported by technology to put the right people in the right place without distortion. Of course, we know our clients and healthcare institutions very well, and the system takes this into account. It works based on pools—once you're in a pool and have the right qualifications, planning can happen very quickly. Quality is very important to us, but speed is also crucial. When there are shortages in a particular department, you need to be able to switch quickly, sometimes within an hour or less if someone drops out. Once people are working with us, we have other technologies. Temporary workers can follow their entire employment from A to Z, and clients can do the same in the client portal. This means if a healthcare institution says they need someone for this afternoon, it's immediately sent out to the pool. Temporary workers can see this on their app, accept a shift immediately, and receive all the associated information. Contracts are automatically prepared. So a lot happens digitally, but always with human oversight. If no one responds to the app, human intervention is still necessary. But it helps us to be both qualitative and fast, so we can put the personal touch into those elements or processes where it makes the difference—client relationships, understanding what healthcare institutions need and where they're going, and checking in with our temporary workers to see if everything is going well. You can digitize a lot, but human contact is still much more important at crucial moments.“

Diversity and Inclusion

You mentioned removing bias from the process, which links to your diversity and inclusion initiatives. What else do you do in terms of DEI? Leen Verwimp: “In the healthcare sector, there's already a lot of diversity. That's a reality that healthcare providers are actively working with. There's a lot of diversity among their colleagues on duty, but also among patients, who are becoming increasingly diverse. We try to address this by offering training to our temporary workers to help them deal with language barriers and cultural differences. We really try to prepare our candidates and train them to handle these situations well. This is a reality that each of us encounters daily. In a hospital or nursing home, everything comes together, so this will certainly continue to require extra attention in the future. Healthcare providers themselves are usually quite open and empathetic profiles, so there's already a lot of openness from their side. But we try to provide all the tools to deal with this correctly. Additionally, there's a lot of diversity in our pool of employees—internally at Express Medical and among our temporary workers. We try to pay attention to everyone's specific concerns or specific issues for different groups, to address them and be mindful of them, and to promote mutual respect both internally and externally.“

Advice for Excellence

What advice would you give to other recruitment companies in the sector striving for excellence? An Aelbrecht: “My advice would be to strive to create value for all stakeholders—for healthcare institutions or other clients, for candidates, but certainly also for your own team. For us, it's a combination of technology and innovation, because that creates efficiency and contributes to quality and speed. But our driver at Express Medical is always to put people first. That means investing in strong personal relationships with our own team, because they are ultimately the face and voice of the company, and they do the work every day. It also means building personal relationships with clients and candidates. In this way, you can check off many important boxes—diversity, inclusion, technology—and grow as a company, not only in results but also by helping your people grow. For me, these two go hand in hand: personal growth and company growth.“ Leen Verwimp: “I completely agree. I think flexibility and willingness to change are also important—being open to possible changes in the sector and among your candidates, and always dealing with them with integrity. At Express Medical, our goal is to establish long-term partnerships with clients, and I think integrity and trust are the foundation for that.“

A Formula for Success in Healthcare Staffing

Express Medical's success story demonstrates that even in challenging sectors like healthcare staffing, excellence can be achieved through a careful balance of technological innovation and human connection. With more than 37 years of experience as a market leader in a demanding sector, and recognized as a Best Workplace for three consecutive years, Express Medical proves that long-term success is built on trust, adaptability, and a strong sense of purpose. By putting people first—whether employees, clients, or candidates—while embracing digital transformation, they've created a formula that has earned them recognition and results. Their approach to diversity, retention, and relationship-building offers valuable lessons for any organization in the recruitment sector. As healthcare continues to face staffing challenges, companies like Express Medical show that with the right strategies and values, it's possible to make a meaningful difference in this essential industry.

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