Employee Concierge Services in Healthcare: Giving Clinicians Time Back Outside the Shift

By Cory McCruden, Owner & CEO, Best Upon Request

June’s National Employee Wellness Month raises an important question for healthcare leaders: What does employee well-being actually look like for people who cannot work remotely, adjust their schedules, or step away from the demands of patient care? 

The conversation around workplace well-being has changed. In many industries, flexibility has become a defining feature of modern work. But for healthcare employees, especially clinical staff, the nature of the job still requires them to be physically present, often within highly structured and unpredictable environments.

A surgical tech cannot move a procedure to make a personal appointment. An ER nurse cannot leave the floor to wait for a delivery. A physician’s responsibilities rarely end the moment a shift officially does. For many healthcare workers, everyday life administration still must happen around long hours, rotating schedules, and emotionally demanding work.

At the same time, healthcare employees face stressors that many traditional wellness programs are not designed to solve. According to Center for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, long hours, unpredictable schedules, emotionally intense situations, and repeated exposure to suffering and death all contribute to stress and burnout among healthcare workers.

That is why more healthcare organizations are expanding their definition of employee support beyond wellness perks alone and looking for practical ways to reduce friction in employees’ lives outside of work.

The Wellness Gap Often Shows Up Outside the Shift

Burnout stems from both on-the-job demands and the inability to recover after work. Many clinicians spend their days off catching up on responsibilities postponed during shifts, making true rest elusive.

When recovery time morphs into catch-up time healthcare employees end up spending much of their “time off” on life admin tasks like:  

• Groceries and meal planning
• Childcare or eldercare coordination
• Car repairs and maintenance
• Shipping, returns, and errands
• Appointments and household logistics 

This burden is intensified for healthcare workers balancing multiple caregiving roles inside and outside of work, leaving less time for personal recovery.

Tasks that may simply be inconvenient for employees with flexible schedules, like running errands, waiting for deliveries, or making appointments, can be nearly impossible for clinical staff working long or unpredictable shifts. Even paid time off can become consumed by life administration instead of actual recovery. 
Giving employees time back is not a standalone solution to burnout. But as part of a broader workforce and retention strategy, it can help reduce everyday pressures that contribute to stress and exhaustion among nurses, physicians, and other healthcare professionals.

Where Employee Concierge Services Fit as a Practical Wellness Lever

Employee concierge services are not a standalone solution to burnout, nor should they be positioned that way. However, they can function as one practical component within a broader workforce well-being and retention strategy.

A healthcare employee concierge service is an employer-sponsored benefit designed to help employees manage personal tasks and everyday logistics competing for their limited time outside of work

The goal is not simply convenience. The broader value proposition is helping employees reclaim time that can instead be used for rest, recovery, family responsibilities, or personal well-being.

For HR leaders, the strategic question becomes whether a benefit meaningfully reduces daily-life friction for employees who often operate under fixed schedules and high emotional demands.

Outcomes and Employee Feedback

According to Best Upon Request’s 2025 customer feedback responses, 98% of healthcare workers felt stress relief after using the service.

Employees saved an average of 67 minutes per service and used the program 11 times per year, on average. 45% of employees engage in the service for two years or more. 

Altogether, the program has a 99% customer satisfaction score.  

Qualitative feedback can add context to those numbers by showing how employees experience the service in daily life.

"This service is invaluable! They’ve taken so much off my plate, handling errands  and tasks that would’ve dragged on for months otherwise. The request process 
is easy through the app and the communication is phenomenal."

— John, Registered Nurse, Providence St. John’s Health Center

Taken together, quantitative and qualitative feedback should be read as program signals, not guaranteed outcomes.

The biggest question is whether the program can return meaningful time to employees and provide measurable insight into how they use support.

Employee Concierge Services Can Help Healthcare Workers Reclaim Time

HR leaders cannot remove every source of pressure from healthcare. They can, however, reduce some of the friction surrounding the work.

For employees with fixed schedules and high-pressure roles, receiving time back outside the shift reduces stress and supports recovery, family life, focus, and overall employee experience, addressing a key need that traditional benefits may not meet. 

For healthcare HR leaders, a well-implemented concierge program offers a tangible way to enhance workforce well-being.

Best Upon Request demonstrates how hospitals can equip employees with a reliable way to delegate daily tasks and reclaim their time. ♦

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Author bio:

Cory McCruden is the CEO of Best Upon Request (BEST), where she leads the company’s commitment to high-touch, human-centered service for healthcare organizations and employers nationwide. She focuses on operational excellence, service delivery, and improving experiences for employees, patients, and care teams through the thoughtful integration of people, process, and technology. Cory is passionate about helping organizations reduce everyday friction so healthcare professionals can focus more fully on patient care and personal well-being. 

Before joining BEST, Cory held leadership roles at Deutsche Bank, BNY Mellon, RBC, and Waddell & Reed before serving as a senior leader at Ernst & Young. Over more than two decades, she has led large service organizations, supported digital transformation initiatives, and helped teams navigate operational change with a people-first approach grounded in service excellence.

Contact: cory.mccruden@bestuponrequest.com 

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