The opening of the academic year two weeks ago, which streamed thousands of new students into the faculties for health professions, creates an optical illusion for policymakers. While demand for studies in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology remains stable, the public system’s ability to retain these graduates over time is in constant retreat.
Public discussion traditionally focuses on budget and salary issues, yet a deeper analysis of the labor market reveals a different root problem. There is a deep structural gap between the rigid organizational structure of public hospitals and the professional DNA of Generation Z, which currently constitutes the primary personnel reserve.
The strategic error of the system is the attempt to apply models from the previous century to the new workforce. According to the latest global Deloitte survey examining trends among Generation Z, approximately 44% of workers in this generation reported leaving their previous workplace due to burnout and mental stress.
Another dramatic figure from the survey indicates that fewer than 50% plan to stay at their current workplace for more than two years. These data stand in sharp contrast to the public-sector labor relations model in Israel, which sanctifies tenure and slow promotion tracks based on seniority rather than performance.
When a fresh graduate encounters a system where the horizon for development is measured in decades, motivation wears down quickly, and the Deloitte statistics become reality on the ground.
Responding to the statistics
The response to this crisis requires organizations to adopt an innovative worldview. New graduates no longer settle for the traditional model that confines therapists to a single, narrow department; they demand broad clinical diversity. Their aspiration is to be exposed to a broad spectrum of populations and pathologies, from neurological rehabilitation to working with mental stress situations, rather than becoming fixed in a single niche.
Organizations that are wise enough to allow rotation and encounters with diverse populations prevent the burnout inherent in routine work and produce more versatile, sharper therapists. Working in multidisciplinary teams, where a physical therapist and an occupational therapist build a joint treatment protocol together, is a decisive factor in creating a sense of professional meaning.
The ability to retain young talent also depends on offering a dual development horizon that combines the professional and personal axes. Young people today look for a workplace that sees them as whole human beings and not just as a resource.
Therefore, the most attractive promotion tracks are those that place advanced technological training at the forefront, such as work with VR systems and rehabilitation robotics, while simultaneously investing in workshops to develop personal resilience and soft skills. When the therapist feels that the organization invests in their growth 360 degrees, a much deeper organizational engagement is created than one based solely on the paycheck.
Gen Z differences
Beyond technology and professionalism, there is another factor, which is authenticity. Generation Z challenges the old separation between the professional and personal selves and seeks a space to express their uniqueness within the framework of treatment.
The most innovative therapeutic models encourage therapists to integrate content and personal hobbies into the treatment plan, such as a physical therapist who combines elements of dance into motor rehabilitation or an occupational therapist who uses baking as a therapeutic tool. This connection generates personalized medicine for the patient and an exciting work environment for the therapist.
The crisis in rehabilitation professions is not a decree of fate but a wake-up call. The data prove that when Generation Z is offered a holistic environment that respects their need for diversity, technological progress, and authentic self-expression, it is possible not only to recruit them but to transform them into the next leaders of the therapy world.
The ball is now in the court of the decision-makers: whether to continue in stagnation or adopt the flexible, human models that are already proving themselves in the field.
The writer is the HR director at Medical Care Integrative Rehabilitation Hospital in Bat Yam.