One Of The Hardest Issues For Healthcare Businesses
2020 and 2021 have been the years of staff shortage for healthcare businesses. Since March of 2020, it’s been hard to find people. A confluence of events have come together to make this the case, but it’s notable that healthcare businesses had staffing issues long before COVID-19.
Healthcare has long been an “employee’s” industry as regards hiring. There are a lot of healthcare institutions, healthcare work is highly specialized, the cost of being certified for healthcare work even in lower-level positions is high, and workers seek the best possible jobs they can find.
Accordingly, even if you get good employees, they may not stick around long. They’re going to be looking for better opportunities elsewhere to help expedite how quickly they’re able to get out of student debt (which averages $215k+ for med students). So you’re going to want a little help for best results. Here we’ll briefly cover a few strategies.
Provide Better Opportunities Than Competitors
Advantageous employment packages can be helpful. Provide better solutions in medical benefits for your employees, provide competitive benefits, and look into ways of collaterally paying employees. A great example of collateral pay is a company car, or a per diem.
Ultimately, the cost of benefits can be less than the cost of increasing salary for some employees, allowing you to hire quality workers at a reduced wage while still making the position you’re trying to fill seem more desirable than competitors.
Work With Healthcare Consulting Firms
A healthcare consulting firm can take stock of your healthcare business, what local market share looks like, associated budgets as regards hiring potential, where you’ve got gaps, and the sort of hiring process your business uses to bring new employees to your team.
Orientation can be an issue. Sometimes what you’re dealing with is basically poor onboarding. Also, healthcare consulting firms can help you avoid a few hidden legal landmines pertaining to certain legal requirements for employees.
There is always room for improvement, and unless your healthcare business simultaneously specializes as a consulting firm, there’s probably something that’s being missed. You need every advantage you can secure, so see what such agencies have to say.
Finding Recruiting Specialists
As with healthcare consulting firms, working with a healthcare recruiting specialist can help you in a lot of ways you may not have considered. It’s possible they’ll be able to identify hiring pools that aren’t local to your area. There are a lot of healthcare workers that are willing to move for the promise of a solid position with competitive pay and benefits.
Also, where your facility is located may play a part in who you can hire. In Los Angeles, the cost of living tends to be around four times the cost of midwestern states. Accordingly, your pay may be four times less than a healthcare facility in L.A. if you’re operating from Omaha, Nebraska. However, the power of the dollar for local employees could be higher.
If rent is $1,500 for a closet with roommates in Los Angeles, and you can rent a 2,000 square foot house in Omaha for the same price, that’s a big difference. Be sure to emphasize as much to potential new employees if you’re seeking to hire from a pool that isn’t local.
Better Staffing Solutions For Your Healthcare Business
Recruiting specialists, healthcare consulting firms, and providing better opportunities than competitors represent three very worthwhile tactics in effectively staffing your healthcare business. Explore these tips to see which fit your operation.