You may have heard that one-third of nurses plan to leave their healthcare jobs this year, according to the “Nursing in the Time of COVID-19” report by Incredible Health. If that’s the case, our country is about to hit an all-time low.
The coronavirus pandemic came with severe challenges for the healthcare system, especially for those nurses on the frontlines. Now, as we hit year two of a global pandemic, nurses are facing the aftermath-- they're worn out emotionally, mentally, and physically. And who can blame them?
“Nurses keep our healthcare system running, and this report demonstrates what is already obvious: They are working in one of the single most challenging work environments imaginable,” said Dr. Iman Abuzeid, co-founder and CEO of Incredible Health. “Nurses are passionate people who want to continue to do what they love, helping patients and communities, but are facing a series of potentially addressable challenges.”
The report surveyed more than 402,500 nurses across the U.S. and found that 34 percent said it’s “very likely” they’ll quit their jobs by the end of 2022 and 44 percent of those shared that burnout and high-stress work environments are the main reasons for their desire to leave. When so many nurses are adamant about a career change, here’s how you can help retain your nursing talent.
No. 1: Keep up with recruiting trends
The U.S. has been living in a nursing shortage for years, but most recently, the shortage was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, making it twice as challenging to find and recruit talented healthcare professionals. In fact, Becker’s Hospital Review estimates that by 2026, there will be a critical shortage of 3.2 million healthcare workers.
What does that mean for you? Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to find, recruit, and hire qualified nursing professionals to fill staffing openings. The way to do that? Through online job boards like Fusion Marketplace.
Times have changed and so have the ways people job search. Job seekers don’t want to flip through newspaper ads or call staffing agencies like yours to find an assignment. Instead, they want to see their diverse job options all in one place like on an online job board. Job boards like Fusion Marketplace are the most popular channels to job search, with more than 60 percent of seekers turning to them over social media or professional networks. So, give the people what they want and join a job board to advertise your company brand and available jobs more effectively and more efficiently.
No. 2: Streamline the hiring process
Historically, healthcare has been the tortoise in the race between a tortoise and a hare. In 2017, a DHI Hiring Indicators survey showed healthcare had “one of the worst time-to-fill rates of any industry.” In fact, the Association for Advancing Physician and Provider Recruitment (AAPPR) found that it can take up to 250 days to fill a hospital role, depending on what it is. Although the hiring process has recently improved somewhat, healthcare still ranks within the top 10 longest industries to hire for.
Since healthcare is full of specialty roles, it’s important to take time to qualify candidates to ensure they meet state and federal requirements. You wouldn’t hire an applicant without confirming they have all the necessary licenses, certificates, education, and experience. That said, this step doesn’t have to be days-long.
When healthcare professionals use Fusion Marketplace, they have the option to create a personal traveler profile. Within a traveler profile are sections to add a bio, skills checklist, professional credentials, education, work experience, references, and more, so when a travel nurse applies for one of your jobs, you’re able to view their profile information. By making the qualification process easier and more efficient, you can not only streamline the hiring process, but also find the right healthcare professionals to hire.
People don’t like feeling like they’ve been left hanging. So, another thing that will help you gain and retain new hires is by ensuring a positive candidate experience. The candidate experience can make or break your chances of them coming back or referring their friends. According to Talent Board, “half of candidates that were discontent during the hiring process said they would break off their relationship as a customer and would be unlikely to recommend the company to others.” It literally pays to be kind.
No. 3: Offer incentives
One of the more traditional ways to retain professional talent is by offering incentives—what can you give that other places can’t?
According to data from 2020, incentive programs can increase employee performance by 44 percent and can motivate 66 percent to remain within their company. Fusion Marketplace helps you leverage your incentives so you can quickly and effortlessly find qualified candidates. Or so they can find you. These are the incentives that should be on your radar:
Transparency
Details matter. And job seekers want to know what they can expect if they decide to work with you. That means they want to know work schedule, type of facility, job location, and pay package information up front. That’s why Fusion Marketplace job postings come complete with all that information and then some. Because when more than 60 percent of job seekers are more likely to apply to your jobs with salary postings, you’re only hurting yourself by not sharing these vital details. Added job and pay transparency enhances a candidate’s confidence in you and your brand and can encourage them to come back for future job opportunities.
Bonuses and recognition
Who doesn’t love money? Or being told how awesome they are? Monetary bonuses plus internal and external recognition can go a long way for workers. And it makes sense. It feels good to be appreciated.
So much so that 37 percent of employees reported recognition was the most important to them, even more so than monetary rewards. Further, a worker who’s been recognized is 63 percent more likely to stay at their current company. And the best part? Recognizing someone for their talent is free!
Another proven way to retain talent is through bonuses and referrals. Referrals are useful for all job types and since most employees enjoy working with their friends, they’ll also help improve retention, according to recruitment data.
There are also other types of bonuses that can be offered to nurses to help increase retainment. For example, performance bonuses, profit-sharing bonuses, year-end bonuses, and discretionary bonuses. When compensation is such a critical issue in the nursing field, it’s up to you to make the job worthwhile. Be transparent with job seekers and make sure they know what’s in it for them.
Professional development
Being a travel nurse requires constant professional development, and that adds up quick. To retain nursing talent, offer professional development incentives like continued education unit (CEU) reimbursement.
“Employers are getting a hard wake-up call around how competitive their offerings are—pay, benefits, flexibility,” said Britt Andreatta, chief executive officer of workplace consultancy 7th Mind Inc. “Another way to be competitive is to allow for learning.”
A study by Go 2 HR found that 40 percent of employees will leave their job within five years if there are limited professional development opportunities. Set yourself apart from your competition and offer travel nurses the chance to grow and enhance their nursing skills. Whether that’s through CEU, certification, or licensing reimbursement, a learning and development program, technology training, or other creative professional development opportunities, advertise what your agency has to offer to travel nurses.
No. 4: Encourage feedback
Do you know what your travel nurses love about you? On the other hand, do you know what they don’t love about your company? There’s only one way to find out: Ask.
As it turns out, when you ask and listen to what employees have to share, they’re 4.6 times more likely to feel empowered to do their best at work. And in today’s competitive hiring market, that can make all the difference.
Fusion Marketplace makes it easy for you to collect employee feedback through recruiter ratings and reviews. Here, travelers can rate their recruiter on several factors including experience in the industry, availability, effectiveness, honesty, transparency, and more. In addition to five-star ratings, travelers can also leave open feedback on the recruiter’s ability to meet their needs, communicate, and more. That way, there are no surprises for how your travelers feel, and you can correct any hard feelings before they become too serious.
No. 5: Partner with Fusion Marketplace
Now you might be wondering how you’re supposed to do all of these things at once. It’s actually easier than you think. In fact, all you have to do is become a Fusion Marketplace partner and let us do the rest of the heavy lifting.
As a Marketplace partner, not only can you keep up with recruiting trends, streamline the hiring process, set yourself apart with incentives, and encourage traveler feedback, but you also gain access to a highly qualified pool of travel nurses and other professional healthcare workers without added recruitment costs. If job boards are where candidates are finding interesting opportunities, then add your jobs to the mix, and increase your chances of hire.
Fusion Marketplace offers staffing agencies more visibility, easy compliance checks, access to top-tier healthcare talent, and more flexibility, all at reduced costs. Plus, Fusion Marketplace saves you time and money by tracking applicants for you. Instead of you manually tracking data and recruitment trends, Marketplace sends you insights and analytic reporting each week, so you know always where you stand with candidates and job applications.
With a national average turnover rate of 19.1 percent, retaining nursing talent can be easier said than done, except when you use Fusion Marketplace. Redefine what recruiting looks like and post your agency jobs on Fusion Marketplace to attract more qualified candidates within the field. In doing so, your agency unlocks more traveler visibility, a streamlined hiring process, employee feedback, and more!
