Although there is a tremendous demand for talented health care staff, the skills gap in the health care industry continues to expand. The typical result is understaffing and less-than-optimal patient outcomes. Health care organizations are developing initiatives to improve their workforce development efforts amid a lack of skilled health care workers. The skills gap shows no indications of slowing down, so hiring managers must improve their hiring and retention practices to close the skills gap.
Hire Temporary Labor
When you have a staffing need, it is not always necessary to hire a full-time employee. If your vacancy is unexpected or you need a job filled for a short time, consider using a staffing agency for temporary workers. By hiring temporary help, you can lessen the cost of hiring full-time employees.
Furthermore, staffing agencies and partners in recruiting have a vast amount of experience finding qualified candidates to quickly and efficiently fill your hiring needs. This process ensures that you receive candidates who have the experience, skills, and education needed to deliver excellent patient care. When you affiliate with a staffing agency, you have a pipeline of candidates available whenever your organization needs to fill jobs at the last minute.
Employee Referral Programs
Many health care organizations struggle to find skilled candidates on the outside while ignoring the talent within their organization. Current employees can provide you with the best candidate leads. They are your greatest referral source, so do not neglect them.
It is not uncommon for referred candidates to outperform candidates recruited by other means. These referred employees tend to be satisfied in their roles and stay around longer. An employee referral program can furnish you with the best candidates regardless of the workforce challenges. Networks and your current employees’ connections can increase your odds of finding talent like your existing workforce. You will also save time and income by not having to find qualified employees. Finally, your company culture will benefit as your employees feel appreciated for their help in bringing in new talent to your organization.
On-the-Job Training
New hires need proper guidance, tools, and mentoring to perform to their greatest potential. Your health care organization must have the training and development programs to equip your current and new employees with the expertise, skills, and confidence to fulfill their jobs.
To help you with on-the-job training, consider including seminars, workshops, lunch-and-learns, and mentoring programs. You might consider training workers for cross-functional roles. This training will give you a team of multi-skilled employees who can fill positions in different departments when candidate supply is down. When you invest in your workers’ ongoing professional growth and development, you will increase the number of quality applicants attracted to organizations who help their employees advance their careers, such as your organization.
Do you need help with health care staffing? Power Personnel offers workforce solutions for the health care industry. You can choose from per diem staffing, float pool maintenance, and pre-scheduled and contract labor staffing solutions.
