One of the most challenging parts of managing a medical facility during the holiday season is the scheduling. Accommodating your employees’ requests for time off while still fulfilling the required staffing levels is not easy! So how can you make things easy this holiday season while making sure that your facility has the staff it needs?
Get Started Early
The first rule of thumb to follow is this: get started early. Delaying on your holiday scheduling plan is a recipe for disaster. You’ll be scrambling last minute to fill scheduling holes during critical holiday times, and it more than likely won’t end well. You don’t want to have gaps in coverage or end up short-staffed — that’s how accidents happen. When you get a plan together early on, you’ll have the best chance for success when the holiday season hits.
Offer Pay Incentives
When you offer your staff members an incentive to work over the holidays, you don’t have to worry as much about staff shortages. Employees are much more likely to take holiday shifts if they know they’re getting something out of it that they wouldn’t usually get. That means offering overtime or double-time pay for your nurses working major holidays. You can also consider offering other kinds of incentives, like holiday bonuses for employees who pick up extra shifts.
Work With a Medical Staffing Agency
Of course, there is an easy solution to your holiday scheduling woes: partnering with a medical staffing agency like BOS Medical. That way, you can hire temporary staff as seasonal help during peak holiday times. Your full-time staff can then get the break they deserve in order to rest and recharge with their families while your seasonal help covers holiday shifts in the meantime. And temporary help can last as long as you need it to: just for the Thanksgiving or Christmas/New Year’s weekends themselves, for several weeks, or even for months at a time if necessary.
Need Help With Holiday Scheduling?
Ready to stop worrying about the holiday staffing struggle? Reach out to BOS Medical for help. We can get you the staffing help your facility requires over the holiday season and all year round.
