With healthcare facing shortages of medical professionals across the board, it’s never been more important than it is now to recruit and retain quality nursing staff. But, healthcare organizations are faced with not only a nursing shortage but the challenges of what’s to come.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the demand for nurses will only increase. To date, the Bureau predicts nearly 200,000 nursing job openings per year through 2030. With fewer nurses entering the workforce and many more aging out the need has never been more critical.
To that end, it is essential to patient care as well as the success of your healthcare organization to find ways not only to attract nurses but to secure their employment. Incentivizing RNs, LPNs, and CNAs is the key. But what invites can your healthcare organization include that truly sweeten the job offer?
The Demand for Nurses
First, let’s look at the problem at hand. That being said, there are not quite enough nurses to fill so many staff openings. Various circumstances led to the current shortage. Unfortunately, they’ve culminated in the perfect storm of too few nurses and too many jobs to fill. These contributing factors include:
- The current workforce is aging out in very large numbers. It’s estimated that by the year 2030, one million nurses will have entered retirement. That’s sure to leave a gaping wound in the fabric of healthcare.
- Not only are nurses aging into retirement, but a huge number of Americans are also growing older. Based on a study by the Population Reference Bureau, by 2050, the number of senior Americans (65 and older) will increase to 82 million. That’s nearly 50% more than in 2022. The need for nurses will rise as well.
- Along with an increase in the population of older Americans, it’s anticipated the portion of that population with chronic illness will more than double. Currently, there are about 71 million chronically ill seniors, by 2050, the number will likely increase to nearly 143 million.
- Staffing shortages don’t just impact the nursing profession by way of RNs, LPNs, and CNAs. In 2022, nursing schools turned away 78,200 qualified applicants due to their own staff shortage. Fewer nurses are heading to the classroom to help educate the next generation of caregivers.
- Lastly, and simply put, nurses just don’t get the respect they deserve. Since before the pandemic, RNs, LPNs, and CNAs felt they lacked the autonomy and trust to make decisions critical to patient care. While 80% of patients rate nurse care as excellent or very good, most nurses feel undervalued by their superiors.
Even in light of these discouraging factors, there are things you can do, you must do, to sweeten your job offer. We offer a look into what matters most to RNs, LPNs, and CNAs and how you can use that to incentivize nurses. By addressing these needs and putting them front and center, you don’t just answer your nurses’ call for what matters, you demonstrate your priorities, i.e., making your nurses happy. That, in itself, is incentivizing.
10 Ways to Sweeten Your Job Offer for RNs, LPNs, and CNAs
Like many industries in the U.S., the American healthcare industry doesn’t always prioritize the well-being of its employees as it should. Just as we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic, an overburdened staff succumbed to burnout really fast.
When your nurses are burned out, they leave. A high rate of turnover leads to short staffing and demand for extra shifts and overtime, which leads to more burnout. The answer? Incentivizing RNs, LPNs, and CNAs so you have sufficient staff and no one feels overburdened. Here are 12 ways to do just that.
1. Ensure Financial Incentives
For most healthcare organizations, this incentive is a no-brainer. When you offer financial bonuses and competitive salaries, you automatically set yourself up for a healthy return on your investment. Your nursing staff will stay where the pay and the benefits are best. It also helps when there’s a financial incentive for picking up last-minute shifts, preventing short-staffing.
Bonuses work to incentivize RNs, LPNs, and CNAs as well. But, here, you have to be aware that the healthcare industry doesn’t follow the same metrics as other businesses. You can’t measure performance in numbers. Certainly, if a nurse is unable to attend to assigned patients, that is an issue. However, ramping up the number of patients a nurse sees in a shift and using that as a metric for workplace excellence is counter to patient care.
While cash is transactional, the offer of gift cards, spa getaways, experiences, dinner at a local restaurant, and vacations feels like a reward for a job well done. Get creative and reward staff in a way that says you care and prioritize their wellbeing.
2. Prioritize Work-Life Balance
When you show that you value your nursing staff by prioritizing work-life balance, it’s an incentive that keeps on giving. You’re creating a workplace that RNs, LPNs, and CNAs seek out as it stands out from the norm.
Long shifts, extra shifts, difficult patients, and sad outcomes wear on your nursing staff. Flexible scheduling provides the wiggle room your nurses need. It allows your staff to balance their working hours with personal time. Those healthcare organizations with more than one facility may allow nurses to alter their workplace for some time. Be flexible and nurses will seek out your organization.
3. Show the World You Value and Support Your RNs, LPNs, and CNAs
OK, well maybe you don’t need to shout from the rooftops but when you demonstrate your healthcare organization’s professional and personal support for staff you’ll draw candidates from far and wide. Implement professional growth opportunities through continuing education programs. Attract and hire new graduates through tuition reimbursement offers. Show your existing and potential staff how valuable they are to your organization through caring for their wellbeing. Offer gym memberships, self-care days, and in-house wellness programs.
4. Speaking of Self-Care
Healthcare workers typically put self-care at the bottom of their to-do list. Because of that, it’s all that much more important for you, their employer, to offer self-care as an incentive and a means for keeping your staff emotionally and physically well. Work with a local spa to offer pampering or provide a stipend for their preferred form of self-care. After a day of rest and recovery, your nurses come back restored and renewed in spirit and energy. It’s a small investment and a win-win for all.
5. Easier Onboarding Through Mentorship
Onboarding for new RNs, LPNs, and CNAs can be stressful. This is especially true for recent graduates and those nurses with less experience. When you implement a mentorship program as part of your onboarding process, it works out well for everyone.
Your new hire has an automatic “buddy” to help them adjust to the particulars and protocols of a new workplace, and your mentor has an opportunity to “manage,” and you can check in with them periodically to find out how the new hire is adjusting. This allows you to see what that looks like for future reference.
6. A Positive Workplace Speaks for Itself
A healthy work culture is one of the best ways to entice new hires to your nursing staff. Sweeten your job offer by building a workplace that invites positivity and teamwork. There are a few proven ways for you to begin building a strong and healthy workplace culture. Just the kind today’s nurses are clamoring for.
- Encourage Positive Communication: Healthy communication is at the core of every solid relationship, and that includes coworkers. Encourage your nursing staff to communicate with supervisors and colleagues. If there’s an issue that needs to be addressed, offer to bring the parties in for mediation so they can clear the air.
- Recognize When Staff Goes Above and Beyond: RNs, LPNs, and CNAs are among the hardest working people in the world. There’s no argument there. Every shift brings new challenges, and when someone on your nursing staff goes above and beyond in patient care, they deserve recognition. Make sure to recognize their efforts publicly and reward them accordingly.
- Celebrate Milestones: Work anniversaries, career achievements, graduation, and the like are all occasions worthy of celebration. Make sure you recognize your nurse’s milestones. Also, recognize Nurses Week and honor your nursing staff each day in a special way.
- Emphasize Teamwork: Connect your nurses and create bonds in the workplace by emphasizing teamwork. That way your nurses realize they can count on one another and won’t tend to feel overwhelmed.
7. Make Your Brand Speak for Itself
Again, when incentivizing RNs, LPNs, and CNAs, it works in your favor if you have a reason for them to come to you. When your brand is relatable and even personable, your reputation will glow. Take the time to personalize correspondence with potential new hires. Practice intentional culture-building. Work to humanize your healthcare organization by emphasizing more personalized performance management. Let go of the generic healthcare vibe and create a vibrant workplace where your nurses feel a sense of pride in providing quality patient care. Adopt a mission statement that you adhere to.
8. Relieve Nurses of Burdensome Tasks through Technology
Technology is meant to streamline specific tasks that used to take significant time. Get with the program and let technology ease the burden of administrative tasks and much of the paperwork involved. Find other ways to incorporate technology into your day-to-day operations if you haven’t already. This isn’t just a way to make your facility run more smoothly; it demonstrates your organization’s willingness to stay up-to-date when it comes to cutting-edge medical tech. That speaks volumes to potential new hires.
9. Implement Nurse Ambassadors
The best way to engage potential new hires is through a connection with their peers. Your best nurses make excellent ambassadors and are, themselves, an incentive to RNs, LPNs, and CNAs who are looking to advance their careers. These nurses are the ones who walk the walk and talk the talk insofar as your workplace culture. Utilize their positive experiences with your organization in different marketing opportunities, have them engage potential new hires at job fairs in your community, and let them voice their experiences in your recruitment materials. These staff members are uniquely equipped to forge a trusted bond with nursing candidates.
10. Engage
When you’re looking at the best approach for incentivizing RNs, LPNs, and CNAs, it’s easy to overlook the basics. Employee engagement goes a long way to providing the best foundation for your organization. Nurses have the same basic needs and wants as most other employees in any industry. They want to be respected and trusted to do their job. Autonomy, flexibility, support, and pride in their work keep your nurses coming back. The promise of connection to their team, coworkers, patients, and your organization’s mission engages potential new hires right from the start.
Ensure your nurses understand you are invested in them. Provide the tools they need, the support they require, and an understanding of the work-life balance that makes your nursing staff a priority. Incentivizing RNs, LPNs, and CNAs is about more than financial incentives. Ultimately, the best way to sweeten a job offer is by creating a workplace environment that allows everyone to be their best. When that happens, nurses will flock to your door, patients will receive the best in care, and your nursing staff will thrive.
We’re Here for You
At BOS Medical Staffing, we believe in helping your organization create a more positive experience for your nursing staff. It’s possible to incentivize RNs, LPNs, and CNAs even in these challenging times. Please reach out to BOS Medical Staffing today and we’ll help you find more ways to sweeten your job offer.
