In a recent study published in the Western Journal of Nursing Research, nurses deem scheduling practices as a priority when considering working for a healthcare organization. In fact, in order of importance, flexible scheduling now rivals pay as one of the major deciding factors in the decision.
The importance of flexible scheduling isn’t difficult to understand. Nurse burnout is a significant contributor to the current nursing shortage. Not only does your healthcare organization’s embrace of scheduling flexibility make a difference in hiring, but it also affects career satisfaction and staff retention.
What Is Flexible Scheduling?
Flexible scheduling provides your nursing staff and other healthcare professionals the freedom to choose their work shifts based on their schedules. This flexibility fosters a better work-life balance, leading to happier staff. What does this type of scheduling look like?
- Shorter shifts
- Staggered shifts
- Ability to trade shifts with coworkers
- Self-scheduling systems
How Flexible Scheduling Helps Recruit and Retain Nursing Staff
With today’s nursing shortage, healthcare organizations look for any and all ways to recruit talent and retain existing quality nursing staff. By offering better scheduling options, healthcare organizations create a more enticing work environment. This gives them a leg up on the competition in the midst of a difficult time.
Here are the benefits gained from flexible scheduling:
- Improved Work-Life Balance for Nurses: With the previous, less-flexible scheduling, nurses needed to plan around their schedules. If a shift didn’t allow for meeting personal responsibilities, a nurse would need to take a PTO day. With flexible scheduling, nurses can meet their family obligations, pursue additional education, schedule personal appointments, and experience balance in prioritized areas of life.
- Increased Job Satisfaction: When nurses have more control over their schedule, they feel respected, valued, and empowered. This leads to a greater sense of autonomy and increased job satisfaction.
- Better Recruitment and Retention Results: Satisfied nursing staff provide the best recruitment tool for healthcare organizations. When you implement flexible scheduling, you’re telling your staff that they are your priority. This leads to better retention results and makes your organization an attractive place to work.
- Less Burnout, Less Job Stress: Because flexible scheduling is just that, flexibility means nurses achieve greater balance in work and life. That balance leads to lower stress levels. Since stress leads to burnout and burnout leads to a reduction in the quality of patient care, flexible scheduling is essential for the health of your nursing staff and your healthcare organization.
- Greater Options for Nurses: Because flexible scheduling gives nursing staff more control, they can choose how they wish to work. A nurse may decide to go part-time instead of leaving the organization completely, maybe a per diem schedule is a better fit for some nurses, especially if they are pursuing an advanced degree. Nurses are more likely to stay if they can tailor their schedules to suit their needs.
- Better Patient Care: Ultimately, the success of your healthcare organization depends on patient care. Nurses who are satisfied with their work, as well as better rested, find more value in their chosen profession. This leads to fewer errors and much higher-quality care for patients.
Considering Flexible Scheduling?
If your healthcare organization is considering implementing flexible scheduling for healthcare workers, here are some things to consider:
- Work with your multiple disciplines to create a flexible scheduling model that works for everyone. Include management and HR in your plan.
- Make sure your flexible options align with your needs by reviewing your census trends, staffing ratios, and any other information that’s significant to your facility.
- Embrace non-traditional ideas like letting nurses and healthcare workers work across disciplines (providing they are certified/qualified), offer specialized assignments, and any other ideas that provide for a more flexible schedule.
- Adopt changes as you evolve. If this is a new experience for you and your healthcare workers, there will be a period of adjustment. You can add or make changes as needed and rework the options as you go. Just make certain you communicate that this is a work in progress to your staff and welcome any staff feedback with an open-door policy.
For help implementing flexible scheduling at your healthcare organization, please reach out to BOS Medical Staffing.
