In a tight market like today, it can be a difficult endeavor to find nurses for your skilled nursing facility (SNF). The competition is fierce and, very often, hospitals and clinics win out. But there are some strategies your healthcare organization can implement to gain some leverage. Here, we offer a deep dive into what those strategies are and how they can help you compete for talent in a tight market.
Competitive Pay
While it may seem obvious, competitive compensation is often the factor that piques interest. It’s your “foot in the door,” and if you haven’t measured your facility’s compensation against the local competition, you may be losing ground before you even have a chance to compete.
First, your pay for CNAs, LPNs, and RNs shouldn’t reflect your budget, but the current market for compensation. Your nurses are at the center of patient care, and their pay must reflect that belief. Sign-on bonuses also sweeten the deal, as do retention bonuses offered at certain milestones like one-year hiring anniversary, etc.
Make no mistake, competitive compensation is very important, but rarely do nurses leave their skilled nursing jobs to make a few dollars more per hour. The top reasons nurses move on? They feel burned out, undervalued, and unable to move forward in developing their career.
Encourage Growth on Their Career Path
One of the advantages nurses find in working at a skilled nursing facility is the ability to grow in their careers. CNAs who recognize a path to LPN or, in time, RN, with full, or even partial, tuition reimbursement, are more likely to be drawn to your healthcare organization, and much more likely to stay. Recognize these goals and encourage your staff who want to grow in their career.
Develop a mentorship program for CNAs to get to understand the demands of the job for LPNs and RNs. These types of apprentice programs are becoming more popular in SNFs and help you build your own pipeline of candidates for future roles. When you implement a mentorship/apprentice program, it’s a win-win for both.
Flexible Scheduling
We’ve offered this strategy time and again, and it’s still one of the major draws a SNF, or any healthcare organization, can offer. When scheduling is so inflexible and difficult to manage, nurses migrate to other arrangements like home health or private practice.
Scheduling apps make it easier for nurses to self-schedule, trade shifts, and know their shift schedule in advance. Four-day shifts are also becoming more popular with SNFs. When you are willing to work with your staff in this way, you help prevent burnout, no-shows, and retain your nurses.
Invest in Workplace Culture
A comfy breakroom and monthly pizza parties are nice, but they do not determine the workplace culture of your facility. Culture is whether or not your staff feels seen and heard, respected, and supported. Especially post-onboarding for the first 90 days. A SNF that exhibits low turnover almost always has team leaders, supervisors, and administrators who are engaged, present, equitable, and consistent in those actions.
Conduct exit interviews for sure, but also conduct “stay interviews” and find out your facility’s strengths and weaknesses insofar as your workplace culture. Improve and make your SNF a desirable place to work.
Work with A Staffing Agency
BOS Medical Staffing helps SNFs compete for talent by providing access to pre-screened, credentialed professional candidates. Many of the headaches faced by SNFs when it comes to staffing are eliminated by contracting with BOS. For example:
- BOS Medical Staffing solves short-staffing issues and shift gaps.
- Helps prevent nursing staff burnout.
- Improves patient care through consistent nursing staff numbers.
- Your SNF has instant access to the prescreened, pre-credentialed talent you need.
For more on how your skilled nursing facility can compete for talent in today’s tight market, please contact BOS Medical Staffing today.
