By: James Long
As we mentioned in our article in last months newsletter (Making a match VS. Filling a Chair), in 2017, the health care industry added approximately 288,000 new jobs. This is resulting in a significant number of applicants that health care hiring managers must review, assess, and interview.
By: James Long
As we mentioned in our article in last months newsletter (Making a match VS. Filling a Chair), in 2017, the health care industry added approximately 288,000 new jobs. This is resulting in a significant number of applicants that health care hiring managers must review, assess, and interview.
Normal attrition from baby boomer retirement and voluntary or involuntary employee departures compound the time commitment to fill these new positions. With tremendous workloads placed on hiring managers, it’s no wonder most health care positions remain open for 50-plus days. In many organizations, company leaders often view open positions as financial cost-savings. However, the truth is health care jobs remain open for approximately 50 days, and one vacant position in a health care facility can negatively impact revenue by $7,000 to $14,000, depending on how long it’s open.
How can hiring managers tell their stories?
To not only better understand but also better communicate the impact of vacant positions on health care facilities and the urgent need for hiring managers to fill them, some hiring professionals calculate hard numbers using the Cost of Vacancy (COV) formula. This formula takes into account “every employee contributes financially to the organization above what he or she earns,” which is known as the salary multiplier.
COV example:
Open position salary is $70,000 per year.
$70,000 ÷ 220 annual working days = $318
$318 x 2 (the salary multiplier is usually between 2 and 7) = $636 COV per day
$636 is the lowest per-day cost of a $70,000 open position salary.
In addition, experts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Society of Human Resource Management, and many other respected workforce research institutions agree that each employee in the American workforce can actually impact the revenue of her or his employer by as much as 28 times her or his compensation – every year! Unfilled positions cause employers to lose this revenue potential.
Employee Revenue Impact example:
When hiring managers apply this calculation to a medical billing specialist who earns $18 per hour, it demonstrates a person in this position could impact company revenue by between $172,800 and $967,680 annually.
Open positions cost more than money in the bank
Lost employee revenue due to vacancies can hurt more than direct deductions from the bottom line: It can and often does hurt the professionals working in short-staffed environments. Employees working to mitigate vacancy impacts while also keeping pace with their own work responsibilities can experience productivity losses, and underperforming can affect other employees as well as patients. At an individual level, health care professionals can experience
- frustrations for having to take on extra work;
- the inability to use vacation time because their departments are short-staffed;
- additional stress to complete tasks outside their normal positions or working hours; and
- resentment, causing them to look for new opportunities, among others.
While health care leaders want to keep their staff members happy and satisfied with their work, employee contentment is not the only thing at risk. In worst case scenarios, these situations can ultimately result in more turnover, which, in turn, can result in additional vacancies. Vacancies add up, and when patients begin taking notice, they are also at risk for switching providers.
Partner with a health care staffing agency to avoid rushed, short-sighted bad hires
With ever-increasing pressure on health care hiring managers, it might be easy for some to fall into the “just hurry and fill the position” trap. But a bad hire could cost more than leaving the position open. Bad hires can occur when hiring managers are asked to rush the hiring process, leaving insufficient time for recruitment or skipping reference checks in haste. Bad hires not only have negative financial impacts on health care facilities but can also hinder productivity, patient relations, and employee morale.
The shrewd and cost-effective move can be partnering with experts at a health care staffing agency to fill open positions. Health care staffing professionals understand the pulse of the exploding health care job market. They recruit active job hunters and passive job seekers to provide only the best prescreened and pre-qualified employees to match employers’ current and future open-position needs. Leveraging a recruiting partner who will take the time to find the best match rather than one who rushes the hiring process can help reduce overall vacancy costs and spare managers the expense of bad hires.
At Acclivity Healthcare, we’re dedicated to placing top health care professionals.
With over 15 years of dedicated to health care recruiting experience, at Acclivity, we integrate recruiting best practices into the hiring process to ensure each employer has the best possible outcome with every employee placement. Our professional recruiting practices consistently attract and place top-performing, highly talented, and exceptionally skilled health care professionals with employers. To learn more about our personalized staffing solutions other companies simply can’t match, visit us online or contact me directly at 520.505.3601 or JLong@AcclivityHealthcare.com.