By Tracey Drury – Reporter, Buffalo Business First
Oct 19, 2022
The Oct. 13 ratification of Kaleida Health’s three-year labor contract gives the health system one more tool to fill hundreds of vacant positions systemwide.
But the health system also has lots of competition. All the region’s hospitals are hiring, with Kaleida, Catholic Health and Erie County Medical Center – the three largest health systems in the region – scrambling to replace more than 1,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers lost since the start of the pandemic.
Besides competing against each other, they're dealing with people leaving health care altogether for retirement or for career opportunities outside the industry, as well as those leaving for travel or agency nursing positions.
On the plus side, the pay rates for travel nurses have begun to come down. Nurses in New York are earning an average of $3,248 weekly, down 15.5% from this time last year. Nationally, the average pay in September was $3,066, down 17.3%, the largest year-over-year decline this year according to the monthly pay report from Vivian Health, a national healthcare hiring firm.
“It does give us hope, and we are starting to see employees trickle back to us,” said Leanne Pawlak, Kaleida’s senior director of corporate employment. “So as those travel agency positions continue to decrease and the wages folks are making in those positions start to decrease, we will see more and more of those candidates look to us for permanent employment and some of our former employees who have left us return.”
Kaleida is working to fill 800 open positions across the system, including with its Southern Tier affiliates. That includes 500 positions added during a state-mandated clinical staffing process and recent contract negotiations.
“We continue to experience a supply and demand issue,” she said. “The number of specialized licensed individuals we’re seeking — there are only so many of those that exist in the workforce in Western New York.”
Kaleida has a few other strategies. It has hired more recruiters with industry experience and eased the pre-employment and application process, decreasing time to fill positions closer to the national average of 49 days.
And like its competitors, Kaleida is offering sign-on and referral bonuses, mentorship programs, optimized online application systems and on-the-spot hiring events. The strategies are seeing success, with Kaleida increasing overall hiring 70% year-to-date over last year, she said.
Others are succeeding, too. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is already above its pre-pandemic total, with total FTE of 3,678 today, up 2.39% since March. That's compared to 3,380 in March 2021 and the hospital's pre-pandemic FTE count of 3,415 in March 2020.
Corrine Latini, director of talent acquisition, said that over the last year, the system has received 22,000 job applications, with no sign of slowdown. Employment has grown along with patient volume, she said.
“Covid hurt us like it hurt all health care employers, but by focusing on retention as well as recruitment, we've been able to more than bounce back and have kept our workforce growing, outpacing any previous growth in workforce that I have seen,” she said.
William Pryor, Catholic Health executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said that since January, nearly 1,500 workers have left the system while nearly 2,200 people have been hired, including full-, part-time and per diem. That's more people year-to-date than all of 2021.
The key, he said, is collaboration between HR and marketing. The talent acquisition team has participated in 55 events this year, including traditional job fairs as well as other Catholic Health-sponsored events such as farmer’s markets and festivals. Key executives also attend to allow for instant offers.
Catholic Health holds career “carnivals” that include activities such as face painting, games, cider and doughnuts to keep kids busy while their parents learn about job opportunities.
Referral bonuses of up to $5,000 for employees as well as community members also help. Pryor said an individual came to a recent hiring event at RiverWorks after his mother called and told him to come down.
“We’re able to say not only is the pay really competitive, but the work you do here is mission-oriented, faith-based and we’re part of a family, you’re part of a team,” Pryor said. “I’ve participated in enough that I can tell you what happens is the community is like, ‘This is great. Catholic Health is here.’ ”
Erie County Medical Center bumped up its nurses salaries mid-contract to bring them up to the market rates offered at Catholic Health and Kaleida. Though compensation is important, the system also relies on its culture as a draw as well, according to CEO Thomas Quatroche Jr., pointing to internal education and mentoring programs.
Though there are still 400 open positions, ECMC has grown its FTE count from 3,300 in January to 3,565 this month. There has been turnover, of course, but the system has hired 814 employees this year, including 233 registered nurses. That has also allowed it to decrease the total agency or travel nurse count to just 23 with a goal of zero by year-end.
A focus on retention has included more recognition programs and career ladder programs for support positions such as dietary and housekeeping – people who could earn higher hourly wages working in hotels or restaurants.
“I think people understand that long term, they need a career,” Quatroche said. “There is a lot of opportunity because of the breadth of services we have, so if they want to move around in the organization … so the lateral and upward mobility is something else that’s attractive.”
How WNY hospitals are trying to recapture 1,500 lost employees - Buffalo Business First (bizjournals.com)
Oct 19, 2022
The Oct. 13 ratification of Kaleida Health’s three-year labor contract gives the health system one more tool to fill hundreds of vacant positions systemwide.
But the health system also has lots of competition. All the region’s hospitals are hiring, with Kaleida, Catholic Health and Erie County Medical Center – the three largest health systems in the region – scrambling to replace more than 1,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers lost since the start of the pandemic.
- Kaleida Health went from 9,394 FTE in August 2020 to 8,656 in August 2022.
- Catholic Health dropped from 7,650 FTE pre-pandemic to 7,220 as of June 30.
- Erie County Medical Center dropped from 3,900 in January 2020 to 3,532 in August.
Besides competing against each other, they're dealing with people leaving health care altogether for retirement or for career opportunities outside the industry, as well as those leaving for travel or agency nursing positions.
On the plus side, the pay rates for travel nurses have begun to come down. Nurses in New York are earning an average of $3,248 weekly, down 15.5% from this time last year. Nationally, the average pay in September was $3,066, down 17.3%, the largest year-over-year decline this year according to the monthly pay report from Vivian Health, a national healthcare hiring firm.
“It does give us hope, and we are starting to see employees trickle back to us,” said Leanne Pawlak, Kaleida’s senior director of corporate employment. “So as those travel agency positions continue to decrease and the wages folks are making in those positions start to decrease, we will see more and more of those candidates look to us for permanent employment and some of our former employees who have left us return.”
Kaleida is working to fill 800 open positions across the system, including with its Southern Tier affiliates. That includes 500 positions added during a state-mandated clinical staffing process and recent contract negotiations.
“We continue to experience a supply and demand issue,” she said. “The number of specialized licensed individuals we’re seeking — there are only so many of those that exist in the workforce in Western New York.”
Kaleida has a few other strategies. It has hired more recruiters with industry experience and eased the pre-employment and application process, decreasing time to fill positions closer to the national average of 49 days.
And like its competitors, Kaleida is offering sign-on and referral bonuses, mentorship programs, optimized online application systems and on-the-spot hiring events. The strategies are seeing success, with Kaleida increasing overall hiring 70% year-to-date over last year, she said.
Others are succeeding, too. Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is already above its pre-pandemic total, with total FTE of 3,678 today, up 2.39% since March. That's compared to 3,380 in March 2021 and the hospital's pre-pandemic FTE count of 3,415 in March 2020.
Corrine Latini, director of talent acquisition, said that over the last year, the system has received 22,000 job applications, with no sign of slowdown. Employment has grown along with patient volume, she said.
“Covid hurt us like it hurt all health care employers, but by focusing on retention as well as recruitment, we've been able to more than bounce back and have kept our workforce growing, outpacing any previous growth in workforce that I have seen,” she said.
William Pryor, Catholic Health executive vice president and chief administrative officer, said that since January, nearly 1,500 workers have left the system while nearly 2,200 people have been hired, including full-, part-time and per diem. That's more people year-to-date than all of 2021.
The key, he said, is collaboration between HR and marketing. The talent acquisition team has participated in 55 events this year, including traditional job fairs as well as other Catholic Health-sponsored events such as farmer’s markets and festivals. Key executives also attend to allow for instant offers.
Catholic Health holds career “carnivals” that include activities such as face painting, games, cider and doughnuts to keep kids busy while their parents learn about job opportunities.
Referral bonuses of up to $5,000 for employees as well as community members also help. Pryor said an individual came to a recent hiring event at RiverWorks after his mother called and told him to come down.
“We’re able to say not only is the pay really competitive, but the work you do here is mission-oriented, faith-based and we’re part of a family, you’re part of a team,” Pryor said. “I’ve participated in enough that I can tell you what happens is the community is like, ‘This is great. Catholic Health is here.’ ”
Erie County Medical Center bumped up its nurses salaries mid-contract to bring them up to the market rates offered at Catholic Health and Kaleida. Though compensation is important, the system also relies on its culture as a draw as well, according to CEO Thomas Quatroche Jr., pointing to internal education and mentoring programs.
Though there are still 400 open positions, ECMC has grown its FTE count from 3,300 in January to 3,565 this month. There has been turnover, of course, but the system has hired 814 employees this year, including 233 registered nurses. That has also allowed it to decrease the total agency or travel nurse count to just 23 with a goal of zero by year-end.
A focus on retention has included more recognition programs and career ladder programs for support positions such as dietary and housekeeping – people who could earn higher hourly wages working in hotels or restaurants.
“I think people understand that long term, they need a career,” Quatroche said. “There is a lot of opportunity because of the breadth of services we have, so if they want to move around in the organization … so the lateral and upward mobility is something else that’s attractive.”
How WNY hospitals are trying to recapture 1,500 lost employees - Buffalo Business First (bizjournals.com)
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