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Pay Rates in Agency/Travel Nursing vary alot . From my experience I've seen pay rates for Travel Nurses anywhere from 18/hr - 50/hr for an RN. It depends on location, the current need and difficulty in filling the need. I think hospitals would benefit by starting their own seasonal programs which many are doing. Thus cutting out the middlemen. The problem is that Travelers usually get a better deal going through the Travel Company especially if they negotiate well with several companies. Hospitals need to make their seasonal/travel programs competitive with the Travel Induustry. Good Housing and Good Pay are a must. Alot of in house contracts as one hospital calls them sound alot like a Real Bad Travel Assignment with the worst company. Hospitals have to look past their own nose and put their selves in the Traveler's perspective and give in some more. This would save them Millions in the long run because the Nurse Shortage is only going to get worse even with all that is being done to produce more Nurses. At the same time they need to stop playing games with Perm Staff and make their salaries Really Competitive and The Work Environment Friendly. Some smart Hospital are offering Generous Sign On Bonuses with Relocation Expenses. I'm talking like $20,000 for a year commitment and $3000 Relocation and just advertising this in National and Local Job Boards. That will bring the Nurse there but not neccesarily keep them there. So they have must have good base pay and benefits and good work environment to keep them there. Alot of hospitals refuse to accept this reality and keep holding back in doing what they need to do. I think this costs them more in the long run financially and in reputation. They may even pay Slick looking Companies like Martin Fletcher $30,000 per nurse to find for perm positions thinking these slick recruiters can pull well qualified nurses out of their filing cabinets. They make cold calls to Nurses they aquire through Data Miners. I believe they could draw more well qualified Nurses by having Generous sign on bonuses with a good base pay, relocation expenses.In addition Hospitals should also make it easier to establish communication with potential candidates such as having email links on their website or job postings where you could upload or attach a resume. Having recruiters that are sales oriented working seperate from HR personal.
Human Resources many times are the biggest obstacle for a hospital in aquiring well qualified personel. HR is better off behind the scenes until,a Sales Recruiter can close the deal. This is a big problem in the Travel Industry as well. You have too many HR oriented Travel Recruiters that are clueless in selling an assignment to potential clients (Nurses). Before the Travel Nurse can utter a word they are saying fill out all these documents first before we can discuss potential assignments. The company takes the HR philosophy while companies that take the Sales/Service Approach will win in the long run. I agree the HR stuff needs to be done and maintained but the client (Nurses) need to be sold on the idea first. I can not fill application out for Recruiters that don't have an offer for me with the neccesary information and I will not do it. There are too many other potential assignments, Travel Companies (300 last count), recruiters to be doing this. You know this applies to Perm jobs to really. Hospitals are even worse in not disclosing details that a candidate needs to make an informed decision. Hello! There is a Nurse Shortage! Tell me my Pay, Benefits, Hours Ups and Downs etc Lets get that out and get past it. OK so after all this logical thinking you still see Hospitals forming Hospital Associations allowing Travel Companies to join if they agree to their rules. They keep the pay rates down. They have a vendor management software system like shiftwise (SC Hospital Assocaition) which the Travel Compamnies have to go through {Gridlock}. The system gives very little information about the job. Once submitted you may not hear anything for weeks because it depends upon hospital staff understanding the software........more layers of inefficient bureaucracies. Traveler who are flexible and adapt to any situation learn they must just submit to find out more about the job and they must make multiple submitals to different jobs because you can't count on anyone . So the system that was designed to decrease red tape and work load actually increases it. Another side effect is if you lower rates overall Travelers after a period of time will start to avoid that location which is why some Hospital associations have had to increase their rates. It's like if you go to a nice palce to eat and you don't tip after wonderful service and you come back time and time again and do the same eventualy you will not get good service form anybody there and probably not even the second time. Nurse are smart and will not keep putting up with being shafted and Travelers are very mobile and savy and will just go elsewhere.
CJ
www.TravelNurseToolbox.com
