In the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, workforce dynamics have shifted, with employers realizing that workers wield more leverage than they had before. Karen Bewer, BSN, RN, administrator of Milwaukee-based Pain Physicians of Wisconsin and affiliated ASCs, told "Becker's ASC Review Podcast" that ASCs can capitalize on the trend.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: What are some trends that you're following in healthcare today?
Karen Bewer: The changes in the workforce — how difficult it is to get employees and meet the needs of an employee, what they're looking for in a place to work and how easy it is for employees to change from one location to another or one job to another.
They're not staying in a job for 10 years anymore. They're staying for a shorter time and then moving on to their next position. That's a trend. That's just something we need to accept. We need to meet that challenge.
Q: What do you do to make sure you're prepared for this new workforce dynamic?
KB: I think the first thing you have to do is just acknowledge that the workforce has changed, that [employees today] are not going to look at it the same way I may have when I was a younger nurse looking for a job.
One of the first things I did when I advertised for registered nurses for the ASC is I headlined the ad with, 'No nights, no weekends, no holidays, no call.' And it really seemed like that spoke to the nurses that were out there looking for a position. Perhaps they were tired of the long hours and what they'd been through during the pandemic.
And all of a sudden there was a job that was still in acute care, that was still exciting. They'd use their skills, they didn't have to work nights and weekends and holidays. I used that to my advantage, and it worked. I've gotten some excellent nurses that just needed a change.