Vacancies hurting Rhode Island healthcare jobs?

Posted on November 4, 2013

As Rhode Island healthcare jobs go unfilled, the extended vacancy may have a bad impact on the entire organization.

According to a CareerBuilder study, forty-eight percent of nursing jobs and 39 percent of allied health jobs go unfilled for six weeks or longer, on average. Nursing jobs go unfilled for 12 weeks or longer at 20 percent of health care organizations.

A majority of employers cited at least one negative effect of vacancies (59 percent), with the top effects being:

· Employee morale is lower because staff is overworked – 36 percent

· Patients get less attention – 20 percent

· Higher voluntary turnover – 11 percent

· More mistakes in administration of patient care – 10 percent

· Increased lawsuits – 4 percent

Forty-one percent say extended vacancies have not negatively impacted their health care organization.

“The job market for health care positions continues to grow quickly in a sluggish economy, but filling key positions is far from easy. It takes proactive recruitment strategies focused on building pipelines and observing relevant workforce analytics,” said Jason Lovelace, president of CareerBuilder Healthcare. “Organizations are struggling to find a balance between bringing in new talent and hiring experienced industry veterans capable of stepping into stressful environments with little ramp-up time. It’s important, however, that health care leaders develop pathways for new graduates.”

A separate 2013 CareerBuilder Healthcare survey* of 503 employers asked hiring managers about their biggest barriers to filling a health care position. A lack of experience led the most common responses:

· Applicants do not have any relevant experience – 47 percent

· Applicants have salary requirements that are too high – 42 percent

· Applicants have less than 3 years relevant experience – 40 percent

· Applicants don’t have the proper education or training – 39 percent

· Applicants have poor communication skills – 38 percent

· Work schedule/hours are not desirable – 38 percent