In a move to help with recruitment in an increasingly competitive health-care field, the operator of London’s two largest hospitals is offering employees a $1,500 incentive to refer people for vacant positions.
The hospital says the one-time incentive is paid to London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) employees if they recommend external candidates for vacant roles.
In order for the employee who referred the employee to collect, the new hire has to be the successful candidate and stay in the position for 10 continuous months. Also, the program is not available for executives, leaders and hospital recruitment staff.
Julia Marchesan, the hospital’s vice-president of human resources, said 16 other Ontario health-care organizations already have some form of employee recruitment incentive.
“We had a small group of roles that continue to be a bit challenging to recruit for,” said Marchesan. “It made sense for us to adopt a program that so many of our peers had already undertaken.”
Marchesan said many of the positions that have proven challenging to fill are very specialized and technical.
They include:
Anesthesia assistantsNurse practitionersLab technologistsCardiac sonographersRadiation technologistsNeurophysiologistsPsychologists
Other difficult-to-fill positions at the hospital are non-medical jobs including plumbers, millwrights and building engineers.
Marchesan said a number of factors are making health-care recruitment more challenging, including an aging population driving up the need for more health-care supports.
She said LHSC is doing well with recruitment compared to other hospitals. LHSC reported a vacancy rate of eight per cent in January of this year. It dipped down to 3.5 per cent by August, which Marchesan said is about half the provincial average.
“I’m proud of the team for that but there are moments when we have to dig a bit deeper to recruit other candidates and convince them to come to London,” she said.
London Health Sciences Centre say they’re doing well compared to other Ontario hospitals when it comes to recruitment. (Colin Butler/CBC)
Marchesan said LHSC has a good reputation as an employer and said London’s cost of living helps the city compete with health-care jobs in bigger centres.
“I see us in having advantages, and that’s why our vacancy rate is so low,” said Marchesan.
Marchesan said the employee incentive is one aspect of effective recruiting. Social media channels, LinkedIn in particular, remain important was to connect with candidates.
Cost-effective way to recruit
Maria Mathews, a professor in primary health care at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, said recruitment bonuses can be a cost-effective way to deal with one of the biggest challenges facing the health-care industry.
“It’s quite creative and it kind of makes sense when you think about the amount of money that firms are putting into recruitment,” she said. “Leaning into these connections and personal networks is just another way to ensure that potential candidates hear about these positions.”
Mathews said part of the challenge is that students interested in pursuing health care as a career, don’t consider some of the technical sub-specialties.
“It’s very rare to see an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old even think about these careers,” she said. “People just tend to think of health care in terms of doctors and nurses.”