In healthcare staffing, travelers play a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of quality patient care. These dedicated clinicians, such as traveling nurses, allied health professionals, LPNs (licensed practical nurses), and CNAs (certified nursing assistants) bring their specialized skills and expertise to healthcare facilities across the country. To maximize their effectiveness and maintain their dedication, it is crucial to keep them engaged. When these professionals feel connected and supported, they not only excel in their roles but also contribute significantly to the overall morale and efficiency of the healthcare teams they join.
Effective communication. Building engagement starts with clear and consistent communication. All contingent workers, but especially travelers, should feel informed and prepared from the start. If you want to keep them engaged, you need to keep open lines of communication. From the initial call to the onboarding process, you must be there to guide them every step of the way.
Our strategy is to provide our travelers with regular updates on protocols and company news. We also build in various touchpoints to ensure they are getting the information they need to be successful while on assignment. This includes job alerts or experience surveys as well as expiry notifications and extension prompts. Through these steps, we learn their preferences on communication, which also helps us deliver great candidate experiences and a high standard of customer service. This includes finding out if they prefer texting, phone calls or emails and asking specific hours when they would prefer being contacted or are typically available.
Robust support. Travel healthcare professionals face unique challenges due to the nature of their assignments, so offering them robust support mechanisms can significantly enhance engagement. Because they often are thousands of miles away from their homes, it’s important to ensure they feel connected outside of business hours. At Medical Solutions, there are always people standing by and ready to help — from clinical teams to HR, housing and payroll teams. We also have a hotline for our travelers in case an issue arises out of business hours.
In addition to access to people, technology can provide invaluable support. There are many products on the market that can facilitate communications with your contingent staff. You could also build your own. For example, Medical Solutions has an app through which travelers can seamlessly access the tools they use the most. The app enables them to search for jobs, manage benefits, clock hours, get insights on new locations and more. This empowers them to navigate through day-to-day tasks while keeping them engaged in their journey beyond their current assignment.
Personal relationships. Fostering personal relationships with travel healthcare staff is essential to their engagement. There is also value in recognizing the demanding work travelers are doing each day. Recruiters play a pivotal role in this aspect because they are liaisons between the healthcare professional and the organization, serving as a support bridge for questions, concerns, guidance and feedback. Therefore, you might consider empowering your recruiters by providing the resources to deliver top-notch service to the contingents under their care.
Our recruiters frequently send gifts of appreciation on important days, such as birthdays or Nurses Week, or to recognize a traveler for a job well done. Small tokens like this can go a long way in making them feel valued.
Loyalty incentives provide a powerful tool to motivate travel healthcare staff to stay committed. We offer a loyalty bonus program for longevity with our company. Travelers receive a bonus after they work a certain number of hours. Incentives like this encourage healthcare professionals to consistently perform at their best but also demonstrate our appreciation for their commitment.
A win-win approach. Engaging travel healthcare staff goes beyond benefiting the staffing firm; it is about creating a mutually beneficial relationship that will ultimately result in the best possible care for patients. When travel healthcare professionals are engaged, they are more likely to provide high-quality patient care and find satisfaction in their careers. This in turn benefits travelers, clients, facilities and staffing providers by leading to more dedicated travelers and long-term success for all involved. By prioritizing the happiness and fulfillment of these travel healthcare professionals, staffing providers ensure top-notch care and a thriving healthcare community.
