Category Archives: workforce management

67% of Healthcare Providers Struggle with IT Recruiting

Sixty-seven percent is a large number and it jumps to 73% for healthcare employers that are recruiting Epic-certified healthcare IT professionals in order to comply with EMR requirements.

The survey, “Closing the IT Talent Gap in Health Care” by consulting firm Towers Watson, profiled more than 100 healthcare employers and found that the majority are having problems with both the retention and recruitment of healthcare IT workers. Of the respondents, 52 percent are hospital systems and 67 percent have more than 5,000 employees.

Closing IT Talent Gaps for Healthcare Recruitment

In the short term, health systems and medical providers need information technology professionals in order to comply with EHR “meaningful use” requirements which take effect in 2014. But in the long term and according to the study, “the real payoff of an effective and fully compliant IT system is its role in aiding clinical decision making. Many healthcare leaders are already seeing how real savings can accrue from using evidence-based medicine to help redesign the way services are delivered. And IT systems, instead of only supporting clinical services, can now help determine what clinical services will be provided.”

The challenge for hospital IT recruiters is to better understand the current state of talent gaps and balance both short- and long-term challenges in healthcare into an effective information technology workforce recruitment solution. Health systems that are better able to balance the practical needs of healthcare IT workers – such as competitive pay and job security – with the long-term goal of helping an industry transform technologically, will win out going forward.

In order to effectively staff their IT departments, healthcare recruiters need to close the gap between what they think is important to IT professionals and what is actually important to them. After a thorough analysis, you can then tailor your incentive package and employee value proposition to attract top-quality healthcare IT personnel for both the short- and long-term.

Healthcare information technology staffing can be resolved with workforce management system and an enhanced job-to-candidate skill-matching process. With a full range of recruitment services including our Candidate Direct Marketplace® Vendor Management Systems (VMS), Managed Service Provider (MSP), and Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), employers have the ability to optimize their IT staffing in partnership with a dedicated StayStaffed Client Account Manager. Our contingent IT workforce management systems combined with our reputable staffing agencies nationwide, will help you to source, recruit, hire or optimize your contingent IT industry jobs quickly and efficiently.

“By providing IT staffing agencies with detailed information about the job, skills required, long term career path and benefits, they will be able to source the most qualified person that matches what employers need as well as matching the candidate’s expectations. Our Client Account Managers are skilled at analyzing your needs and getting it to the right agencies using our comprehensive Vendor Management System to simplify and expedite the entire process.“ Said Sue Higgins, Stay Staffed Director of Product Development.

Contact a StayStaffed representative now for a 20-minute VMS demonstration to learn how we can streamline your IT staffing. Phone (800) 585-1710 to talk to learn more.

Source: Closing the IT Talent Gap in Health Care

Domestic Oil and Gas Production on the Rise: 64,800 Oil and Gas Jobs Created in 2012

Domestic oil and gas production is on the rise and the creation of industry jobs is keeping pace. In their State of Energy report, Ed Longanecker, President – Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association writes, “Domestic production of oil and natural gas continues to surge upwards, reaching levels not seen in the United States in more than 15 years.” And the increase in oil industry jobs is proving that statement out.

Oil and gas industry employment increased by 7 percent in 2012 creating 64,800 new jobs, according to the report. The calculations are based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages Series.

Texas led the nation in oil and gas industry job creation. The top states for oil and gas employment include:

Texas: 379,800 jobs
Louisiana: 81,400 jobs
Oklahoma: 74,600 jobs
California: 46,400 jobs
Pennsylvania: 34,900 jobs

Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wyoming round out the top ten states for oil industry and gas extraction jobs.

Did you know…

Oil and gas extraction and production jobs pays more on average than construction, manufacturing, information technology, professional services, healthcare, and financial services.

And that Petroleum and natural gas extraction workers earned the highest annualized wages at $162,200, followed by pipeline transportation employees at $152,100, and petroleum refinery personnel earning $142,800 on average.

Workforce Solutions for the Oil and Gas Industry

With the shortage of skilled labor in the domestic oil and gas industry, and the spiraling wages that are associated with labor shortages, it’s critical for industry employers to efficiently manage their workforce.

StayStaffed workforce management systems for the oil and gas industry allow employers to outsource their staffing needs and be able to use our expertise and experience to streamline their vendor solutions. Our staffing solutions eliminate the headaches of dealing with the complex issues of negotiating and managing multiple agency vendors. Our Vendor Management staffing solution is an ideal way help manage contacts, invoices, and quality performance and provides the best oil and gas staffing solutions possible.

Contact a StayStaffed representative now and learn how our MSP, RPO, and VMS workforce management solutions can streamline your oil and gas staffing process.

Help-Wanted Ads Rise in April — New Challenges for Staffing Mangement

Online help wanted ads increased in April by a count of 204,300 — according to The Conference Board’s Help Wanted Online (HWOL) Data Series report of May 1, 2013.

The HWOL measures help-wanted advertising through analysis of over 16,000 online resources. According to the latest report of supply vs demand, which tracks the number of unemployed compared with the number of publicized vacancies, there are 2.4 unemployed workers for each advertised position.

The report also notes that in March there were 6.8 million more unemployed individuals than the number of advertised vacancies, a significant reduction from 11.9 million in the month of June 2009. Perhaps good news for the economy overall, it also signifies a return to a more challenging hiring market for staffing managers.

Among the sectors with the largest increases in job postings were healthcare and information technology.

How ‘Big Data’ is Helping Employers Make Better Staffing Management Decisions

Ever wonder what happens with all that information that we’re entering into those web browsers, online shopping carts, credit card swipers and smartphone GPS devices? Not to mention our driver’s licenses, facebook profiles, and travel itineraries? Although many people worry that such data collection may erode individual privacy, there are also many others who worry that we aren’t collecting enough of it — or making good use of it. To that end, seemingly overnight, a new industry has arisen to aggregate this massive quantity of data, strip it of personal identifiers, analyze it, and use it to help organizations make better workforce management decisions. It’s being called “big data,” and, today, it’s everywhere.

Want to know how consumers feel about your new headache remedy? Perhaps there’s some clue in the millions of tweets that went out over the last six weeks. Or maybe there’s a revealing insight into consumer behavior concerning brands that have been purchased alongside of yours. Or where they were purchased. Or at what time of day. Statisticians who are experienced with analyzing large scale data can sort out the correlations that are meaningful from those that are merely noise.

While Big Data projects often involve collection of external data, they can also involve analyzing internal data that your organization has been collecting for years. Human Resources managers are starting to discover the benefits of big data analysis. Staffing managers are moving toward methodical data analysis— looking at workforce management data, such as attrition rates, and analyzing it for useful insights on sourcing and hiring strategy.

Big Data’s potential for successfully sourcing talent was highlighted in a recent Wall Street Journal article, Meet the New Boss: Big Data. Workforce staffing managers at a large call center operation had relied on instinct and anecdotal evidence to make hires; they looked for candidates who had held similar jobs in the past. However, the ‘big data’ analysis of their internal human resources records showed that the strongest correlation for a successful hire was personality, not past experience. With almost 50,000 call center employees, this company had enough internal data to draw reliable conclusions, though the providers of big data services are careful to caution employers about the pitfalls of casual or inexperienced analysis in workforce decision-making.

With its reliance on statistics and standardized testing, many are concerned about bias that can skew against groups or classes of workers, or weed out those quirky, high-performers who may not meet the scoring threshold.

Regardless of the possible downfalls, it looks like Big Data is here to stay, in consumer sales, in business-to-business marketing, and in staffing, too. With employers looking to streamline operations and make better hires who will stay for the long haul, the lure is irresistible.

Who are the big players in Big Data? Among others: IBM, Kenexa and Oracle.

Five Workforce Management Tips for a Successful Internship Program

Summer — it’s prime season for student internships in many industries, from finance to legal to business services.

While some employers may view internships as an efficient way to hire temporary staff and catch up on clerical work, seasoned workforce management professionals know that interns can do so much more.

How to Turn Interns into “Real” Workers:

Cast a Wide Net
Interview as many candidates as you can. Post your internships on university job boards and attend job fairs at nearby schools to let students know what you’re looking for in an intern and what opportunities you’re offering. Reach out to professors or department heads to find out if they have students who might be a good fit for your company. But exercise good sense when recruiting interns, too. Don’t recruit for public relations interns at an engineering school. You get the idea.
Pay Them What They’re Worth
Unpaid internships may sound like a good idea, But… meeting the legal requirements for unpaid interns is tough. Check with a local employment attorney or government office to find out the regulations that apply in your state, county or municipality. It is likely that if you’re benefiting in any way from your interns’ work, you’ll need to pay them at least minimum wage — and, realistically, you’ll probably want to go beyond that. The compensation you offer will vary with demand for the position. For example, to attract an IT or finance intern whose skills may be in demand, it may be appropriate to pay them what you would pay an entry level full-time hire. One of the more common challenges with interns is attendance and promptness; not surprisingly, adequate compensation correlates strongly with attendance.
Provide Meaningful Training and Work
Use interns for more than routine clerical tasks. Provide training in the real functions of your business, just as you would for full-time employees. Most interns understand — and you should spell it out during the interview — that there will be a certain amount of administrative work in their job description. But if that’s all there is, both you and they will miss an opportunity. Ensure that interns work on projects that are fun, challenging, and align with a business objective — something they’ll be proud to list on a resume or in a portfolio. Expose interns to some of the best performers in your company, shadowing or being mentored by a top performer can be invaluable.
Be Patient
It can be challenging to manage young staffers who in many cases have never had a “real” job. You’ll have to be clear about many workplace rules, even those that for more seasoned workers would go without saying. You’ll also have to be detailed about your expectations for your interns’ work and explain how they will be evaluated. You’ll want to show them how their output is used within your organization and why their contributions matter. On the flip side, you’ll need to be aware that a college intern’s goals and values may not be the same as those of your more experienced staff. And keep an eye out for things that they’re good at — which your more seasoned workers may not be so familiar with (social media, anyone?) Check out this interesting article from Forbes on working with “millennials” (born between 1980 and 2000). Live up to your end of the bargain, and see that your interns live up to theirs!
Keep the Long Game in Mind
Interns are more than just contingent staff that disappears at the end of the season. What’s more satisfying than having that sophomore-year student return for a junior-year internship and get hired after senior year? Not much! Now you’ve got an “entry level” hire with years of experience in your organization. If you were a patient trainer and coach, your workforce management decisions paid off. Plus, you’ve also hired someone who’s been spreading the good word about your company among fellow students and in the community.

Bottom line: recruiting, training and managing interns isn’t that different from how you recruit, train and manage your regular workforce. It may take a little more time, but it can definitely be a staffing decision that pays off.

Looking to enhance every aspect of your recruiting, hiring and staffing processes, including internships? Consider a managed service provider.

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Stay Staffed web-based management software facilitates cost savings, staff retention and morale for employers of all types and sizes. Our Vendor Staffing Management (VSM) staffing solutions require no investment in hardware or software and have proven effective in increasing productivity and reducing operational expense.

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