Of all aspects of the current workforce crisis in skilled nursing, the role of staffing agencies arguably evokes the most reaction.
It’s an issue that has sparked interest not only from long-term care and senior living groups like the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) and LeadingAge, but members of Congress as well.
The latest Skilled Nursing News outlook survey found that roughly 37.5% of respondents expected their organization to utilize staffing agencies more in 2022. Only 26.6% expected their organizations to utilize agencies less.
That’s a problematic statistic for several reasons, including that agency rates contribute to higher labor costs — and they have been skyrocketing.
While some operators have tried to find ways to limit agency usage, other industry leaders feel that agency doesn’t necessarily have to be a “bad word” and there can be a happy medium.
Rather SNFs should focus their sights on recruitment, retention and flexible scheduling when it comes to their own staff, and also involve those who work as agency staff into the facility’s culture as well.
“Those rates will burst faster if we start to solve the problem,” Melissa Powell, executive vice president and COO at Genesis HealthCare, said Monday during a panel discussion at the eCap health care summit in Doral, Fla., just outside of Miami. “I’ve said this for years, we will always need agency because you have things that happen.”
Powell was named COO back in November as part of a series of senior leadership changes for the health care company. Kennett Square, Pa.-based Genesis currently operates in more than 200 facilities across 22 states.
Powell said one way the staffing problems can be solved is by growing organically, such as training housekeepers and kitchen workers to become certified nursing assistants.
Doing so not only adds to the people on staff, but helps the facility become a desirable place to work with opportunities for growth, she said.
Flexibility for non-agency workers
While the industry’s workforce shortages are not necessarily a new phenomenon, the “Great Resignation” was spurred during the COVID-19 pandemic due to an increased desire for not only better paying jobs but increased flexibility.
“I think the trend has been going on for five-plus years. This is the gig economy trend, it’s the trend toward a flexible workforce,” Todd Owens, co-founder and CEO of workforce management solutions company Kevala, said. “I think COVID accelerated that because people prioritized work-life balance and I don’t think it’s going to go back.”
That chance for workplace flexibility can’t just come on the staffing agency side. It is a necessity even for full-time staff, according to SmartLinx’s CEO Marina Aslanyan.
“In today’s world, you really have to offer more flexibility to your staff … it’s not the future, it’s here today,” she said during the panel. “The staff is looking for flexibility as if they work for the agency even when they’re working full time.”
Where is the workforce going
The nursing home industry has lost more than 420,000 jobs since the start of the pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In January 2021, employment in nursing and residential care facilities was down 120,000 people year-over-year and was essentially flat compared to the prior month — even as nonfarm payrolls overall increased by 467,000, exceeding analysts’ predictions.
Matthew McGinty, chief revenue officer at IntelyCare, said one of the biggest missteps SNFs are making stems from the mistake of trying to solve a problem that has existed for 80 years. IntelyCare is the largest digital nurse staffing platform in the United States.
Nursing homes need to dive deeper into where staff are going, he said.
“Stop trying to solve the problem of a nursing shortage that’s been going on for 80 years, solve the problem of where are they going, why are they going other places, including in other gig roles,” McGinty said.
IntelyCare’s data shows that 92% of the staff in their network want to work in home health care, according to McGinty. Almost 75% to 80% of the staff don’t want to work full-time.
“It’s not about the pizza lunches and those types of things,” McGinty said. “There’s tens of thousands of people ready to work and everybody in this room can be a part of this solution to get those people back rather than trying to fill the funnel.”
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