Mercy Health-Cincinnati is increasing salaries and offering unusual benefits to attract registered nurses for its 200 open RN jobs, according to the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Here are five things to know about the salaries, benefits and other incentives for workers.
1. Mercy Health CEO John Starcher recently approved a $6 million investment that boosted the midpoint salary of the most common acute-care nursing role by 7 percent, according to the report.
2. Mercy Health is offering summers off as a benefit.
3. Mercy Health has also enhanced tuition reimbursement for nurses who want to go back to school and earn bachelor's degrees, and created programs to attract entry level workers, according to the report. Those programs include a paid, 10-week co-op program for nursing school students that could lead to full-time jobs.
4. Additionally, as part of the system's effort to appeal to RNs, Mercy Health-Cincinnati has made it easier for RNs to apply for jobs online.
5. All of the incentives come as Mercy Health-Cincinnati faces a shortage of RNs and tries to remain competitive with other hospitals as far as salaries and benefits. The system not only competes with other local hospitals but also with physicians' offices and insurance companies, where an RN's work schedule may be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Pat Davis-Hagens, CNO of all five of the Mercy Health-Cincinnati hospitals and CEO of the system's Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, told the Cincinnati Business Courier.