Providence, a 51-hospital health system based in Renton, Wash., has had a record year for hiring.
Spokesperson Melissa Tizon told Becker's the organization has filled 33,000 positions so far this year, about 19,000 of which were filled by external candidates. This represents a 15 percent increase in total fills and a 23 percent increase in external hires compared with 2022. Providence has also seen close to a 20 percent increase in retention.
"These factors, working together, have led to some of our lowest vacancy rates, though some units and clinics remain understaffed," Ms. Tizon said. "We're aiming to continue improving, so we can decrease caregiver burnout and ensure every unit and clinic has the capacity to serve our communities as fully as possible."
Providence's record year for hiring comes amid various recruitment and retention efforts, including using predictive analytics to find candidates and team-based interviewing.
Ms. Tizon also pointed to the health system's commitment to flexibility, such as flexible scheduling and hybrid models.
"We know flexibility is important to our caregivers," she said. "We are also introducing a new co-caring model that uses virtual nursing to support bedside caregivers. The model has demonstrated increased satisfaction and reduced turnover. In addition, we have doubled our investment in caregiver mental health and well-being."
Other initiatives she cited include doubling the health system's investment in professional development, offering tuition-free education to caregivers, using predictive analytics to help Providence plan schedules more accurately, using an integrated resource center to deploy staffing resources based on need, and committing to market-competitive compensation for caregivers.
"Additionally, the external market is slightly more favorable. For example, a softening in other industries helps the healthcare sector; and there is a slower pace of wage inflation," Ms. Tizon said.
Providence indicates it will continue investment in technology "that can ease the way for candidates and hiring managers" and will focus on increased efforts to improve the experience of interactions with candidates.
Providence has 121,000 employees total.