Discussions I’ve been having with clients across the country recently have highlighted to me that one of the biggest challenges facing the industry right now is staffing. Previously, conversations I’ve had before with practice owners about staff were focussed around attracting and retaining high performing clinicians. However, recently the pain point appears to have shifted to support staff, such as managers and nurses. Inflation and cost of living increases are hitting us all, so it’s perhaps of little surprise that nursing staff are looking at their options and competitors in the marketplace who may be offering a more attractive deal (i.e. agency rates).

Practices therefore need to remain competitive to not only attract new staff members to enable growth, but also to retain key long standing employees who will be the essential foundations for all new starters coming on board. Below are just a few suggestions of ways you can reward and incentivise your current and future employees.

Wage Increases

Perhaps the most obvious method to remain competitive is to look at a wage increase, if other practices in your local area are increasing their hourly rates. Anecdotally, we have heard of practices considering as much as a 10% pay rise for nursing and support staff in order to compete with agency rates.

In some cases, a raise such as this may simply be a necessity in order to follow market trends. When looking to make any blanket increase though, as a practice owner you should take care to consider the other additional costs that will increase as a result of this, such as employer national insurance contributions and employer pensions.

At Hive, we understand industry averages, so if you are considering a blanket increase to wages, we can help you assess the impact it would have on the practice and also if you would still be within industry norms.

Bonuses

You could consider introducing some form of profit sharing arrangement at the practice. The promise of an end of year reward for certain targets being met will encourage your team to work together to reach these goals with the promise of a financial return for doing so. Not only will this benefit your employees, but it will benefit you as a practice owner as you will hopefully see an increase in return patients, new enquiries etc as a result of your team’s efforts.

Benefits

One way to help your employees with the rising costs of living may be to consider employee benefits. For example, did you know that your business can provide your employees with a mobile phone for work and personal use as a tax free benefit? This incentive will reduce your employee’s own personal outgoings, and your business will benefit from a tax deduction for the cost of the phone expenditure.

More extreme examples of employee benefits could include electric company cars.

There are a number of other innovative ways you can reward and retain key members of staff, such as employee share schemes. Hive is well equipped to advise your practice on any of these matters, so reach out today if you are at all concerned about talent shortages in the industry.