Hueman RPO Blog

How Employee ‘Float Pools’ Can Assist Healthcare Systems in Crisis

Written by Derek Carpenter | Jun 28, 2021
For many hospitals in early 2021, the roll-out and staffing of the COVID-19 vaccination program fell to the talent acquisition (TA) team. Battling an already struggling workforce and nursing shortage, hospital TA professionals were scrambling to garner the essential business as usual.

Due to the sudden need for additional experienced nurses and physician assistants, hiring managers began shifting jobs to ensure clinics were fully staffed. Daniel Mormak, Hueman's Director of RPO Services, identifies that one of the biggest challenges for hospital systems is creating, maintaining, and structuring staff. Dan says, "The hospital system is a big ship that doesn't turn nimbly, and for many of our partners, we have to break through red tape and natural obstacles."

Hospitals have so much on their plate, that dealing with rotating hiring in a crisis shapes up to be impossible. This is where an RPO partner like Hueman can step in to create established float pools.

How do float pool employees help hospitals in a crisis?

A high-functioning float pool team means hospitals have adequate plans to deal with unexpected events. It protects hospitals from overworking their staff, leading to costly overtime, employee burnout, and premium pay for travel nurses.

An established float pool allows hospital leaders to focus on critical hires while general staffing is taken care of. As a nationwide recruitment partner to healthcare systems, we see the many benefits of prioritizing a float pool to help with staffing shortages.

How does Hueman help?

With an RPO partner like Hueman, the hiring and onboarding processes can be expedited to get nurses on the floor as soon as possible. For one of our partners, we hired 200 occupational health candidates for a surge float pool - a resource that our partner has continued to optimize and use across all of their locations.

Hueman Director of RPO Services, Ryan Pharis, and his team helped another partner build their float pool to facilitate testing and vaccine distribution. Hueman brought on five additional recruiters to help quickly recruit and hire the nurses, pharmacists, and registrars needed for a successful vaccine rollout. This float pool allowed them to distribute talent across multiple vaccine locations.

According to Hueman's Vice President of Great Customer Experiences, Brianna Schumacher, Hueman's recruitment managers and recruiters keep task forces and groups in place for our partners so they can continue with "business as usual." We take the weight off hospital administration and allow the day-to-day talent acquisition tasks to carry out effectively.

Interested in learning how to create, implement, and maintain a float pool? Contact us to learn how we can sustain your organization's hiring needs in times of crisis.

Hueman's Nurse Traveler Reduction Program will lower or eliminate your premium labor costs by filling openings with full-time employees. We leverage value-based hiring strategies, top-tier technology, and the expertise of our recruiters to find qualified nurses while saving you money.