There are several layers that make up a successful contingent staffing program at a Healthcare Organization; some more quantifiable than others. Understanding staffing needs, choosing correctly between a VMS and MSP, and engagement are all-important pieces to a larger puzzle. However, there are some more measurable ways to monitor the success of a program.
We surveyed a number of our team members to take a look at what metrics their most successful programs looked at on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis in order to better understand what makes a successful program tick. Here is what we’ve found.
1. Know Your Usage
This may seem obvious at first glance; that a successful contingent-staffing program keeps track of its contingent usage and spend. However, there are a few specific things that our most successful programs reviewed on a regular basis. These programs took a hard look at both the total number of hours at each unit along with the total spend during that same timespan. Often times these numbers were reviewed as monthly and even yearly trends. Programs that better understand their usage trends are able to make more strategic permanent hiring decisions, or find similarities in high-spend areas that allowed for a proactive approach to unit management.
2. Fill Rates Plus
One of the most basic metrics that a good VMS or MSP provides to any Healthcare Organization should be their contingent fill rates. Obviously high fill rates are desirable, but our most successful programs went deeper than this surface-level understanding. They took a look at what I have dubbed “Fill Rates Plus,” or those metrics that correspond to fill rates in a number of ways
A. Number of Confirmations per Order: Successful programs understand that the more applications you have to a position, not only are you more likely to fill that position, but you are also more likely to fill that position with a quality candidate. Reviewing the number of Confirmations per Order allows programs to take a look why certain Order types or certain Units are having success, while others may be falling behind.
B. Average Times: Not many things can derail a contingent staffing program faster than not giving your vendors enough time to meet your needs. This is why our successful programs track two timing metrics: Average Lead Time and Average Time to Fill. These two metrics and are certainly related and can help aware leaders understand Fill Rates on a higher level. Average Lead Time is the time between when an order is created from when and order is set to begin. Average Time to Fill is the time from when an order is created to when it is finally booked. The successful programs are seeing Fill Times shorter than Lead Times, and are seeing Fill Times far out in advance from where the order start date is set.
3. Be Informed and Be Flexible — With Rates
Lastly, by and large our most successful programs are acutely aware of trends in national and regional rates for the kinds of staff they are looking to bring into their staffing programs. Vendors are always looking out for rate changes in order to get their candidates the best deals. Those programs that adjust with market trends are much more successful at bringing in high-quality candidates. Not only are they using rates to better position themselves in competition with other Healthcare Organizations, but just the very fact that a program is paying attention to trends is often a big draw for vendors who are often looking for a client that understands their needs as well.
