Pay rise announcement boosts healthcare staff retention

Recent Government pay rise announcements have helped healthcare employers to retain their key staff. That’s according to new research from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo), the trade association for the professional recruitment sector. 

The data, provided by the world’s largest network of job boards, Broadbean Technology, reveals that there was a 48% month-on-month fall in application numbers in July, something that could be attributed to the news that healthcare workers, amongst other public sector professionals, will see pay rises. This could be a promising sign that some healthcare workers are staying in their roles and retention levels for employers will start to improve.

Despite this glimmer of positivity, APSCo’s data does suggest that healthcare employers are still struggling to fill roles with the available talent in the market. Consequently, robust recruitment and retention strategies will be crucial.

Ann Swain, Global CEO, APSCo, commented:

“While it’s no secret that the healthcare sector has faced skills shortages for some time now, the fall in applications that we saw in July isn’t perhaps the negative issue we might initially believe. With the public sector pay rises announced last month, this fall in people looking to move jobs is indicative of an uptick in staff retention. However, that doesn’t change the fact that healthcare simply doesn’t have access to enough skills. Retaining workers is only one-half of the issue. Attracting staff is also critically important and if the level of demand that we’re seeing in the UK is to be met, we need to have globally viable access to resources.”