Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1471343
37 HEALTHCARE NEWS 37 Companies should brace for a culture of quitting By Georgina Gonzalez O rganizations should prepare themselves for a continuation of quits as a new culture of quitting becomes the norm as the annual quit rate stands to jump up nearly 20 per- cent from annual pre pandemic levels, according to Gartner. The pre pandemic average for quits stood at 31.9 million, but that figure could rise to 37.4 million this year, said executive consultancy Gartner in an April 28 news release. "An individual organization with a turnover rate of 20 percent before the pandemic could face a turnover rate as high as 24 percent in 2022 and the years to come," Piers Hudson, senior direc- tor in the Gartner HR practice said in the news release. "For example, a workforce of 25,000 em- ployees would need to prepare for an additional 1,000 voluntary departures." The reason for the likely increase in quits is new flexibility in work arrangements and employees' higher expectations, according to Gartner. A mis- alignment between leaders and workers is also contributing to the attrition. "Organizations must look forward, not backward, and design a post-pandemic employee experi- ence that meets employees' changing expecta- tions and leverages the advantages of hybrid work," said Mr. Hudson. n Travel nurses see abrupt pay drops, canceled contracts By Molly Gamble S teady COVID-19 hospitalizations and the meltdown of pandemic relief funding are contributing to substantially lower demand for travel nurses, including lower pay and canceled contracts, NBC News reported May 8. e reporting comes from Hannah Norman with Kaiser Health News, who found national demand for registered nurse travelers dropped by a third in the month leading up to April 10, according to data from staffing agency Aya Healthcare. When Oregon's governor rescinded the COVID-19 state of emergency April 1, Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland lost funding for close to 100 travel nurses. e loss of funds, lower COVID-19 rates and more full-time hires has created a different labor landscape for now, John Hunter, MD, CEO of OHSU Health, told KHN. e hospital has negotiated contract rates with its travel nurse agency down as much as 50 percent in recent weeks. e report includes experiences of travel nurses in different states who have seen sudden pay drops mid-contract or the revocation of contracts completely. "One lady packed up her whole family and was canceled during orientation," one travel nurse told KHN. Cancellations or changes to travel nurse pay mid-contract have grown frequent enough for a law firm to consider legal action against more than 35 staffing agencies. Attorney Austin Moore with national firm Stueve Siegel Hanson said some agencies are "breaching their contracts" while others are "committing outright fraud" in abrupt changes to existing travel nursing contracts. Mr. Moore said contracts' fine print can vary, but that when a staffing agency cancels a contract at the last minute or gives a nurse one or two days to consider a lower rate, the agency is oen breaching a contract — agencies should shoulder the loss when hospitals request lower rates, not the nurses. "Our phones are ringing off the hook," Mr. Moore told KHN. "Nobody has expe- rienced it like this — historically, contracts have been honored." n