RepuStaff

This is a question I have pondered on more than one occasion during my career in the staffing industry.  Obviously, the answer to this question is different depending upon the person you ask.  Since I am currently working with Physical Therapists and Occupational Therapists in Indiana, I must address the answers to this question from their perspective in this blog. 

Everyone by now has felt the effects of the recession.  I know I have!  This seems to be affecting employees’ perception of job stability.  When the economy is booming, it seems that therapists applying for contract positions want the ‘stability’ of an inflated paycheck.  I think most of us have come to see that contract positions tend to pay higher rates than staff therapist positions.  For many therapists, companies like RepuStaff even guarantee their pay every week!  How’s that for stability?!  Higher pay AND guaranteed money??  Sign me up!  But in the current economic conditions, it seems the tides have changed.  In my recruiting efforts, I have found that higher pay isn’t necessarily the most enticing aspect of employment to Allied Health Professionals.  Physical and Occupational Therapists, at least the ones I have been speaking with, want to know that they have a place to go to work every day.  The SAME place every day.  Many are taking salary cuts to leave a contract position for a “permanent” position as a staff therapist.  (Permanent is in quotations because there is no such thing as a “permanent job”!)

It is my job as a staffing industry professional to change the perception that Physical and Occupational Therapists have about “contract” therapist positions.  It is time for a “Cultural Revolution”!  As you may have already gathered from other posts to this blog, many Contract Therapists enjoy the best of both worlds, so to speak.  They have job stability AND higher pay than staff therapists!  They are “permanent” employees of their company, the “contract” company.  They are deployed to different facilities within an agreed upon driving distance from their homes.  The length of the deployment may vary; 13 weeks is the “norm”.  They are assigned a “Staffing Consultant” at their company who is responsible for their schedule.  It is that person’s only job and responsibility to make sure that the therapist is working their desired schedule.  Think about it this way…..if the therapist is not working, how is the contract company making money???  Contract staffing companies are in the business of placing people into jobs, for what purpose???  TO MAKE MONEY!  Isn’t that the reason anyone goes into business???  So it is easy to see that it is in the best interest of the contract company to keep its therapists working a desirable schedule.  The more hours the therapist is deployed, the more revenue coming in for the company.  It really is a win/win situation!  The Allied Health professional gets a great job with a great company behind them and the company gets to make money to stay in business in order to find jobs for other therapists.  Funny how that works! 

So the next with you hear someone talking about the “instability” of their job, send them to this blog.

Thanks for reading!