Staffing

As of May 21, all of the original 32 vacant scheduling clerk positions have now been filled. There are five additional positions posted (4 full FTEs and 1 casual) related to internal movement of staff.

Of the 32 positions filled, 12 started in their roles May 16, 6 will be ‘working in position’ by June 2, and 2 will be ‘working in position’ July 3 and July 16, respectively. Additional staff who have previously worked as scheduling clerks and do not require training will start ‘working in position’ May 23.

We continue to do well with recruitment, receiving many applicants for all scheduling positions. Retention is an important area of focus for us, and this is part of the vision for the centralized scheduling office – to improve the work environment and experience for scheduling staff. The goal is to provide oversight, support, supervision, standardize work and expectations, and provide a large group of colleagues to rely on. Standardized shifts – 3 weeks of day shift and 1 week of evenings – are meant to improve work-life balance. Prior to this transition, scheduling clerks were reporting to a leader without scheduling experience, and now are reporting to leaders with scheduling expertise who can provide tailored support. We also have a specific, standardized onboarding process, which has always been in place, and have added specific onboarding for nursing scheduling clerks.

We are always hiring DSS and DSNs on an ongoing basis.

We recently added 30 DSS positions in the fall of 2024, and assess needs on an ongoing basis to determine if additional positions are required.

We have a robust screening and hiring process that includes sourcing resumes based on the posted qualifications. We have focused interview questions and testing, followed by a 2-week orientation complete with testing on skills. This is intended to be augmented with auditing by Resource Coordinators through the shadowing process and ongoing mentoring and coaching.

Requests to increase EFTs are reviewed and considered based on budget, rotation, vacancies and other shifts, and assessed individually based on the area’s needs.

Because of the timing of resignations – many left in mid-to-late March – the challenge was to balance the needs of the HCCSO to the needs of community, and had to review the vacancies and assess as we were transitioning. In hindsight, we could have been better prepared to fill these vacancies quicker.

We are offering shifts to external staff, outside of program or site, but we have to ensure they are able to do the job, meaning we have to onboard and orient all of the nurses who come in. There is also memorandum of agreement between the employer and MNU, which standardizes the offering of shifts and overtime, which we must follow. This process includes PTNT, and we are in active discussion with the PTNT team on how we can bring them onboard. The limiting step is how to orient them to the work, which we are exploring options for.

No, the hiring of HCAs into scheduling positions should not impact client care. Less than 0.78% of HCAs were hired into scheduling positions – 13 out of 1650 – and we continue to actively recruit DSS.

We need some additional context to answer this question – please resubmit through the feedback form with more detail and we will respond.

Yes, we are monitoring and assessing on an ongoing basis.

Nurses will continue to be assigned based on client need.

We recognize how hard everyone is working while we continue to manage staffing shortages. We are close to being fully staffed, which will improve workflows and the scheduling workload, staff are more evenly distributed now through the 24/7 model.

We are committed to continuously accessing the rotations and will make decisions regarding changes based on operational needs and feedback. We recognize how hard everyone is working while we continue to manage staffing shortages. We are close to being fully staffed, which will improve workflows and the scheduling workload.

We can take this way and develop a regular report on vacancies. With regards to recruitment strategies, we have hosted job fairs and engaged with other community areas and groups, like immigration agencies and Red River College Polytech. Some recruitment incentives include: the bridging UHCA program and increased compensation, resulting in an increase in applicants. We also use social media to recruit – through Facebook, LinkedIn and Indeed. We have created recruitment marketing material and promotional material to hand out and it increase community awareness of the program and increase UHCA recruitment. Our nursing vacancy is quite low.

Follow up with their manager first to discuss the issue, then your manager will connect with the shift supervisor to escalate if necessary.

Yes, we are reviewing the process to make picking up shifts simpler for staff.

Newly hired Scheduling Clerks complete two weeks of community scheduling training, which is provided by RC specialists. They also complete three days of nursing skill training by RC specialists. The format for both sections is in-class learning and job shadowing.

The staffing levels have been blended in the transition from 8 hours Monday to Friday to 24/7, so we do have the same amount of Scheduling Clerks, but they are spread out over a longer time period to ensure continuity of service. We also have to adjust what area Scheduling Clerks are assigned to to address staffing issues as needed.

Both existing Nursing Scheduling Clerks who came from community and new hires receive 3 days of in-class training, plus one on one mentorship. If anyone did not receive this/is not scheduled for this, please escalate to your manager

New Scheduling Clerks will get ongoing mentorship from existing scheduling clerks, and they will have dedicated supervisors with knowledge of scheduling who can support them as they gain more confidence in their roles. Community offices are also supporting this work as staff get oriented to their new positions.

There was an error in a posting and when identified, it was immediately corrected. All of the original 32 SC vacancies have been filled.

We’re finalizing the process with PCAs, and will be able to share it this summer.

We have hired 4 0.7s, which should address workload concerns.

The goal is to have no left in visits. We are working on a group page process to ensure nurses see the requests for unfilled shifts that didn’t get captured or filled in AUA. This will come out on Thursdays. We have tried this once and more shifts were picked up, so we hope this process will continue to help address sick calls and in turn workload going forward.