Patients and healthcare providers depend on laboratories to run tests and provide results quickly. Quality healthcare requires reliable and professional laboratory staff. If your lab faces staffing issues, hiring traveling staff could be a solution that allows your lab to continue to assist physicians. Take a good look at the pros and cons of hiring traveling laboratory staff.
Pro: Hire from a Larger Pool of Candidates
When you hire traveling staff, geographical proximity doesn’t limit your options for candidates. Tap into a larger pool of potential hires and find the best fit for your needs. With expanded options, you can fill positions faster with candidates who possess the right skills and experience.
Con: Face Challenges in Building Rapport
Since traveling staff do not stay in one laboratory for long, it can be difficult to build rapport between them and others. Just as with all work relationships, a sense of community can positively affect the interactions laboratory workers have between each other and with management members. To avoid communication problems down the road, take the time to learn about your traveling staff and make them comfortable.
Pro: Fill Seasonal Positions and Tricky Shifts
If your laboratory experiences some especially busy times, you can hire travel staff to fill the gap. Their contracts can run for the length of the season, ending when workloads return to normal. This saves your regular lab staff stress and keeps labs running at the right pace. Traveling workers are often more willing to work flexible hours. This can be great if your business operates around the clock or if you need help with difficult-to-staff hours.
Con: Overcome Potentially Steeper Learning Curves
Traveling staff might not be familiar with the way that your laboratory does things. You might have to give them more attention to help them understand and adhere to your procedures. Fortunately, traveling laboratory workers are familiar with this process of strengthening their skills in new environments.
Pro: Benefit from Broad Career Experience
While you might have to spend time helping traveling staff learn your lab’s particular methods, traveling staff also bring knowledge from a broad range of career experiences. This means the employee’s lack of adherence to your lab’s specific methods can be both a pro and a con of hiring traveling laboratory staff. Since traveling lab staff fill positions in a variety of facilities, they become accustomed to different workplace norms and techniques. They can rejuvenate your laboratory or do jobs others might not be able to do.
Let Lighthouse Lab Services Help
Lighthouse Lab Services is the nation’s leading medical laboratory consulting and recruiting firm. We provide the best clinical lab services, including helping you grow your laboratory’s capabilities.
Lighthouse Lab Services connects traveling lab staff members with a recruiter who acts as their point of contact through every assignment. Let our team of experienced experts help your laboratory reach its potential.