case study

How Deaconess Health System Reduced Incentive Spend and Increased Shift Pickup with Works

DEACONESS HEALTH SYSTEM

ABOUT DEACONESS

20+ Hospitals
40+ Clinics
$1.8B Net Patient Revenue
1,200 Staffed Beds

DEACONESS’ CHALLENGES

Siloed Labor Pools
Unsustainable Labor Cost Increases
Manual Staffing Processes
Misaligned Incentives

DEACONESS’ GOALS

Reduce Skyrocketing Incentive Cost
Decrease Dependency On External Labor
Rightsize Rates And Increase Shift Pickup
Improve Nurse Morale And Retention

SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTED

Centralized Workforce Management Platform
Automated Staffing And Scheduling Processes
AI-Powered Dynamic Shift And Incentive Pricing
User-Friendly Nurse-Facing Scheduling App

Indiana-based Deaconess Health System needed a solution to control escalating labor costs and optimize their nurse staffing strategy. The organization wanted to reduce reliance on external labor, get a handle on premium spend, and improve nurse morale and retention. Siloed labor pools, manual shift rate management, and skyrocketing incentive expectations all contributed to unsustainable staffing costs.

Leaders at Deaconess knew they needed to rethink their approach, and began researching digital workforce management solutions they could leverage to support a more sustainable nurse staffing strategy. They found Works, an AI-powered platform that would allow them to manage nurse staffing through a single, transparent system–rightsizing shift rates, empowering nurses to pickup shifts that worked for them, and automating manual staffing processes.

Deaconess strategically piloted Works within their ICU resource team, a smaller team, to test results. After the implementation period, they saw marked improvement in nurse premium spend, shift pick-up, and staffing efficiency. Today, Deaconess is rolling out Works throughout their system, prioritizing units with the most vacancies and incentive use.

This case study showcases how Works enables Deaconess to streamline workforce management, control nurse staffing costs, and improve nurse satisfaction, ultimately positioning the organization for sustainable growth and operational efficiency.

WHAT Deaconess HAS TO SAY

Works was a way for us to be smart about contingent labor, implement dynamic pricing, and control costs. The platform allowed us to manage shift pricing across the board in a systematic way versus us trying to manually manage it shift by shift, contract by contract.

MELINDA LEBOFSKY

SHRM, Senior VP,
Chief HR Officer

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Expand on demand capacity across your health system using your existing staff with Works.
Request a demo here or email sales@trustedhealth.com and get started in as little as two weeks.

The Need:

Rightsize Shift Pricing and Encourage Shift Pick-Up

Post-pandemic, Deaconess sought a creative solution to control staffing costs and reduce dependence on external labor to maintain safe staffing levels. They relied on external agency staff and an internal agency (where they employed staff at a higher contracted rate) to fill shifts. They wanted to encourage their internal core staff to pick up more shifts, but their old incentive system motivated internal nurses to delay shift pick-up to secure higher rates. Across all labor pools, costs were rising.

“We reached a point where we had to say, what’s our strategy going to be? We wanted to phase out our external agency and convert our internal agency to permanent staff. We wanted to stop feeling held hostage by rates and encourage internal staff to pick up shifts.”
Katie Burnett, MBA, PHR, SHRM-CP, Director of HR Administration said.

Deaconess had tried to manage incentives themselves, but the process was highly manual. They juggled every contractor’s rate, contract length, and terms on an individual basis. Using Works, Deaconess saw an opportunity to streamline and systemize shift rate and nurse scheduling decisions.

The SOLUTION:

A Digital Workforce Management Platform

Works’ reputation for engaged customer service, user-friendly nurse-facing app, and proven track record of reducing contingent labor costs and automating manual processes attracted Deaconess. They chose to strategically pilot Works to integrate their entire nurse workforce into one pool for total, transparent, on-demand workforce management.

Works gives nurses visibility into available shifts and intelligently calculates incentives based on areas of highest need and likelihood of shift pickup. The platform not only automates manual contract management, credentialing, and recruiting tasks, but it also empowers internal nurses to own their schedules and select shifts that work best for them on the Works mobile app.

"Works has allowed us to manage staff appropriately and even the playing field. We still want to treat our nurses well and do the right thing for them, and reward them for picking up shifts, but we want to do it in a sustainable and manageable manner.” Burnett said.

READY TO GET STARTED?

Works connects to the systems you already use, including biweekly payroll data, daily shift scheduling data, and more. Request a demo here or email sales@trustedhealth.com and get started in as little as two weeks.

Key wins

Reduced Burden on Nurse Managers

Managers are not losing sleep filling shifts and navigating manual processes.

Optimized Shift Pricing

Works’ algorithm learns easier vs. harder to fill shifts and adjusts incentives accordingly.

MORE NURSE FLEXIBILITY

Easy nurse-facing app empowers nurses to own their schedule and select shifts.

How Works Helped Deaconess Achieve these Wins

Process Automation

Works moved arduous paper staffing and scheduling processes to automated digital workflows, giving managers time back. After implementing Works, managers are no longer under pressure recruiting for open shifts at 5am. The Works app handles that.