Northern Ontario hospital offering $2K referral bonus for hard-to-fill jobs

KIRKLAND LAKE — A Northern Ontario hospital is shaking up the recruitment game by offering a $2,000 reward to anyone worldwide who successfully refers a new employee for hard-to-fill positions.

Jorge VanSlyke, president and CEO of Blanche River Health, announced on July 11 that the new community incentive program is part of its efforts to recruit doctors, nurses and other health care workers. 

“Recruitment and retention of employees for any organization is no longer just the organization's responsibility. It really takes a whole community’s worth of support to make this happen. And this is what we're trying to do is to make our business the community's business because we need everybody,” VanSlyke said.

The positions currently eligible for the $2,000 referral incentive are for diagnostic imaging technologists, nurse practitioners, registered dieticians, registered nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, physicians and physiotherapists.

VanSlyke said people applying for jobs in eligible roles will be asked whether they were referred to the position and by who.

“We've also made it simpler for people instead of filling out a form or, you know, going through a lengthy process. How we are doing it is that whoever is a successful hire, they are the ones we're asking who referred you to Blanche River Health, and then whoever they say, that's who we are offering the incentive to,” she said.

Once the successful candidate completes their probationary period or hourly threshold, the person who made the referral will receive a $1,000 cheque from Blanche River Health. A second payment of $1,000 will be made on the employee’s one-year anniversary.   

VanSlyke said when she came on board Blanche River Health last year, they were racking their brains on how to expand their recruitment reach.

“One of the things we did was form a physician recruitment and retention committee. We were focusing on the physicians because we went from 12 to five, so we are really struggling. One of the strategies that we identified is why don't we increase the incentives to the community,” she said.

“At first, the communities that we were talking about were Kirkland Lake, Englehart, like our area, but then we were like, we'll take it a step further. Does it really matter where the referral source comes from? You know, you want anybody and everybody to talk about Blanche River Health as a place to go. And so we expanded it to you can be anywhere in the world and you can refer to us.”

SEE: Kirkland Lake, Englehart looking to recruit, retain doctors

VanSlyke said she’s heard of other similar community referral incentives among other municipalities within the province, but she doesn’t think “it’s the same mechanics.”

“And I don't know if the referral incentive has actually gone out of their own communities. I'm not sure of that. So, it’s like taking a concept and then just making it our own, because, again, does it really matter if you're in Jamaica or Hawaii,” she said.

The lack of health care professionals continues to impact the region, VanSlyke said.

“I will speak for Blanche River Health, but I know that my sentiments are echoed all throughout the region and in fact, the province. But especially in the north, the lack of all these positions is really difficult,” she said.

“We still have a lot of agents to support which we need, but at the same time, it's costing us three or four times the normal cost of staffing in our areas. And with all the temporariness and transition, it's hard to talk about quality improvement, quality of care, when you're always giving orientation, and people are scrambling to find their footing. Right. It's been a challenging world, I would say especially so after the pandemic.”

A list of roles that are eligible for the referral incentive can be found on Blanche River Health’s website here.