The minimum wage is increasing by £1.42 in April, to £11.44. It’s a significant change for both businesses and individuals, representing a 9.8% increase. This equates to a pay rise of just under £2,000 per annum, based on a 37-hour working week.

But the minimum wage change will affect far more people than just those on the minimum wage. To successfully attract and retain good, long-serving individuals, healthcare businesses will need to adapt their pay structures for all levels.

This change is significant enough that it will trickle uphill. Those comfortably above the minimum wage are also expecting a significant increase.

What’s your business’s strategy for this?

How will your business find this extra money without it impacting profits or quality of care?

Our suggested strategy is to commit to replacing any overuse of expensive and inconsistent healthcare temp or agency supply, with your own perm team. You can achieve this by taking advantage of an opportunity to lead the market with your permanent salary offering. It might feel like an ambitious or bold approach, but the savings on temp fees should vastly overpower the wage hike for your loyal and consistent permanent team.

The net result? Overall cost reductions AND a more stable, consistent, and contented workforce. It’s about finding the sweet spot of having enough temp reliance to cover seasonal or other variances as a business advantage, but never going beyond that strategic need.

I believe that fortune will favour those organisations that choose to go bold with salary increases, while offsetting that cost (and a good deal more) through reducing temp and agency usage.

But salary enhancements aren’t the whole answer to attracting these additional perm hires. You need a recruitment and marketing strategy to drive that talent to your organisation.

We’re here to help you achieve this. Appoint Healthcare is a ‘Perm Only’ recruitment agency, and our purpose is to help organisations like yours move away from unnecessary and costly temp provision, in favour of having your own talented team. Our perm fees will be insignificant in comparison to the money saved on temp costs. Our service options should represent a no-brainer decision for organisations that have an over-reliance on temp staff.

Wrap-Up

Your perm salary costs are likely to increase significantly, regardless. All you have to do is go a short distance further, to really stand out here. Take this opportunity to go bold. Lead the market on lower-level salaries while partnering with a proven and specialist perm healthcare recruiter. And see your overall costs decrease.

Or… You could just do what everyone else will do. Take the pain of the enforced increase in the minimum wage on top of all the other cost increases. The choice is yours.

BOOK A CALL

Want to discuss this further with us? Book a strategy call to discuss your own business’ needs. https://appointhealthcare.com/book-a-discovery-call-simon/