Shortage of nurses Katri Vuorisalo hit 12,500 euros to take a job – Competition for nurses is accelerating to unprecedented proportions

“Time a hard sum, ”thought the nurse Katri Vuorisalo on hearing about the € 12,500 Salla bonus. Attendo launched it in the fall to attract staff to its nursing homes in Salla.

You will receive the full bonus after working at Salla for two years.

Vuorisalo was ready to take a longer wash. He had resigned from his permanent job in Oulu earlier this year and did gigs as an employee of a rental company in Salla, among other places.

“Desire for change, better the world, and better pay,” he lists the reasons for his great solution.

Attendon The Salla bonus is one example of the means that companies and municipalities have put in place to attract care staff to work.

Efforts must be made to attract staff, especially in small and remote municipalities, where there are not enough applicants but a large proportion of the aging population and carers are needed.

In addition to the Salla bonus, the Kemijärvi bonus has recently been introduced: Attendo promises two thousand euros a year to every caregiver starting in Kemijärvi.

Coronaria, which operates in Posio, again announced a thousand-euro move. You get it when you move to Posio as a caregiver.

Municipalities and associations of municipalities have also come up with incentives. Siun sote in North Karelia just released the One Own Day a Week model. It allows health center doctors to spend a day a week developing their own work.

A new housing benefit is being marketed in Salla. A caregiver moving to the municipality may live in the municipality’s apartment for the first three months in kind.

Will help means? It’s hard to answer more broadly at this point, but at least Attendo’s spectacular Salla bonus produced a skewed stack of applications.

“The search started at the beginning of October, and so far there have been 60 applications and numerous inquiries from all over Finland. There are already five nurses selected, ”says Attendo’s recruitment coordinator Jonna Kanto.

Attendo previously tried smaller bonus money in Salla, but it had no effect. Salla has also had one of the most difficult places to recruit for Attendo.

“Yes, that money is a carrot, if the person has already considered moving to Lapland,” says Kanto.

These reflectors has been increasing during the pandemic. However, not everyone is staying permanently.

Director of Social and Health Salla Annukka Marjalan according to about a third of the caregivers in the municipality today have a changing population. The situation has changed dramatically in a couple of years.

“Some will go downhill in the spring and then leave. Sometimes the conditions in Lapland are surprising. It is not romantic to shovel snow in the frost, ”Marjala describes.

KatrI VUORISALO know not to be surprised.

“I’m 43 years old, and I know myself. I know what I’m up to, ”he says.

Vibrant to try everything new – that’s what Vuorisalo always says. When the life situation allowed for a change in my career, I had to seize it.

“It happened to us that the spouse who was working in the factory got transferred to Turku. The child was an adult, and I was wondering what to do. I decided to resign because it seemed to the temporary nurse to have temporary work in the dark of the clouds, ”says Vuorisalo.

The shortage of caregivers in the northern small towns touches him. “It’s sad to think of those units of the elderly, the mentally handicapped, the mentally rehabilitated there. If no caregivers are available, what about residents and employees? ” he ponders.

Sallan the need for nursing staff in the municipality is still acute.

“We are looking for nurses and psychology,” Marjala describes.

Due to the situation, the municipality has tried to develop the division of labor so that there is a flexible transition from one unit to another. Supervisors also occasionally work for their subordinates. Retirees have been recruited back to work, and recruitment companies have been used as a last resort.

“We have to use firms when there is no other option. Temporary workers work for one to three months. The permanent places are always there on the sidelines, ”Marjala describes.

For a municipality, a temporary worker becomes more expensive. For example, the salary of a nurse through a rental company is 300–500 euros higher than that of a municipality’s own employee.

Caregivers among others, the managing director of Suomen Kotilääkäripalvelu oy, which leases Salla Jani Korpela says the Korona era changed the field of activity. In the past, the company mainly cared for doctors – now also nurses.

According to Korpela, the core issue is that there is no willingness to move permanently to sparsely populated areas in sparsely populated areas.

“We don’t take anyone there to live or live, we take them to a gig. People leave for a fixed period, perhaps because of a better level of earnings and perhaps because they receive management and support from the company for their work, ”Korpela describes.

Municipal their own opportunities to attract carers by raising wages are limited.

“Municipalities cannot afford it. If a salary is raised from one occupational group, it must be raised from all. The recruitment bonus is the one that is used when it is difficult, ”says Marjala.

He would also consider the outlying areas for the worst carers.

“This year we see an unprecedented salary competition,” Marjala predicts.

This could be due to the fact that the new caregiver dimension took effect in enhanced service housing for the elderly.

The number of employees required for round-the-clock care increased from the current 0.55 employees per client to 0.6 at the turn of the year. In 2023, the personnel dimension will be 0.7 employees per customer.

The Department of Health and Welfare (THL) will evaluate when the law enters into forcethat approximately 4,400 additional nurses are needed to achieve the 0.7 target. The total number of staff for round-the-clock care is now about 38,500.

Recruitment problems may, according to THL, force units to reduce their customer numbers in order to achieve statutory sizing.

“Every week, we innovate what we come up with for the shortage of nurses,” says Attendo’s Regional Director for Northern Finland. Minna Hirvaskoski. Among other things, a separate pool is being developed so that you do not have to resort to rental companies.

Vuorisalo wanted to help for many reasons, but it was clear that his salary had to go up as well.

And it rose sharply – Vuorisalo has received six euros more per hour for temporary work than in his previous regular job on the private side. With the Salla bonus, the salary will increase a little more than that.

“It simply came to our notice then. Yes, the banknotes help to cope, ”says Vuorisalo.

Situation however, Vuorisalo thinks it is boring for permanent staff.

“It scared and horrified at first how the permanent staff feel. However, I have always been very well received. You have to go with a humble mind. You can’t go braces, ”says Vuorisalo.

In his new job in Salla, Vuorisalo also works night shifts. As a temporary worker, they have been left out. “I’ve been too expensive,” he notes.

Attendo pays the Salla bonus in installments every six months. Vuorisalo plans to work for the full two years needed for the bonus.

Time will not be long in Salla, Vuorisalo is sure of that. He does not go downhill skiing, but his mind returns to nature. “Sausages for backpacks and Sallatunturi sheds,” he plans.

As co-workers In Salla, Vuorisalo also receives six Filipino nurses.

According to Hirvaskoski, more caregivers from the Philippines are definitely needed in Finland, but they alone will not save the care of the elderly.

“Innovation in recruitment just needs to continue. Whether it’s money or what it is – actors in small communities need to join forces in this work so that people can spend their old age at home and don’t have to move out, ”says Hirvaskoski.