The demand for skilled allied health professionals remains high, which makes finding and retaining talent a persistent struggle. Healthcare employers, often at their wit’s end working to build stable teams, are looking beyond traditional recruiting and staffing models to engage and employ strong allied health staff. That includes the emerging staffing co-op model in which workers are not just employees but also part owners.
Considering co-op staffing or a traditional model to improve your allied health hiring results? Both approaches offer unique benefits, and the best choice depends on your specific talent needs. To help you decide, here’s an overview of how each staffing model works and what sets them apart. Use the information to determine if one approach, the other, or perhaps a blend of both, is the right fit for your workforce.
Traditional Healthcare Staffing Model: An Overview
Traditional healthcare staffing agencies operate as intermediaries between healthcare facilities and job-seeking professionals. These agencies maintain a pool of allied health candidates and work to match them with open positions at various healthcare facilities.
How It Works: Healthcare facilities (such as hospital systems, care networks, skilled nursing facilities, or health clinics) contact a staffing agency or group of staffing agencies with their talent needs. They specify the required qualifications, experience, and duration of the assignment. The agency then searches its databases and talent networks for suitable candidates, conducts interviews, and performs background checks. Once matches are found, the agency places the allied health professionals at the healthcare facility for a contracted period of time. The healthcare facility pays the staffing agency, which is responsible for compensating the healthcare professional.
What It Offers:
- Scalability: Staffing agencies offer flexibility in scaling staffing levels up or down based on patient volume and seasonal needs.
- Access to Wide Talent Pools: Agencies typically have a large database of proven candidates, providing access to a broad range of skills and experience. In addition their recruiters are skilled at finding talent when a match is not found from their existing rosters.
- Reduced Administrative Burden: The agency handles recruitment, screening, and payroll, reducing the administrative burden on the healthcare facility.
- Temporary Coverage: Agencies are useful for filling temporary vacancies due to employee leave, illness, or sudden departures.
Potential Drawbacks:
- Higher Costs: Traditional staffing agencies often charge high markups to cover their operational costs and generate profits for shareholders.
- Lower Employee Retention: Contract or temporary staff may have less loyalty and commitment to the facility, leading to higher turnover rates.
- Limited Input: Healthcare professionals placed through traditional agencies often have little say in company policies or decision-making.
The Allied Health Co-op Model: An Overview
An allied healthcare staffing co-op is a worker-owned organization (partially or fully depending on the business) that provides talent solutions to healthcare facilities while prioritizing the well-being and professional growth of its members. Who are the worker members? The healthcare professionals themselves. A staffing co-op operates similarly to a traditional agency in that it connects healthcare professionals with employers. However, the key difference lies in its ownership structure and purpose.
How It Works: An allied health co-op is owned and sometimes governed by its worker-members, depending on its structure. Worker members have a say in major decision-making and profit distribution. As with a traditional staffing firm, an employer will reach out with a hiring need. That need is then filled from the pool of allied health member workers within the co-op. The co-op pays worker members, provides benefits and also reinvest some earnings into member programs, such as career training.
What it Offers:
- Higher Retention: Allied health co-op members earn fair wages, receive comprehensive benefits, and feel a strong sense of belonging as a part of their worker-member community. This can lead to greater connection, job satisfaction, and retention.
- Better-Qualified Talent: By investing in member programs and training, co-ops ensure that the healthcare facilities receive highly skilled and motivated professionals.
- Increased Commitment: Co-op members have a direct ownership stake in their workplace performance, making them more loyal and engaged.
- Balanced Pricing: Rather than focusing on shareholder profits, co-ops aim to provide cost-effective and competitive hiring solutions by reinvesting earnings into operations and worker benefits.
Potential Drawbacks:
- Newer Model: The co-op staffing model is relatively new compared to traditional agencies, so healthcare facilities may have less familiarity with it.
- Scalability Considerations: While co-ops can also scale staff up or down with great efficiency, the process can sometimes differ from traditional agencies due to elements like geography (some co-ops may be dedicated to a region).
| Traditional Healthcare Staffing | Healthcare Staffing Co-op | |
| Ownership | Privately or publicly owned, focused on shareholder/owner profits. | Worker-owned and governed, focused on member well-being. |
| Purpose | Connecting professionals with employers for a fee. | Delivering exceptional value to employers by prioritizing worker-members |
| Employee Input | No voice in company policies or decision-making. | Members have a voice and vote in major decision-making and profit distribution. |
| Profit Distribution | Profits primarily benefit shareholders and owners/ executives. | Earnings reinvested into member programs, benefits, training, and profit sharing. |
| Retention | Typically lower rates of retention due to contract or temporary nature. | Generally higher due to better wages, benefits, and sense of belonging. |
| Skill Development | Most staffing firms are focused on placement and few invest in the upskilling or reskilling of its talent pool. | Member-ownership often means an ownership team committed to investment in skill development, workplace training, and career growth. |
Both traditional healthcare staffing agencies and allied healthcare co-ops offer valuable hiring and workforce support to healthcare facilities. The choice between the two often comes down to specific needs, the priorities of the organization, and values alignment.
The more common staffing model may be today’s default but the co-op model is gaining traction as the focus on retaining and supporting worker needs becomes a deciding factor in contingent employment decision making. On top of that, many of today’s workers, (especially the newest workforce entrants) are seeking connection and purpose in their professional lives. Having the community and responsibility of part-ownership offers a deeper way to engage.
For employers, the best way to build a topnotch allied health workforce is to explore all the options and consider trying both when the opportunity arises. A comparison chart offers some important clarifications, but a trial run with each model is a great way to figure out what works for your organization and the people you place in your jobs. If you’re ready to learn more, connect with AlliedUP today.
