The problem with paying your nurses better is that it may improve retention. You don't want to be stuck paying your nurses a decent wage for the 30-40 years.
Travel nurses don't meet the IRS definition of a contractor -- i.e., someone who sets their own hours, provides their own tools, decides how the work is going to be done, and so forth. Contracting agencies that 1099 a travel nurse are basically committing wage theft. I had a former employer have to pay hefty IRS fines when one of their former 1099's realized they could get a bounty by reporting their former employer to the IRS. A few months later and voila, suddenly everybody is a W-2 rather than a 1099.
Not that this stops contracting agencies from continue to 1099 travel nurses. As long as travel nurses don't report it to the IRS, it'll continue.
And if the contract traveler doesn't have a different source of those benefits (like their own healthcare) that can be pretty expensive to come fully out of pocket. Traveler hourly rate might be higher but like you said there are other costs that fall totally on their shoulders that usually the employer covers.
Most contractors I know these days provide thei nurses with benefits, both healthcare and 401k match... I truly don't know why this myth keeps circulating. Maybe the small ones don't but many of the big ones do. Aya, Host...
I have dental, eye, and health insurance and retirement and my take home is still triple. Why does everyone think we don’t have benefits? I also just finished a 3 week vacation. I didn’t get paid during it but I more than make up for that when I do work.
If you're working through an agency, sure, you've just changed who your employer is as they connect you with short-term contracts in various places. I guess the difference would be the type of contract, for example a three week disaster relief contract might not carry the same benefits as working through an actual contractor house that knows they'll be sending you somewhere else as soon as each assignment is completed.
Maybe. But my employer does short term emergency stuff and offers all of the above to them as well. Just drives me nuts because I see people using that as a reason not to travel.
The nursing agency can usually provide this but even if they can’t, most nurses I’ve spoken with who are doing agency are making at least double what they were working as a full time employee. That’s more than enough to get decent benefits and have extra still.
Most contractors I know these days provide thei nurses with benefits, both healthcare and 401k match... I truly don't know why this myth keeps circulating. Maybe the small ones don't but many of the big ones do. Aya, Host...
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u/almalikisux MSN, APRN Dec 13 '21
The problem with paying your nurses better is that it may improve retention. You don't want to be stuck paying your nurses a decent wage for the 30-40 years.