A spike in the increase of open staff positions in Northern Health over the last quarter isn't necessarily cause for alarm, said the head of the health authority's board.
According to a report on recruitment, a total of 367 staff members left the organization in the first four months of 2013, including full-time, part-time and casual employees. Almost half of those - 166 - came from the northern interior, including Prince George.
Board chair Charles Jago warned that a large portion of those departures didn't necessarily happen in the months reported - especially the jump in March- but were reflected as part of a twice-yearly human resources purge of inactive casual worker files.
"I feel it's still a significant number, but until I see a full year or a couple of years I'm not going to draw much by way of hard conclusions from that," Jago said, adding he was alarmed when he first saw the numbers without explanation.
The all-day, every day nature of health care service delivery means the health authority is very dependent on a casual workforce, said CEO Cathy Ulrich.
"The casual workforce is a transient workforce, not one that you necessarily retain for long periods of time. They either move into full-time employment or they relocate at some point or they decide to discontinue work," she said.
According to exit interviews, the top reasons employees gave for leaving were retirements, career opportunities, benefits and pay, their relationship with their supervisor or peers and relocation.
The number of job vacancies in the northern interior rose slightly last quarter to 2.6 per cent of all budgeted positions from 2.2 per cent. The small uptick was consistent with increased vacancies in other regions within Northern Health. The interior continues to have the lowest unfilled job rate of the regions, behind the northwest (5.8 per cent) and northeast (6.8 per cent).
However, the number of health sciences vacancies in the northern interior are higher than in other regions, while the number of open nursing positions are lower. Physiotherapists, pharmacists and speech language pathologists account for most of the open spots in the interior.
Across the entire health authority, nursing has the highest unfilled rate at 6.5 per cent followed by health sciences at 5.1 per cent; excluded positions at 4.7 per cent; community workers 2.8 per cent and facilities workers 2.2 per cent.
While there is a natural turnover in employment, Ulrich said the goal is to retain people in the north and that there are a variety of strategies underway.
"I think there's a number of issues that play into this and it's going to take a partnership with communities and Northern Health," she said. "Because when we recruit somebody, it isn't just to the job, it's also to the community."
