What is your service doing to attract applicants?

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
3,029
664
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For the flight job we are not having an issue with staffing in my area. One of our states is offering up to $10k bonus. We also have some nationwide traveling positions that are offering $30k sign on bonus for a 12-16 month contract.
For my base, they were offering a $7k sign on bonus.

Edit: Bleh, I see I already posted the same thing earlier. Well, in other news, a local ambulance company is now offering a $20k bonus. No part time/per diem openings on their website so I haven't applied. Frustrated that nobody is hiring part time.
 

Wambulance

Forum Probie
21
3
3
Offering nothing. $14/hr and decent benefits, but you can grab an entry-level job in tons of places around here for way more money.
I just gave my notice; tired of short-staffed shifts and constant unanswered tones for coverage because nobody wants to work for us.
 

PotatoMedic

Has no idea what I'm doing.
2,703
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Nothing
 

CbrMonster

Forum Lieutenant
167
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28
Ours is offering jack squat, yet we have to down units for lack of medics, and we are being paid 17$/hr which is about the lowest paying medic job in socal at this point…. Soooo we don’t get anyone
 

Lo2w

Forum Captain
420
195
43
We just raised our rates, Paramedic 57-62k; EMT 47-52k. Healthcare covered by the district for employee and family.
 

MEDicJohn

Forum Crew Member
85
38
18
San Diego Falk was offering a 20k sign on bonus for medics unsure if still applies. From what i was hearing was that they were starting the medics out at 17$ an hour and applying the 20k over the year.
 

CbrMonster

Forum Lieutenant
167
57
28
San Diego Falk was offering a 20k sign on bonus for medics unsure if still applies. From what i was hearing was that they were starting the medics out at 17$ an hour and applying the 20k over the year.
The latest speaking with several of them, experienced medics started at 28$/hr and 12k sign on bonus paid out over 3 years, (300$ a paycheck if I remember the math correctly)
 

EpiEMS

Forum Deputy Chief
3,817
1,145
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We just raised our rates, Paramedic 57-62k; EMT 47-52k. Healthcare covered by the district for employee and family.

Municipal retirement?
 

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
12,098
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Every agency here in Central Pennsylvania has started playing the wage hike game. Average pay for an EMT is now between 19 and $20 an hour and paramedics are starting around 25 an hour. There are big sign on bonuses, almost everyone is doing a recruit academy, big incentives to steal staff from one service for another. IFT agencies are paying upwards of $35 an hour for paramedics just to keep trucks on the road.

It’s not sustainable for the long term.
 

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
6,196
2,052
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Every agency here in Central Pennsylvania has started playing the wage hike game. Average pay for an EMT is now between 19 and $20 an hour and paramedics are starting around 25 an hour. There are big sign on bonuses, almost everyone is doing a recruit academy, big incentives to steal staff from one service for another. IFT agencies are paying upwards of $35 an hour for paramedics just to keep trucks on the road.

It’s not sustainable for the long term.
Wny not? isn't that the definition of supply and demand? if there is a low supply, demand increases, and the open market needs to compensate by raising wage, or stealing people from other agencies.

What it will also mean is that agency heads will need to work with their stakeholders and those who provide funding to the agency, and get additional funding to ensure that the AHJ continues to get the service that it is expecting.

We can debate over artificial adjustments of supply and demand, and the impact of inflation on the long term salaries of prehospital providers another day
 

EpiEMS

Forum Deputy Chief
3,817
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Wages are sticky downwards. I doubt they will be reducing wages any time soon - might be more likely to see hours cut or shift availability reduced first, once supply of providers catches up.
 

Kevinf

Forum Captain
397
171
43
Every agency here in Central Pennsylvania has started playing the wage hike game. Average pay for an EMT is now between 19 and $20 an hour and paramedics are starting around 25 an hour. There are big sign on bonuses, almost everyone is doing a recruit academy, big incentives to steal staff from one service for another. IFT agencies are paying upwards of $35 an hour for paramedics just to keep trucks on the road.

It’s not sustainable for the long term.

I think the wage stagnation is the part that is unsustainable long-term. One of the major municipal 911 services near me (also Central PA) was paying new full-time EMTs $9/hr just a few years ago. I had a long post ready to go, but I think I'd rather summarize it instead.

Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).

As a supervisor level EMT with 8-years in the field, I was making an effective wage of about $21/hr working IFT and about $15/hr working 911. A week into doing parcel delivery as non-supervisor I was making an effective wage of about $29/hr and going home on time every day.

We as a society value getting our junk in the mail as quickly as possible above getting an emergency response as quickly as possible. Lack of funding for the EMS agencies isn't the problem of the EMS providers (or other healthcare providers). They'll just leave... and they are. It's a problem for EMS agencies (and healthcare in general) and society. We need to value the time of our non-unionized first responders and health-care providers more highly.
 
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EpiEMS

Forum Deputy Chief
3,817
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Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).
My favorite example of the consistent undervaluation of EMS is that in NYC, even after the fairly sizeable increases that were granted, DSNY (Sanitation) workers make as much or more than EMTs (not medics, but not far off), and even have a better pension. Not to say that DSNY doesn't work hard, but the level of technical skill required is not analogous, nor is the circumstances of work.
 

CbrMonster

Forum Lieutenant
167
57
28
So I just got an indeed notification:

Falck is offering 20k sign on bonus now
And pay starting between 26-52$/hr

@MEDicJohn sorry for correcting you looks like I was wrong.
 

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
6,196
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1640004752169.jpeg
 

Intothefog

Forum Probie
11
2
3
So I just got an indeed notification:

Falck is offering 20k sign on bonus now
And pay starting between 26-52$/hr

@MEDicJohn sorry for correcting you looks like I was wrong.

Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?
 

ffemt8978

Forum Vice-Principal
Community Leader
11,025
1,475
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Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?
How much of that pay will go to paying the bridge tolls? ;)
 

DrParasite

The fire extinguisher is not just for show
6,196
2,052
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Or would you rather go work across the bay in SF for starting pay at 51+ an hour plus better benefits from the get go working for SFFD?
I have no desire to work for a fire department, But for some that’s exactly what they want.
I'll be honest, for $51 an hour, I'll do it. I'm at the point in my life where having enough $$$ to support my family, and lifestyle is more important than the patch on my arm. Throw in a pension to retire after 20 years, and no SSM, and it's all about a means to an end. If the City's sanitation department ran EMS, paid me $51 an hour with a pension, I'd be game.

Few people in EMS have 30 year year career in them, let alone 30 at the same agency; even fewer have 30 years on the ambulance.
I think the wage stagnation is the part that is unsustainable long-term. One of the major municipal 911 services near me (also Central PA) was paying new full-time EMTs $9/hr just a few years ago. I had a long post ready to go, but I think I'd rather summarize it instead.

Folks in EMS work for it and deserve the higher pay, regardless of what we think of our current education level. There is a lot to the job that we tend to gloss over after working it for years (working holidays; in severe weather; being assaulted on the job; rotating shifts; uncertain hours with mandatory hold-overs, OT, and on-calls; LOTS of other things I can list here that don't apply to other $9/hr jobs).

As a supervisor level EMT with 8-years in the field, I was making an effective wage of about $21/hr working IFT and about $15/hr working 911. A week into doing parcel delivery as non-supervisor I was making an effective wage of about $29/hr and going home on time every day.

We as a society value getting our junk in the mail as quickly as possible above getting an emergency response as quickly as possible. Lack of funding for the EMS agencies isn't the problem of the EMS providers (or other healthcare providers). They'll just leave... and they are. It's a problem for EMS agencies (and healthcare in general) and society. We need to value the time of our non-unionized first responders and health-care providers more highly.
This... all this... 29/hr to deliver mail, vs 15 on a 911 truck... 21/hr working IFT, vs 29/hr doing mail... Most EMS agencies aren't set up as careers, especially the ones that pay $9/hr. For the record, neither is McDonalds; they know people won't stay, so they have no incentive to pay them a decent wage, because their business model is for them to leave and be replaced with more cheap people.

Education is only a small part of the issue... How many paramedics nationwide only have a HS diploma and a paramedic patch? How many will fight a requirement for an AAS in emergency medical science? how many EMS leaders, with a paramedic patch, don't have an AAS in EMS? What studies exist that show the benefit of a degreed paramedic over a patched paramedic, from any perspective? how many providers won't take the AAS, even if their company paid for all of the classes?

Funding is the primary issue... historically, EMS has been a free service, provided by volunteers, funded by donations. But in the last 50-100 years, it's transitioned to a professional career, but is still seen as a free service to the AHJ (hospital based EMS system, volunteer/3rd party non-profit, or the dreaded 0 bid for profit), or an ancillary service that could be ran by the FD or another government entity to bring in some revenue for the town. There is still a lot of hesitancy to pay for it from elected leaders, because no one has pushed the issue. After all, would your ambulance service with 4 ambulances on duty with staff making 10/hr rather go to 8 ambulances on duty with staff making 10/hr, or 4 ambulances on duty making 20/hr?

Most of the EMS agencies around me are raising wages, but their turnover rates are embarrassing. It's getting harder to retain experienced providers, and the good people leave, but the bad people stay. I'm hoping the call volume increases lead to additional funding from the county (who is responsible for EMS in NC), for both raises and additional units, but they are at critical staffing levels on a daily basis... and the FDs have noticed extended response times outside of the city for EMS units... It will be interesting...

I do hope that all EMS services are doing exit interviews with the people who leave, so they can identify what steps they are failing to do to retain their existing staff
 
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