Samaritan approves wage increase, effective Sunday

MOSES LAKE — Samaritan Healthcare employees, except hospital administrators and staff physicians, will receive a 3.5% raise, effective Oct. 30. Hospital commissioners approved a recommendation made by administrators at the regular commission meeting Tuesday.

Steve Brooks, Samaritan’s chief human resources officer, said the raise will help retain current staff and make Samaritan a more attractive alternative in the search for employees.

“We’re going to make sure we’re competitive with the local market,” he said.

Brooks estimated the pay increase would cost Samaritan about $149,000 per month on an annualized basis. It would add up to about $1.8 million per year.

“The long and short is a 3.5% increase across the board, except for senior leadership and the medical staff,” said Samaritan CEO Theresa Sullivan.

Brooks said the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is making an already-tight healthcare labor market even more challenging.

“Where we already had a problem with healthcare worker availability, now we’re facing even greater challenges, and people are really considering the amount of stress (involved in) the job and is it really where they want to be with their career,” Brooks said.

Currently, Samaritan has about 80 job openings, with the majority of the unfilled jobs on the nursing staff. The lack of staff has an effect in all departments, even small ones. Brooks cited job openings in the lab as an example.

As of Thursday, there were four openings for lab technicians, he said, which doesn’t sound like a lot. The lab, however, employs about 14 people, he said, so four unfilled positions have a big impact.

In addition, jobs are open longer. Brooks said typically it takes Samaritan about 40 days to hire someone to fill an open job; now it’s taking 50 to 54 days.

“As a result of that crunch for talent, you’re seeing wages really spike across the nation,” he said. “Specifically in Washington state, you’re seeing wage increases (of) 10 to 12%.”

The 3.5% raise will be in addition to raises already scheduled for Samaritan workers in 2023, or that are expected to be part of contracts that are currently in negotiations.

Samaritan is in the second year of a three-year contract with the union representing nurses, and under the terms of the contract, nurses will get a 4% raise in 2023. The contract with the union representing many other employees is scheduled for negotiations next summer. Right now, that contract calls for a 2% wage increase, but Brooks said hospital administrators will be reviewing that.

“We’re going to go back, look at more data, and do some targeted market adjustments, and also some minimum wage adjustments to make our entry-level positions more competitive,” Brooks said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.