The Power of Self-Scheduling: Frontline Nurses’ Insights and Perspectives to Achieve Staffing Flexibility

Abstract

The nursing workforce is in a crisis, and workforce flexibility for nurses is a promising solution to alleviating the crisis. Despite alignment on the importance of flexibility, frontline nurses and health care executives define workforce flexibility differently. A survey of 500 nurses was completed to understand how frontline nurses define and perceive flexibility through a variety of flexible work arrangements. Recommendations for improving nursing workforce flexibility include increasing flexible work practices and offerings such as self-scheduling, part-time work, per-diem, and internal gig work.