Staff Nursing VS Agency Nursing: Pros and Cons will provide insight for nurses to make better decisions regarding which career path to take. Schedule flexibility, work-life balance and engaging in regular self-care activities are some of the most important issues of today’s nurse. When considering which nursing career pathway to pursue, one should decide what is most important to them regarding these issues. Also – with the increasing demands of our healthcare system – such as COVID-19, continued salary inequities, and lack of autonomy regarding making decisions that best meets the needs of our patients and our profession – nurses are looking for ways to improve their working conditions and job satisfaction. Let’s take a look at the differences among staff nursing versus agency nursing: pros and cons.
Staff nurse positions are usually less flexible in scheduling, but offer stability related to income, benefits and paid time off. Agency nursing can be very flexible in scheduling, however they do not offer benefits or paid time off. There is a lot to consider!
So to help you navigate both staff nursing positions and agency nursing positions, we’ve created this easy list of Staff Nursing VS Agency Nursing: Pros and Cons:
Staff Nursing Pros:
- Stable Income
- PTO & Benefits
- Build Rapport with Colleagues
- Comprehensive Orientation with Mentor/Preceptor
- Facility Provided Continuing Education
- Quickly Adjust to Facility Policy and Protocol
Agency Nursing Pros:
- Higher Pay per hour
- Schedule Flexibility
- Ability to Travel to New Places
- Meet New People
- Learn more about Nursing
- Gain Additional Experiences
- Less involved in facility politics
- Raises and Reviews are based on reputation with agency
Staff Nursing Cons:
- Less Flexible Scheduling
- Increased Work-Duty Demands from Facility Management
- Less Pay per hour
- Inability to Take Vacation When You Want
- Heavily involved in facility politics
- Raises and Reviews are dependent on others
Agency Nursing Cons:
- Hours Not Guaranteed
- No PTO & Benefits
- Limited to No Orientation
- Hours Depend on Patient Census
- Limited Facility Access/Restricted Access
- No Facility Provided Continuing Education
- Possibility of Being Away from Family and Friends During Contracts
We hope this list has helped you compare and contrast Staff Nursing and Agency Nursing, so you can make an informed decision!
Best,
Damion
I am an agency nurse and I cant begin to tell you how many times I get ” your JUST an agency nurse”…I am not just an agency nurse , I am an excellent experienced nurse who chooses to do agency to fit in with my life, the NHS is on its knees and would not manage with out us, I worked all through covid as agency and never got a word of thanks……that hurts……we do a good job, even better than some NHS nurses in my experience..we need more recognition as places would not manage without us! Definitely need to to fight and get out there the positives for agency nurses.
Thank you Sara for your contribution to this discussion! I agree 100%! Nurses as a whole didn’t get a word of thanks as we fought through COVID – and that’s why we NURSES need to stick together and change the way our profession is valued. Thanks for your service, and thank you for being a Nurse!