Health P.E.I. posting 500 permanent full-time jobs in effort to stabilize workforce [Video]

Health P.E.I. is posting 500 permanent full-time positions for current staff members, hoping to change existing part-time and casual workers into full-time employees.

Having more full-time staff will make it easier for the health agency to schedule and figure out what ideal staffing should look like, said Maura McKinnon, the interim human resources executive with Health P.E.I.

“When we have more full-time people, it really allows us to stabilize the system, and with that, we are really able to help reduce overtime and make sure that people are able to get vacations,” she said.

The objective is to fill as many of the newly posted positions with internal applicants as soon as possible before opening the process to external applicants, she said.

Health P.E.I. currently has a vacancy rate of 18 per cent, which means about 1,300 jobs are vacant across the system, McKinnon said.