Job Stickiness of young nurses in Ontario: Does the employerorganization participation in the Nursing Graduate Guaranteeinitiative make a difference?

Abstract

Abstract: This study assesses the long-term impact of the Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) initiative using the concept of “stickiness” to examine the employment trends of young nurses in Ontario and evaluate the effect of employers’ participation in the NGG on the full-time (FT) employment patterns of young nurses and whether this effect varies by category of nurse and sector of employment. A quantitative analysis of a de-identified linked subset of the College of Nurses of Ontario nursing registration database for years 2000–2014 and data collected from the NGG employment portal for years2007–2014 was performed. One-year and two-year transition matrixes were generated to examine the stickiness trends of young nurses across the sectors of employment and the effect of the employing organization’s participation level on those trends. The NGG initiative contributed to an improved FT employment and stickiness of the young nurses in hospitals and the young RPNs in LTC institutions. A higher participation level in the NGG initiative contributed to an enhanced full time employment of the young nursing graduates only in the hospitals sector. The effect of employer participation on the stickiness of young RNs and RPNs in FT jobs in the Community sector requires further investigation.