How would you describe TRS? What is your mission?
Diana Wright, our founder, established a network of per diem nurses in the Oklahoma/Arkansas region in 1996. From the beginning, she instilled the key value that still drives us today—you are a nurse, not a number. All our efforts center on empowering nurses to comfort and restore lives. At its core, TRS is RN founded and family owned. We still hold true to those same core values, acting as an advocate for nurses all over the country. Every action we take is for nurses to be able to practice their craft and give the best care possible to patients. At TRS, our candidates are treated like a nurse not a number.
What should travelers know about TRS?
Our recruiters view travel nursing as a partnership. When we get the opportunity to work with a nurse, it’s not about filling quotas for us—we want to connect with each nurse on a personal level; learn their likes, dislikes, and career goals; and partner with them for as long as they want to travel, whether that’s 1 assignment or 10 years.
Also, we live by the motto, “You are a nurse, not a number.” We take your wants and needs seriously as we work to find the right placement for you. When you travel with us, you’re not a number on a production ledger—you’re part of the team. This has immediate application for us, too—in-house, when we have discussions about contracts, extensions, bonuses, etc., we refer to each nurse by their name rather than rattling off a profile ID. It’s an honor for us to empower nurses to continue using their skill and experience to comfort and restore lives around the country!
What is the team culture like at TRS?
The company culture has evolved in positive ways over the years. TRS cares about the holistic health and growth of in-house employees, which organically influences how we serve our nurses. One of the major roles created recently was a Training and Development Manager, who invests in our personal and professional development including leadership training and team building activities. We’ve found that when in-house team members are challenged and given opportunities to grow, they come to expect and provide for the same things in the lives of our travelers.
TRS also emphasizes personal health and, in doing so, promotes wellness initiatives (including awesome incentives) based on individual goals. In 2019, of our team members completed 1 million steps as part of one such health competition!
Being a family-owned and relatively small organization enables TRS to be nimble in our business and intentional in our culture. We have big goals for 2020 and anticipate making a difference in the lives of hundreds of nurses and thousands of patients.
How does the leadership at TRS define success for the employees as well as success for the travelers?
One of our favorite metrics to track is rebooking—this is when a nurse either extends at their current facility or takes another contract with TRS in a different location. Rebookings are exciting for us because it indicates loyalty and trust between the recruiter and the nurse and with our company overall.
Travel nursing is a remarkably relational endeavor. We want travelers to feel connected to their whole assignment—to enjoy an experience rather than complete a contract. This means we hope to see our travelers integrate well into the facility and connect with the location. When our nurses are having a great experience, we have a successful partnership in place.
What are the hopes for the TRS/Wanderly partnership in 2020/2021? How can we continue to best support each other?
Obviously, we want to help put travelers to work! We also value brand awareness and strive to build ongoing trust with candidates and the Wanderly team. Wanderly’s constantly evolving platform is a great asset for our travelers! It feels great to know that our feedback will be heard and solutions will be implemented as we continually learn, grow, and develop together.
What myths about the travel healthcare industry would TRS want to correct for someone considering taking an assignment?
MYTH: Recruiters withhold more or less money on a contract based on the nurse’s work experience.
TRUTH: We operate from negotiated contracts with facilities or MSPs. The weekly pay is handed down from those contracts, so by the time our recruiters are quoting your gross pay, it’s set in stone. There may be some wiggle room with rolling bonuses into your contract, but we are not holding on to a chunk of your money.
We are not paid based on how much you make! We are paid off of separate factors disconnected from the nurse’s experience, specialty, or weekly gross pay.
MYTH: Agencies and facilities like to change (lower) the pay after you accept a contract.
TRUTH: It’s deeply frustrating for the nurse to have an offer adjusted. On top of that, it’s a tremendous inconvenience for TRS, and we work hard to minimize these occurrences. On the rare occasion when pay rates or shift schedules change, it’s due to a clerical error somewhere between the facility, the MSP, and the agency.
At TRS when we quote pay, and then an offer comes in at a lower rate, we make up the difference and take it as a loss. We’re more interested in doing what is right for the nurse and offering a meaningful experience to our travelers—which means sometimes, we eat the difference.
The recruiter is giving you the most up-to-date info they have, so if they have to circle back and adjust something, it’s only because of a prior human error. There is no devious plot behind the scenes to hook nurses on high pay and then lower their weekly pay to increase our margins.
What gives the team at TRS the feeling of purpose in the day-to-day?
We see this as a partnership with our travelers, so it’s deeply rewarding when we can connect with our travelers over something more personal—pets, pastimes, family, etc. When we get to provide work for somebody in their favorite location, at a great facility, with their ideal pay rate, it’s a home run for us.
What are the plans for the future of TRS? What is planned for 2020?
In 2020, we are increasing focus on delivering excellent experiences for the travelers and MSPs that we serve. Some of our traveler-facing efforts include: personalized gifting (something meaningful beyond the standard-issue corporate swag); hosting events on location where are nurses are, as well as, inviting some of our nurses to spend a few days in Northwest Arkansas touring our office and collaborating with us to improve our nurses’ experience; taking concrete steps to act on feedback our travelers provide about their onboarding and orientation. All this focus will help us improve how our current travelers interact with TRS, as well as deliver exceptional experiences for our new travelers.
What else would you like to share? How can travelers contact you?
We have plenty of places for nurses to learn more about us, especially on our website trshealthcare.com. You can always view our hottest needs there, specifically trshealthcare.com/find-a-job. Follow us on Facebook and Instragram @trshealthcare where we’re posting even more hot jobs weekly and about our own travels meeting with nurses