Flexible Scheduling in Healthcare: Models, Benefits, and Real-World Examples
Stogo Flex Team
According to our most recent survey of healthcare executives conducted at the RED Labor Summit, 71% of healthcare leaders implemented or planned to implement flexible scheduling in 2025. Moreover, 54% of those executives reported measurable ROI from flexible scheduling due to reduced overtime and agency spend.
Today’s general workforce normalizes flexible working arrangements, with 66% of U.S. firms offering some type of flexibility, whether fully remote or hybrid. Naturally, this type of work is particularly attractive to job seekers seeking greater control of their time and a greater sense of work-life balance, particularly among younger generations.
With the general workforce normalizing flexibility, healthcare now needs to translate that concept into models that work for clinicians who have the same desire for greater control, balance, and autonomy in their work. This rings especially true within healthcare where workers are often confronted with long work hours, overtime, and increasing burnout resulting from workforce shortages and widespread turnover.
A prominent flexible work arrangement that is helping counteract these concerns is flexible scheduling. Flexible scheduling refers to the approach of allowing clinicians to determine their work schedule outside of the traditional 9-to-5 approach.
By offering flexible scheduling, healthcare workers have a greater sense of control over their schedules, are more likely to stick around long-term, and can experience improved well-being, productivity, and workplace morale.
In fact, a McKinsey & Company survey found that one of the most powerful components in retaining nurses is offering flexibility, with 86% of surveyed nurses citing it as a key reason to stay in their current position. In some cases, leaders who deployed flexible scheduling or internal resource pools reported up to 20% higher retention rates.
This article explores what flexible scheduling looks like in healthcare, the different models in use today, their benefits, and how organizations are putting them into practice.
What is Flexible Scheduling in Healthcare?
Flexible scheduling is an approach that includes a variety of models aimed at allowing healthcare professionals to choose what type of shifts they want to work. This type of structure allows employees to select shifts that align with their personal needs. Typically, management determines scheduling parameters based on unit or departmental demands and then works to balance those coverage needs with employee preferences.
Types of Flexible Scheduling Models (and How They Work)
There are several approaches and models to flexible scheduling. Because healthcare organizations vary in their operations, cultures, and patient demands, having multiple approaches is beneficial in meeting those distinct needs. From employees choosing the shifts they want to work to staggering shift times, there are several different options to implement in the workplace.
1. Self-Scheduling
A common flexible scheduling model is self-scheduling. This arrangement allows staff to select their own shifts within defined guidelines. Employers post and track available shifts using an app or online platform while their team schedules themselves. This approach gives employees control over their work hours and the ability to negotiate shift swaps with others.
One study suggests that self-scheduling is a highly preferred option among nurses, with 87% ranking it as their first choice for flexible work arrangements.
Self-scheduling technology has been shown to reduce overtime by up to 12% and decrease shift-filling time by as much as 50%. Stogo achieves these results in practice. Explore it here.
2. Flextime
Flextime models are an excellent way to offer flexibility while ensuring coverage. In this setup, a facility establishes core hours when all staff must be present (such as 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.), but employees can choose their start and end times around those core hours. For example, a registered nurse might come in as early as 7 a.m. and leave at 3 p.m.
3. Staggered Shifts
Offering staggered shifts means employees can work non-conventional start and end times, such as 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. This model helps healthcare organizations provide extended patient coverage during peak hours while giving staff more options to fit work around their lives.
4. Compressed Workweeks
Compressed workweeks allow staff to complete their standard workweek in fewer days by taking on longer shifts. For instance, rather than having five 8-hour workdays, an employee can opt for four 10-hour days, gaining an extra day off.
5. Job Sharing
This practice entails two part-time employees sharing the responsibilities of a single full-time position. For example, a physician role could be divided between two doctors working three days a week each.
6. Telehealth and Remote Work
Telehealth and remote work models allow healthcare professionals to perform patient consultations via video or manage administrative tasks from home or offsite locations. This flexibility can apply to part of the workweek or, for some roles, be fully virtual. Beyond reducing stress and enhancing work-life balance, it also expands care delivery by enabling organizations to find talent from virtually anywhere.
7. Shift Swapping
Shift swapping isn’t a new concept, but it remains a highly effective way to give staff flexibility while accommodating their own personal lives. This model allows employees to trade shifts with one another while maintaining compliance with labor laws and staffing requirements.
Case Examples of Flexible Scheduling in Health Systems
Leading healthcare systems are integrating flexible workforce models across their organizations. Below are a few examples of the diverse approaches facilities are taking to offer flexibility.
The Cleveland Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic’s Nursing Workforce Flexibility Taskforce actively offers a range of flexible work arrangements, including staggered shifts, splitting RN positions where inpatient nurses divide their time among different care areas, team scheduling, and flexible shift lengths.
Mercy
In 2022, Mercy launched their own platform, Mercy Works, inspired by the Uber model, where workers pick up available shifts. Their algorithm is based on pre-established “workforce layers” that include their core team, flex and float pools, as well as gig nurses. All layers are integrated and accounted for within their platform to streamline staffing and improve shift coverage.
Bon Secours Hampton Roads
In order to better retain nurses and decrease agency reliance, Bon Secours Hampton Roads implemented autonomous scheduling and float shifts. Its internal travel program allows float nurses to choose shifts within a single facility, affiliated facilities, or travel to any of the system’s 49 hospitals. Nurses are able to choose schedules that align to their personal and professional needs without manager involvement.
Benefits of Flexible Scheduling
Benefits for Healthcare Organizations
1. Cost Savings
Flexible scheduling helps reduce overtime, travel nurse expenses, and staffing
inefficiencies. Lower turnover also cuts recruitment and training costs while
minimizing the financial impact of absenteeism.
2. Reduced Agency Dependence
By better utilizing internal resources and local talent pools, organizations
can decrease reliance on expensive external agency staffing.
3. Improved Staffing Predictability
Leaders gain greater visibility into workforce availability and coverage needs,
making it easier to proactively manage staffing demands and reduce last-minute
gaps.
4. Fewer Open Shifts and Overtime Needs
By matching workforce availability with scheduling needs, organizations can
fill more shifts while reducing last-minute coverage gaps and premium labor
costs.
5. Reduced Turnover and Absenteeism
Fostering a culture of trust, work-life balance, and prioritizing employee well-being
promotes loyalty and retention. When employees feel valued and supported, they
are less likely to seek opportunities elsewhere.
6. Enhanced Patient Care
Burnout is strongly linked to negative patient outcomes. Supporting clinicians
with more flexible scheduling options can help improve engagement, focus, and
the overall patient experience.
Benefits for Healthcare Employees
1. Reduced Burnout and Improved Well-being
With control over shifts, clinicians are empowered to live more balanced lives.
They can manage personal obligations, pursue continued education, and better
align work with their individual needs.
2. Increased Productivity
When employees feel refreshed and have more control over their schedules, they
bring greater focus, energy, and motivation to patient care.
3. Heightened Job Satisfaction: With greater balance achieved, workers feel more fulfilled and motivated in their roles. Flexible scheduling empowers employees with autonomy, leading to a sense of control over their professional and personal lives. This enhanced job satisfaction fosters a positive work environment.
4. Attract and Retain Talent
In an industry with high competition, scheduling flexibility offers organizations a competitive advantage. Flexibility not only attracts skilled talent, but it helps keep them around too.
5. Stronger Company Culture
Offering flexible work options demonstrates that an organization values employees’ time, well-being, and personal commitments, creating a more supportive workplace environment.
Best Practices for Implementing Flexibility
1. Collaborate with Key Stakeholders
Work with business and HR leaders to design effective scheduling models.
2. Align Flexibility with Care Area Needs
Base schedules on patient volume, staffing ratios, and care demands.
3. Engage and Consult Employees
Gather staff input to ensure schedules meet both employee and operational needs.
4. Implement Clear Policies and Guidelines
Define and communicate eligibility, approval processes, and performance standards.
5. Leverage Technology for Efficiency
Use scheduling platforms for real-time updates and easier shift management.
6. Foster Ongoing Collaboration
Maintain open communication between staff and leadership for continuous improvement.
7. Monitor and Evaluate Outcomes
Regularly track scheduling impacts on satisfaction, performance, and care quality.
8. Adapt and Evolve
Adjust scheduling models as workforce and patient needs change.
Test-Drive Flexible Scheduling Within Your Unit
Our scheduling app, Stogo, leverages your existing core team and local gig workforce to fill open shifts, decrease overtime, reduce reliance on external agency staffing, and improve workforce costs.
Connect with our product delivery team to explore how Stogo can support your unit and determine if a flexible scheduling model is the right fit for your team.
See how one health system
used Stogo to fill 7,203 shifts with zero travelerswhile addressing staffing gaps and rising agency costs. Explore the full case study.