Bonus program could see health care technologists abandoning rural communities and heading to bigger cities
A grassroots group is calling on the Quebec government to extend bonuses that it offered last month to workers in different parts of the province so they will stay in their current employment.
Last month, the provincial government announced bonuses of up to $22,000 for technologists at hospitals in Hull, Gatineau and Papineau, and other bonuses of up to $18,000 for technologists in Maniwaki.
The bonuses are meant to prevent staff from fleeing to better-paying jobs in Ontario. However, the program is causing rural technologists to look for new employment in the big cities.
Since the bonuses were announced, nine out of 12 medical imaging technologists working on the outskirts of Gatineau have applied for jobs at hospitals in Hull and elsewhere in Gatineau, CBC reported, citing data from the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais (CISSSO) — western Quebec's health authority.
Seven of those nine workers are staff in Shawville and Wakefield where the bonuses are not being offered.
"I can't blame the technicians," said Josey Bouchard, a spokesperson for the local grassroots group Friends of the Pontiac, in the report.
The situation is not surprising "but completely disheartening,” she added.
In February, Quebec announced it is investing nearly a million dollars to help employers become attractive work environments for workers aged 60 to 69. The provincial government is setting aside $987,289 for the project from the Conseil du patronat du Quebec.
Should an exodus of health care technologists happen, it would affect the quality of care in smaller communities, said Bouchard.
Now, she is calling on the Quebec government to offer the bonuses more widely.
The bonuses are key to helping "stabilize resources in the short term," a CISSO spokesperson told CBC.
However, a committee is monitoring the bonuses’ impact.
The office of Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel is also following the situation, according to CBC.
At the start of this year, numerous changes to the Quebec Pension Plan came into force. They offer concrete benefits to Quebecers who decide to extend their career or return to the job market.
