Edward Henderson | California Black Media
McKenzie Young is a traveling nurse from California who works in Hawaii. She gets placements through an agency that connects her to temporary jobs around the state and country. Her assignments can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to months at a time.
When Young returns to the mainland she plans to sign up on a nursing placement app for shorter-term freelance nurses who get paid by picking up shifts at nearby medical facilities.
Currently, her gig in Hawaii pays Young by the hour. She gets medical insurance through the hospital to which she is assigned, and she opted to pay out-of-pocket for her own individualized retirement plan.
“If you can do it smart that way and make sure you’re giving what you should and set up the accounts you need, I can put even more into my retirement because I’m making more,” Young said. “It’s hard going back to being a staff.”
Young says more nurses would opt for freelance work if they knew how flexible and lucrative it can be. And because there is a nursing shortage, she never has to worry about not finding temporary assignments.
As more nurses like Young enter the gig economy seeking higher pay rates and more control over their work schedules, some advocates assert that hospitals that contract nurses often misclassify them as independent contractors, a practice that comes with “tremendous legal and regulatory risks.”
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