Per diem employment allows nurses to gain job experience and explore possible career paths in the healthcare sector. If you are considering a career in nursing, we’ve compiled a great list of per diem nursing benefits to help you understand what to expect.
Working per diem offers benefits that full-time nurses cannot take advantage of like flexibility and variety, to name a few.
A career in per diem nursing ensures a wide variety of perks, new experiences, professional growth and income opportunities.
So if you’re asking yourself, “Do per diem nurses get benefits?”, read on!
What Does Per Diem Mean?
Defined by thebalance.com, per diem is a Latin word that means “per day” or “for each day”. As it relates to nursing, it describes a nursing professional who works on assignment rather than full time. So, why would a nurse opt for per diem vs full-time employment?
By working per diem, nurses opt into a series of lifestyle and professional perks. Per diem nurses can also work in various healthcare settings like long-term care facilities, emergency rooms, outpatient clinics, and so much more. Alongside job experience opportunities, check out additional benefits of per diem nursing below.
Contact us and speak directly with our recruiters to connect you with per diem contracts in your local area.
6 Benefits of Working Per Diem Nursing
1. Take Control of Your Schedule
Flexibility of schedule is a huge factor when it comes to choosing a profession. Often second only to their passion for helping others, nurses value their flexible schedules greatly.
Flexibility with shifts and locations creates an opportunity for all nurses (full-time and per diem alike) to have significant control over their schedule.
When it comes to per diem nursing, the added benefit comes in the form of:
- Evolving opportunities
- Higher pay
- More time off
Consider this:
Taking advantage of per diem nursing job opportunities is exciting because you are able to move from facility to facility based on your own desire. You can submit for higher paying assignments in more economically strong communities.
2. Enjoy Highly-Competitive Compensation
Need some extra money? It’s commonly known that one of the biggest per diem nursing benefits is competitive pay.
Now, hold onto your hats for this one. Did you know per diem nurses are compensated at a much higher rate than a regular, full-time nurse?
That’s more than double! Pair this with the fact that per diem nurses enjoy more flexibility, and we think you’re starting to see why per diem nursing jobs are so incredible.
SEE ALSO: How To Ace The Interview Question: Why Should We Hire You?
$43,170 is the average salary for full-time nurses, whereas the per diem rate could reach as high as $100,000.
3. Obtain Health Care Benefits Without Being “Full-Time”
When it comes to health care benefits, our approach is straightforward. We offer a simple health benefits plan including:
Medical Insurance
Harvard Pilgrim Health is offered to all per diem employees who maintain an average of 32 hours per week. MAS and the per diem employee contribute to the cost of insurance. All employee contributions are pre-tax. Health insurance can also be extended to a spouse or immediate family for an additional cost.
Dental Insurance
MAS offers Delta Dental Insurance to all per diem employees in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island who maintain an average of 32 hours per week. MAS and the employee contribute to the cost of insurance. All employee contributions are pre-tax.
Learn more about our per diem nursing benefits here.
4. Hone Multiple Specialties
Working in multiple facilities per year allows per diem nurses the opportunity to work alongside experts in a wide variety of specialties.
When a specialty that interests you becomes available on assignment, you can easily go from location to location learning and growing with every stop, accelerating your nursing career.
You may be very passionate about one specialty in particular, and per diem nursing can help you gain experience in a single specialty as well. Picking and choosing organizations that are highly respected within that specialty is another perk of per diem nursing.
Making strategic assignment choices ensures you can hone your skills in one or more specialties which makes you highly valuable to employers.
5. Take Advantage of Per Diem Reimbursement Opportunities
Per diem nursing benefits are great, and the tax breaks are one of the best perks on the list! Per diem nurses benefit from a series of tax breaks, including:
- Professional Expenses Are Deductible
These expenses include: - Malpractice insurance
- The costs of your uniforms, including dry cleaning and laundry costs
- Any phone, Internet, and computer-related expenses—including warranties, as well as apps and other software related to your job
- Costs of professional licensing
- Continued education costs, including books
- Trade literature costs
- Any costs related to your job search
It’s easy to envision just how much these tax breaks add up. Pair this with the fact that per diem nurse salaries are much higher than full-time nurses and you have a generous flow of income!
When tax season rolls around, per diem nurses can take advantage of these deductions in a big way.
6. Balance Work and Play Seamlessly
Nurses are among the most important professionals in society, and with that high level of responsibility inevitably comes pressure and stress.
Work/life balance is something for which we all strive, and per diem nursing truly makes it possible.
The ability to work at your own pace, whenever you want, equates to a totally balanced lifestyle. Per diem nurses can spend less time on the clock than most medical professions, and they can enjoy their time off in new, exciting locations.
Per diem nursing jobs allow you to make time for relaxation and rejuvenation between working hours.
If you’re considering per diem nursing with a family, you can apply this perk in a multitude of ways.
Bonus Benefits of Per Diem Nursing
We would be remiss if we didn’t include one last bonus benefit of per diem nursing, especially after COVID-19.
Nurses know that when a patient enters their care, they are experiencing one of the most vulnerable moments of their life. Having the cultural awareness to fully understand your patient’s needs is so important.
Per diem nurses set the bar when it comes to cultural competence because of their ever-changing location. With every new assignment comes its own unique demographic makeup.
Honing your abilities to communicate and interact with other people is an inevitable benefit of per diem work.
Every unit, every organization, every town and every region has its own culture. To be more specific, they have a culture within a culture. Adaptability is a quality that every per diem nurse has in spades; their ability to utilize it as a learning tool is crucial here.
The fact is, the more experiences you gain within new cultures, the better nurse you will be. This goes hand in hand with earning the best per diem nursing assignments. The more you per diem, the more cultural competency you have. The more you have, the more valuable you are to future employers.
SEE ALSO: How to Strengthen Your Cultural Competence in Nursing Practice
Gain Excellent Per Diem Benefits With MAS Medical
There’s no doubt that per diem nursing benefits are abundant! When considering a career in per diem nursing, these perks are definitely something to think about:
- Take Control of Your Schedule
- Enjoy Highly-Competitive Compensation
- Obtain Health Care Benefits Without a Flexible Schedule
- Hone Multiple Specialties
- Take Advantage of Reimbursements
- Balance Work and Play Seamlessly
Ready to start your per diem nursing job? Apply as MAS Medical to help you find per diem employment faster with opportunities to pick up local shifts and contracts. We can also help you land the right per diem position with favorable terms so you can take control of your schedule.
Can you think of any additional per diem nursing benefits?
Share with us in the comments below!
Reviewed By:
Colby Griffin, Recruiting Manager
Colby has been with MAS for over 3 years, and working in the staffing industry for over 8. Her favorite thing about recruiting is connecting with candidates to find them a position they will love! She lives in New Hampshire with her family. Outside of work, she loves being a mom, spending time with family and friends, live music, and enjoying all the outdoor activities NH has to offer!
