FTE's or Contractors For Your Epic Project

(Originally posted on LinkedIn)

As a part of every Epic implementation or project, there will likely be a mix of full time employees (FTE) and contract employees leveraged. An FTE may or may not be experienced in Epic, in implementing a large scale solution, or be a current employee rolling into an Epic role. Contractors/consultants come in generally as highly qualified experts within their particular module/application and can hit the ground running quickly but you lose the tribal knowledge once they are gone. From this brief description, there are obvious advantages and disadvantages

Full Time Employees

Pros

• They may be an existing employee rolling into an Epic role. This is a common approach as current employees understand the inner workings and current workflows at your health system

• They retain tribal knowledge.With an FTE, they aren't leaving after a 3, 6, 12, etc month term. They are staying with the health system and will be able to transfer their knowledge to new hires and contractors alike

• They will reinforce your culture. Hiring an FTE versus a contractor requires a different mindset. Being that the FTE will stay for the foreseeable future, you want to make sure they align with your vision and internal culture. If they do, they will continue to reinforce what you believe in

• They are less costly overall. An FTE does not require travel, housing, rentals, etc and everything else associated with contractors. Beyond those costs, the associated salaries are less because of the job security

Cons

• May not have the experience you need right now. If an FTE is an internal employee getting transferred to an Epic position, they will have to be sent to Epic to become certified. Beyond the certifications needed, they will not have the actual experience in implementing a system like Epic

• More difficult to recruit and/or find a qualified person that is interested in full time work. Often, highly qualified candidates are interested in contract work because of the higher pay rates

Contractor

Pros

• Highly qualified candidates. A contract employee is often required for a specific or specialized purpose. This is likely just to support the initial process and will no longer be needed after go-live. Because of their higher qualifications, you can be confident in their ability to deliver

• Highly experienced candidates. Contract employees generally have more experience in implementing and building workflows, applications, etc and will be able to hit the ground running while leveraging the experience to be efficient

• No commitment. After their contract is over, they move on. There is no offboarding, HR, etc that is associated with a typical employee leaving

Cons

• No commitment. This is both a pro and a con. Contract employees are highly qualified and that is something that becomes the norm. Once they are gone, it can be difficult to replace them as they are not with your organization forever

• Higher cost. A contractor's qualifications, experience, and lack of job security align with a higher overall cost. Beyond their pay rate, there are associated costs of travel, boarding, rental cars, etc that also come with a contract employee that add up quickly

• No knowledge transfer without extensive effort. With an FTE, tribal knowledge stays internal and can be passed easily to new employees. With a contractor, they are their to finish a project/job and, once they are gone, that knowledge is no longer available. It can be difficult to transfer this before they leave as that requires a longer contract and the associated costs

It is a common trend in the Epic community for health systems to lean away from contractors and towards full time staff. This is primarily because of cost, frequency of upgrades and the resources required for those, and the higher adoption of remote work. With that said, contractors are still very necessary when timelines are being pushed and you just need someone that come in and get the job done quickly and efficiently. The Epic community is continuing to evolve and only time will tell on whether this trend towards FTE's will continue.