Southern Illinois Healthcare cuts labor costs by $500K+ and halves nursing turnover with Works AI shift marketplace

Southern Illinois Healthcare, a rural regional network of four hospitals, faced a sustained staffing crisis driven by intense competition for clinical talent from larger, higher-paying health systems. Shift-filling relied on a manual, phone-based process that consumed days of manager time and still left units understaffed, leading to temporary bed closures. Escalating incentive and overtime costs were threatening financial sustainability.

SIH deployed Works, an AI-powered internal open shift marketplace, integrating it with their existing legacy scheduling system. The platform connected all four hospitals into a shared workforce ecosystem, giving 1,400 clinicians a mobile-first app to view and claim shifts systemwide based on their credentials and preferences. Works' Dynamic Pricing feature automatically calibrated incentive rates to real-time demand, replacing manual spreadsheet coordination and phone outreach.

Within the first year, SIH achieved over $500K in annualized incentive spend savings and a 12.5% reduction in average hourly pay rates. Nursing turnover was halved from 24% to 12%, and staff adoption reached 83% across all clinical and tech staff. More than 1,800 shifts are now claimed monthly by 850+ core staff, and shift pickup lead time improved from same-day to six weeks out.

• Connecting a fragmented multi-facility workforce through a single mobile marketplace surfaces hidden internal labor supply that manual processes miss.
• AI-driven dynamic pricing eliminates the incentive-gaming cycle where staff hold out for higher rates, reducing costs while improving fill rates.
• Piloting with the existing float pool before enterprise rollout drove early adoption and created internal champions who accelerated system-wide uptake.