In 2023, Becker's connected with human resources and people chiefs at hospitals and health systems nationwide to learn more about their strategies — from building a strong culture, to offering flexibility, to mediating disputes — as they navigated a transformative year for talent.
Below, find excerpts from eight notable interviews reflecting on the changing workforce and workplace:
Angie Mannino. Chief People and Culture Officer at Baptist Health (Louisville, Ky.): "We used to be a traditional 8 to 5 company, and you'd have meetings at 8 a.m. Now, we're encouraging people not to have meetings before 10 for people who have younger children that they need to get ready for school, or maybe they have classes at home that they need to help them log into. So you're allowed to say, 'Hey, I can't do anything before 9 or 10' or whatever works for you. In the past, that just wouldn't be reasonable because you've come into the office."
Read more about how Baptist Health is embracing flexible work here.
Catherine Codispoti. Chief People Officer at Mercy (St. Louis): "[I plan on] role-modeling as far as taking time off — really taking time off and recharging, and supporting folks in doing that — so they come back feeling refreshed. They're able to have that time with their family that helps fill their cups. I think that's really important because many organizations have those benefits, but people don't use them. That's actually something we want them to do, because it makes them more productive and joyful when they're at work."
Read more about why Mercy promotes PTO usage here.
Jaime Nichols. Chief Human Resources Officer at Salem (Ore.) Health: "If you take a picture of yourself on campus, and you're just talking about how you're having a good day, that could unintentionally be a HIPAA violation, because of the fact that you're on campus where we're providing care, and you could have been violating the confidentiality of somebody."
Read more about how social media can be a friend or foe to health systems' HR departments here.
Jamie Payne. Chief Human Resources Officer at Saint Francis Health System (Tulsa, Okla.):
"There's a long-standing culture within nursing to have a little bit of this lateral bullying, if you will. They often say nurses 'eat their young.' Seasoned nurses think it's their rite of passage to initiate a recent college graduate or someone new to the organization by putting them through trial-by-fire situations, like they experienced early in their career."
Read more about how Saint Francis Health System fights bullying in the nursing profession here.
Janel Allen. Chief People Officer at Children's Hospital and Medical Center (Omaha, Neb.): "I think radical flexibility is the future. That's a real advantage we believe we can have in the market as we think about attracting and retaining our talent."
Read more about how Children's Hospital and Medical Center boosted its employee engagement rate to 89% here.
Keegan Fisher. North Division Chief Human Resources Officer at Providence (Renton, Wash.): "I do think [the hybrid era] is going to require a different approach for our leaders to ensure that they're still building a team dynamic that feels accountable to one another when not everyone may be on the floor every single day. I feel like that's where HR and nursing will have to strategize together on the approaches that we will deploy to build a shared accountability and a camaraderie. Within nursing typically, that's been able to be done through patient handoffs or huddles on the unit. And now that is going to take a different direction."
Read more about how Providence utilizes in-person training to level-set expectations among hybrid workforces here.
Linda Aldred. Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Texas Children's (Houston): "One of the things we've learned is, although people want some of the same things, different generations have more patience than others, right? If you're a [baby] boomer, sometimes there's a little bit of a mindset that says, 'Yeah, you have to pay your dues, or you have to do X, Y or Z, or it could take you five years to be promoted.' But we've also found that younger generations, they're not going to be that patient, or they're going to need to understand what the career path looks like. [They want] the same things but want to acquire it differently, or connect to it differently. And those are the channels and connections we're trying to make for those generations."
Read more about how Texas Children's bridges the generational divide in the workplace here.
Susan Doughty-Smith. Manager of Recruitment Services at Gundersen Health System (La Crosse, Wis.): "When we are recruiting people, the No. 1 thing that they ask us about is, 'What are my professional development and career growth opportunities?' And the fact that we can talk about the Career Development Center and the process really engages them and makes them want to come here. And then when they are here, they feel engaged because someone cares about them. They're empowered to grow their career."
Read more about Gundersen's Career Development Center, which served 9,000 employees in its first operational year, here.