Latest / Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast / Janel Allen, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha

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Janel Allen, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Children's Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha · Becker’s Healthcare -- Pediatric Leadership Podcast

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This is Chris oss with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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I'm thrilled today to be joined by Janelle Adam,
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executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Children's Hospital and
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Medical Center in Omaha. Janelle, thank you so much for joining us today.
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Oh, thank you. I'm excited to be here with you today.
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Excellent.
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Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background?
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Absolutely.
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So I have a long career in building great cultures and people
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practices for large healthcare systems, universities,
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academic medical centers, and now at a pediatric healthcare center, as you said,
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Chris, I am the, uh,
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E V P and Chief People Officer at Children's Hospital Medical Center here in
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Omaha. And I oversee the human resources,
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diversity and inclusion marketing and communications areas.
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And our teams are completely focused on culture, brand reputation,
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experience for all the people. So that's our workforce, patients,
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learners, and community partners. So prior to joining Children's,
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I was the Chief Human Resources Officer at Creighton University
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in their medical center, um, academic medical center.
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So they've got campuses in Nebraska and Arizona.
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And then I've also held HR leadership roles at Sanford Health,
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and that's the largest rural health system in the United States in Avera
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Health, which is a integrated health system in the upper Midwest.
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So some things about me, I love music, travel, fitness.
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I'm a wife and a mom to two kids are ages seven and 12,
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and they motivate me to live our organization's mission,
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which is to impact the life of every child.
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So I'm excited again to be with you and share about the journey we're on at
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Children's.
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Well, we're happy to share that journey with our audience. For sure.
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So on that note, regarding the employees,
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how does Children's of Omaha grow about investing in their wellbeing and how has
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that evolved since the pandemic hit?
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You know, coming out of the pandemic healthcare professionals,
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they really experienced extreme burnout and healthcare leaders were faced with
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how to combat this. This is really a unique challenge for our industry.
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And every health system was in this together,
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and it really focused on what do we do to ensure that we can keep people in
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healthcare professions and then also within our organization.
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And that related what we believed was to employee engagement and wellbeing.
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So what that meant for us was we are gonna address wellbeing and
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we're gonna do it through a holistic, inclusive, and a multi-dimensional lens.
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So we did engage and listen to our team members to hear what
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was important and meaningful for them.
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And so then in 2022,
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we launched a variety of wellbeing programs and initiatives that were tailored
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to our workforce.
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And the key areas for us were emotional, social,
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financial, um, physical and community wellbeing.
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So this is an important pillar.
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We have focused on a people first culture and many organizations say it,
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but we are saying it and we're walking it. And through this,
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the wellbeing is a key pillar to that.
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We are putting our people at the beginning of every equation,
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and that's every decision. And so we believe that if we take care of our own,
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they're gonna take better care of our patients families in the community.
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And so this has positively impacted our quality and
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safety outcomes. We've seen it in our engagement numbers,
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our patient experience, feedback,
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and then our strategic growth as an organization.
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So there's definitely a connection to engagement and
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wellbeing being a driver of that.
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So we do believe that if you as an employee feel steady,
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safe and supported personally and professionally,
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that you can be fully engaged while you're at work.
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So we did broaden this definition and launch these programs,
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and we just completed our 2023 engagement survey,
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and we received the results here in May.
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And we did receive validation from our team members that the wellbeing
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is noticed and having an impact.
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So nearly nine out of our 10 employees had a favorable perception
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of the availability of resources to support their wellbeing.
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And we were really pleased to hear this because in our 2021
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engagement survey,
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this was one of the lower scoring areas for our organization.
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Well, congratulations on such an improvement.
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I'm sure your employees very much appreciate it. There's no doubt your,
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your patients and everyone else who's involved with the hospital.
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So you mentioned those programs.
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So let's go from the 30,000 foot view to a little more zoomed interview.
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What are those programs exactly that have proved successful?
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You know, this is a great question and there are many.
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And so when I think about this, you know,
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first I'd like to highlight our Be Involved program. And this is a,
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a new paid volunteering program. And this again,
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came from the voice of our team members with our mission.
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We are focused on the clinical component, advocacy, research, and education.
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And they wanted to find a way to go out and help advocate and be
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part of our community and give back.
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So this program was launched and it really mobilizes our mission and the
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great gifts and talents of our team.
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So these paid volunteering programs send a strong message to our team members
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that we care about our community and we care about them.
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So this program launched in 2022, and within the first six months,
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there was tremendous engagement.
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We had over 800 volunteer hours at, um,
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nonprofit organizations across the state of Nebraska. And to date,
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we have over 1400 hours that have been logged. And again,
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it's really helping to carry our mission forward.
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We're finding the team is experiencing great wellbeing for it with it because
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they get to spend time with their team members and get to know each other there.
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But then also, as research says, when you give to others,
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it does help your satisfaction and wellbeing. You know,
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the other area that we've spent, um,
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a lot of time and energy on is recognition.
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And that's really important again, from an engagement driver.
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So we launched a new recognition platform and we call it the Sunshine
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Hub.
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And this platform elevates and really integrates our children's
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core values so that team members can recognize each other when they
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demonstrate, you know, elements around innovation,
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collaboration, accountability, respect, or excellence.
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And this platform launched in February of 2023,
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and we've had over 33,000 recognitions sent
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today. So our vendor was like, wow, you are gold star here.
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They've never seen, um, that type of engagement. So again,
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it's, we're really proud of that.
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We heard from our team members that engagement from the organization,
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but also their colleagues and leaders are important.
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So that one's had great success, great success. You know,
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another program I'd like to highlight is around social determinants of health.
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And I know every health system is,
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is really trying to have an impact and are deeply committed to this and
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making a difference for their patients families and the communities that they're
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in. And we at Children's are in that exact same environment.
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So as we were making this commitment to our strategic plan
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to begin to address this for our patients and families in our community,
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we as a leadership team took a step back and said to ourselves, gosh,
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I wonder if our team members,
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as we ask them to go out and identify individuals that may have needs
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and connect them to resources,
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do we have individuals that may be having those same experiences?
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And we made a decision to survey our team members and ask them
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questions around social determinants of health. And that survey,
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we had high engagement with it and we did receive feedback that there were
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team members struggling with this and needed help. So we,
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from there we started on this quest to find out what programs can we do and
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community partners can we engage with to help our team members that have
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experiences either with economic instability,
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food or transportation, security issues,
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childcare challenges, education interventions,
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all of those behaviors and components of social determinants of health.
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So through that, you know, from an economics standpoint,
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we invested in pay, right? We wanted to make sure we had living wage and,
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and minimum wages were at a place that we could be really competitive and people
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would have a living wage. We also, um,
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invested a lot in our financial wellbeing series, uh, again,
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helping individuals really understand their finances and also if
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there's needs, how to access, you know, if it's Medicaid, um,
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other resources available there.
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From the food and and transportation security,
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we launched what we call a WeCare fund.
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And this is a fund that employees can access, you know, if a need arises, um,
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again related to really anything in their life that is, is difficult.
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We also, um,
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have different ways that if people have food and and gas assistance,
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we they can reach out and, and, um, access those resources.
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You know, from the education intervention,
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we've invested a lot in our tuition programs. So for our employees,
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we've built relationships with local universities,
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community colleges to have reduced tuition options.
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We've also extended our tuition remission reimbursement benefit to our,
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uh, their dependents if an employee's not utilizing the benefit.
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And the one I'm really,
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really proud of is we just had our first graduating class of our English as a
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second language cohort,
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and that is a class that we offer on campus.
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We pay employees for their time and also studies
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to, to participate in that program,
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provide 'em with laptops and other resources so that
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they, um, can increase their English proficiency.
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And that's been really great and well received.
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We just had our graduating class and what we found is this area, um,
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not only has it helped the individuals,
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but it's helped with retention and reducing turnover, um,
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in the key departments where individuals were actively participating in
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this program. The other piece is we had, I had said earlier, you know,
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we've got great partners in our community and we wanna partner
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with them. Again, they help to serve our, our patients and families,
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but we also know they can help with our team members.
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So two of the programs I thought would be fun to share with you today,
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Chris is the first one is a Grow Navigator program,
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and that's actually through our local chamber.
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And this is a social worker that is on site on campus
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here that any team member at any point in time can access confidentially and
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voluntarily.
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And this person helps them to understand their situations and
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also, um,
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align them with any services that they may need near term or
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long term.
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What we found with that is one of the frequent inquiries and support needed
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there work again around the housing, financial, legal, and childcare.
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The other is Habitat for Humanity.
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Our local Habitat for Humanity has an incredible program to help
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individuals become mortgage ready. So there's a lot of education,
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support and services available for team members who are, um,
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on that journey.
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So those are two great partner ships that we've formed
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and our employees are really having a great experience.
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They're engaging with them and it is helping them, um,
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with areas that they've indicated they have needs with. You know,
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you can do all these programs,
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but in order for it to be sustainable and long-term, you,
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you as an organization have to commit to having the structure in the people to
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do this work. So we have, um,
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what we have identified is,
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and we call 'em our We Thrive team and their roles and their part of our
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HR team and their work is, is again,
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to support these many programs and those five key areas and
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pillars of our wellbeing program.
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The other recent additions we have, we have got a, our new,
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our new chief morale Officer Howie. He is our four legged friend.
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He is our team member, facility therapy, dog and therapy.
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He has just been a great addition to our We Thrive team.
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How are you not loving having a dog in the office? I
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would you mind sharing some of the insights as how these
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programs connect with your program's goals?
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You know, absolutely. You know, we,
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we say it's pretty simple here at Children's that by taking care of our people,
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they can take care of our patients in the communities we
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serve. And in the recent years, children's leadership,
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we've made a significant investment in our people for the long-term
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success of our organization.
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And ultimately our strategic goals and objectives can only
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be accomplished and powered through our people. And they are,
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we wanna lead the way in safety, quality, and exceptional care,
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championing the needs and welfare of children,
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improving the health and wellbeing of children through discovery and innovation.
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We wanna train and develop the pediatric healthcare workforce and
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foster an environment where individuals,
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teams and our organization will grow and thrive. So again,
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by taking care of our people,
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they can take the very best care of our patients and the communities we serve.
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Well, I also wanted to ask you, Janelle, so spinning it forward a little bit,
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I mean everyone it seems has had trouble with staffing issues,
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not just the healthcare industry, but just about every industry in the us.
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How do you think these efforts are reflected in your recruiting efforts? You.
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Know, that's a great, a great question, Chris, because, you know,
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as we've been spending time talking through our time together,
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it's been a lot on retention and that's certainly an area where we've doubled
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down is retention. But in order to meet our,
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our goals or our strategic focus and, and growth,
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because we have many individuals wanting to utilize our services, we do need to,
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to build and, and grow our team.
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So recruiting has had great success
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because of the reputation.
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If I just start with the brand and reputation that we have built as an
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organization over the last couple years around taking care of our people,
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being a place where, you know,
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we're gonna support you and care for you personally and professionally,
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but our leaders have also gotten really, really, really creative around,
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you know, flexible schedules. What can we do?
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Because people do have needs that are different and the
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workforce has forever changed coming through the pandemic. And so,
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you know, our, our clinical areas are looking at shorter shifts, you know,
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four to six hour shifts.
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They're looking at weekend only options or seasonal opportunities,
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like a nine month schedule over 12 months. So when we do that,
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we have seen an increase in our applications and also our time to fill.
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We also have reduced our reliance on contingent contractual
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labor, um, significantly that has decreased significantly.
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So as we continue to move forward and we look at our, our,
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what we're calling our employee value proposition, our people first promise,
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we are in a position of strength again because of our wellbeing
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efforts, our flexibility,
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and also a lot of the work that we're doing around our learning and growing for
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our team members. You know, as I think about the why, you know,
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when we talk about attracting and retaining team members, you know,
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I want children's to be a destination workplace, you know,
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not just a pit stop in somebody's life,
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a place that they can come and stay.
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And so really to be an amazing workplace in 2023,
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I believe it's essential to intentionally invest in our team's wellbeing.
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I think that's the critical differentiator and you know,
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it's definitely requiring us to think differently,
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being much more agile, flexible, creative,
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so that we can be really a leader and stay as a leader
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in this just really dynamic job landscape that's out there.
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So in addition to this,
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we know that wellbeing's important belonging is important, um,
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for our long-term success as an organization.
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Janelle, thank you so much for sharing your insights with re our listeners,
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and I can't wait for them to hear them.
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And I look forward to connecting with you soon.
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Thank you so much, Chris. I so appreciate it.
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