Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building a People First Workforce Strategy to Drive Outcomes in Pediatric Care with Janel Allen

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Building a People First Workforce Strategy to Drive Outcomes in Pediatric Care with Janel Allen · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
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Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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Janelle Allen, executive vice president and chief people
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officer at Children's Nebraska. Janelle, it's a pleasure
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to have you on the podcast today.
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Oh, thank you, Laura. It's great to be
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here.
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Absolutely. And I'm excited for our conversation. I
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know there's so much happening in health care
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right now, and in particular,
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children's health care is in a really unique
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space. A lot happening at Children's Nebraska as
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innovative, so I'm excited to dig in. But
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before we do, can you tell us a
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little bit more about yourself and Children's Nebraska?
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Absolutely. Well, I'm Janelle Allen. My role here
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at Children's Nebraska
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is executive vice president and chief people officer.
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And at Children's Nebraska we are the state's
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only dedicated children's hospital and so our mission
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is to improve the life of every child.
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And what makes us a unique organization is
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that we truly believe our people power our
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mission.
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We've made intentional shifts to put our workforce
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strategy at the center of our business strategy.
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So what we do know it's not just
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a culture perspective we're really driving quality, safety,
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patient experience,
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growth, and long term sustainability for the organization.
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So in my role as chief people officer,
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I lead our people strategy
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and brand across
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talent, culture,
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leadership, development, workforce planning, and overall the experience.
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And, what I'm most excited about is we
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have a people first promise, which is our
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employee value proposition, which really anchors our work.
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And so I know today we'll spend some
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time
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doing a deeper dive into that.
1:39
Well, absolutely. You know, that's fantastic. I think
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all of those things you mentioned looking at,
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talent acquisition, building culture, leadership development, all are
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things that leaders are consistently telling me are
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top of mind as they're trying to build
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the workforce of the future. So I'm excited
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to dig in. Let's do that. Could you
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tell me about, some of the most important
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initiatives that you did in the last year?
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What did you do, and what were the
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results?
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Well, as you know, there are many,
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and so, just focusing on the most important
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initiative
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really was grounded in our employee value proposition
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and advancing that to really operate
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operationalize it.
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How we operationalize it here at Children's Nebraska
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is we call it our People First Promise
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and this work started several years ago,
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but over the last year we've really focused
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on making sure it showed up in every
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leadership decision,
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you know, our workforce
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design and our overall employee experience. So it's
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really not a statement. It is how we
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work and make decisions.
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And a key differentiator for us
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is that we lead with retention first
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and attraction will follow. And so that mindset
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shift
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from, you know, our leadership expectations
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to our well-being
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initiatives,
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career pathways, and how we support flexibility and
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growth, again focusing on that retention first and
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attraction
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next. The results have been significant for us.
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We've grown our workforce
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in the last five years by over 40%
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and at the same time while we were
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doing that we reduced turnover by 35%.
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Our engagement scores of our providers and our
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staff have increased
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up to an 89%
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engagement rate which we are very proud of
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that.
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You know, our culture of safety has improved
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by over 30%, and that's really a transformation
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around
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people feeling very safe
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and,
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through that experience that they're having while they're
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working.
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And so at the same time, we've had
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corresponding gains with our patient experience, which is
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about our consumer experience. And so we've seen
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those increase at the same levels of our
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team members. So, you know, just really reinforces
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something I feel deeply about and that investing
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in people.
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It's not separate from the business performance. It
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is actually what drives the performance.
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I love that. I think the point you're
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making is so clear when you look at
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how you can reduce the turnover and do
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some really solid things, in order to improve
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employee satisfaction,
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safety,
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and and experience there, and then the the
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patient experience as well is boosted. So,
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that's amazing to hear. I'm curious, you know,
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when you look at these,
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different results that you've had,
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is there anything that you've changed or pivoted
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or done differently,
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that has really catalyzed some of this,
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these results, whether it's looking at, improving the
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culture or retention.
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I'm curious,
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how were you able to do that? What
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unique things actually worked for you? Mhmm.
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Yeah. That's a great question because as you
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can imagine,
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you know, you're trying to balance all of
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these. Right? And you do have to prioritize
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as you had said. And when I think
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about early on,
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what really we had to ground in quite
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a bit of well-being work. Right? And that
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was, you know, getting your staffing right, but
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then complementing it with well being. And well-being
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to us was
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where we emerged for it to say, you
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know, not only are we being proactive to
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support people on their journey, should it be
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mental health, physical health, nutrition,
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other components,
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but at the same time it was also
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around our decisioning as an organization because what
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we know is that well-being isn't just about
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support and services we offer, it's also how
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work happens.
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And so we really looked at an organized
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back at our organization
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and and focused on
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gosh how are we prioritizing our goals and
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making sure that we have the right amount
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of goals so it doesn't feel like it's
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too much for the organization
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to handle. And at the same time
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with our goal setting we were really really
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intentional around our change leadership and how our
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leaders
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are working with our teams through the change.
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So, we tackled well-being again to be you
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know your your holistic well-being offerings for people
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to access one times that matter,
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equipping our leaders really to lead and
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lead with well-being, but also that change,
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ability as well as we had a lot
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of growth as you heard me talk about
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within our organization.
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That makes a lot of sense. Thank you
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so much for digging a little bit deeper
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there. Now looking ahead, what are your big
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priorities and headwinds that you're focused on for
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2026
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and beyond?
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Well, as we look ahead, our focus is
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continuing to build the workforce, right, and build
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the workforce of the future
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while we
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really focus on strengthening the foundation we've already
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built. So when we think about the workforce
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of the future as
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that includes things of pipelines, right? We talk
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about pipelines at Children's Nebraska
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that is starting,
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workforce development all the way in the elementary
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school levels, right? Through
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high school into colleges and even working with
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many nonprofits.
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We are doing a lot with our internal
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team and we call that workforce pathways
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and it is
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allowing them to find their path within our
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organization should it be getting really strong in
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role or doing something different
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in helping to support them through schooling and
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flexible schedules to accomplish it. That's really important
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because in healthcare
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what we do know we're going to continue
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to face labor shortages and increased competition for
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talent.
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In addition, we're focused on
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AI
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and the human centric approach and how do
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you blend both of those and how do
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we do it responsibly
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adopting AI and technology
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in a way that really strengthens
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our individuals
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our team
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And what we're going to do is we're
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going to approach it by ways of reducing
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friction right through processes and improving workflows.
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And through that, we should be able to
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give that time to our team so that
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they can focus on the human side of
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care. You You know we hear from our
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team members, we came into this profession
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because we love relationships with people and taking
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care of people. So we're really trying to
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find ways how do we give that time
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back to our teams.
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Leadership development is also another major priority
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you know the expectation of leaders it's changing
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and it is changing quickly.
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We need leaders who can navigate complexity and
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help us to lead through innovative change
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but do it by building trust
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and delivering
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results
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with people at the center of it. So
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while there's headwinds ahead, right, when we talk
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about workforce shortages, burnout, and just the increased
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demand of health care,
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We feel that if we balance that
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with really maintaining our focus on investments on
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our culture that we're gonna continue to improve
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our employee experience and deliver great outcomes.
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I love that. I I think it's so
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important and critical as you mentioned to have
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that idea of, you know, where things are
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headed, being looking at,
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improvements,
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to workflows and and then finding ways that
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you can continue to build relationships
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within the health care space. So, the innovation
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is so important and, you know, to your
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point, the increased demand for health care, means
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you need a strong team in place in
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order to do that.
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And, you know, when you look at, everything,
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all the opportunities available,
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what aspects of the culture are are you
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really foreseeing additional investments into? Are you looking
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at more benefits or or more, continuing education
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or or all of the above?
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You know,
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that is a really great question because what
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we are seeing in our in research and
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also insights
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is that the workforce expectations are evolving and
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changing. And so when we think about that,
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areas we are focusing on
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continue to be ways of how do we
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have flexibility for team members, right,
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and do it in a way that,
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they find value of it. You know, certainly,
10:11
when you think about
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health care, we employ many professions, so those
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that are in more corporate or support functions,
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they're gonna have you know more flexibility of
10:20
like where the work happens. When we think
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about team members that are delivering patient care,
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their flexibility
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needs will be different, right? Whether it's, you
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know, how they select their ship, who they
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work with, what they work on,
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and so
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those are things that we are addressing is
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more of that flexible schedule and approach so
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that people could have more of that work
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life integration.
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In addition,
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professional
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growth is really important.
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Our team is looking for ways that you
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know they can have that career
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experience, and our goal is to make sure
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that they do that throughout their whole journey
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and never have to leave our organization. So
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really trying to find ways of growth and
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learning.
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And then when we look at our total
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rewards,
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mental health support
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and services are really, really important and,
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those are ways
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that we are trying to find ways for
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our team members and their loved ones to
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continue to have those resources available
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to them when they need it.
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That's so helpful to understand, and I I
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love, kind of that more personalization when you're
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looking at what the workforce wants today. I
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know it's always changing, always evolving with different
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generations and and and and different perspectives on
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how things are are evolving. So,
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that's really important intel.
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Now looking ahead, obviously, there's a lot going
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on, a lot you'll be adding on and
11:45
investing into, but what do you think the
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hardest thing you'll have to do over the
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next twelve months or so will be?
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It's a really great question, Laura.
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You know, one of the hardest things will
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be balancing
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growth with transformation
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and then just the daily demands placed on
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the workforce.
12:03
What we do know is healthcare is moving
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very fast.
12:08
I'm really really comfortable with it and at
12:10
the same time we think about all that
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you know how do we how do we
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bring in and understand
12:15
AI and what are what's going to be
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our stance in that
12:18
what's gonna be the implications,
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you know, to the workforce and and design
12:23
of workflows.
12:24
At the same time, all healthcare organizations are
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facing financial pressures, right, with reimbursement
12:31
and other,
12:32
factors.
12:34
And what we do know is the consumer
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expectation is changing, so all of this requires
12:39
organizations
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to evolve.
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But what we do know is while this
12:43
is happening, our people also still have to
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carry the very real day to day,
12:49
care and pressures of the healthcare delivery. And
12:52
so this challenge
12:53
is making sure transformation
12:55
isn't just adding more, that when you are
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transformation
13:00
when you are transforming
13:02
it's really to make things better, right, work
13:04
better and the experience better. So that means
13:06
you know simplifying
13:08
processes,
13:09
removing unnecessary
13:10
friction in processes.
13:12
We think technology can help with that and
13:15
really as an organization being focused and disciplined
13:18
about where what we want to invest in.
13:21
At the same time though that means you're
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gonna have to make some hard decisions about
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what should we stop doing
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and that requires
13:28
courage, clarity, and really strong leadership and sometimes
13:32
the hardest work is not starting something new,
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right, it's really focusing on things that we
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no longer,
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will do. Right?
13:42
That, again, we're just has change embedded
13:45
within it.
13:47
That makes a lot of sense. And I
13:49
think especially,
13:50
I love your point as you are mentioning,
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you know, the consumer expectations are changing, health
13:55
care is changing, reimbursement is changing. So all
13:57
those factors coming together,
13:59
in in trying to figure out how you
14:01
need to do things differently in order to
14:03
meet those needs of the community and and
14:05
expectations. And, you know, from from your,
14:08
standpoint and vantage point, what are some of
14:11
those consumer expectations that you're seeing evolve? What
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do you have to do differently in order
14:17
to meet those,
14:18
expectations,
14:19
from the health care lens?
14:21
Mhmm. When we think about consumer,
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it's it's really important that, you know, we
14:29
we think about how their ease of accessing
14:32
us, right, and
14:34
understanding,
14:35
how they can engage with our organization
14:38
should no matter what their need is. So,
14:40
again, that experience around,
14:42
just first impression all the way through and
14:44
then navigating
14:46
it should it be scheduling appointments,
14:49
needing to
14:51
talk with someone and others. So it is
14:54
rooted in again our team and how we
14:56
deliver that and what that experience is, but
14:58
also
14:59
investing in tools and resources
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that helps from that experience. The other is
15:04
doing a lot of investment in those same
15:06
to embark and and ensure that they have
15:09
educational
15:10
tools and resources at their fingertips
15:12
as well. So those are just a few
15:15
when you,
15:17
that is is evolving it because many of
15:19
the consumers,
15:21
even where we think it's going, when you
15:22
think about,
15:25
industries outside of health care, should it be,
15:28
you know, Netflix? That's a very personalized experience.
15:31
When you think about Amazon, it's very seamless.
15:33
Right? Apple has an intuitive nature. And so
15:37
while we can do all these things in
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our personal
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situations or outside of scheduling appointments, how do
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we translate those same experiences to our consumers
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and also our team members and and how
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they interact with the organization,
15:52
how they interact with HR
15:54
and other services
15:56
to ensure that they have a really great
15:57
experience.
15:59
I hear you. I I, I really appreciate
16:02
those,
16:03
comparisons and and certainly scheduling, of course, is
16:05
so important and then being able to invest
16:08
in the areas that consumers are going to
16:10
be able to engage further within the healthcare
16:12
system, so that makes a ton of sense.
16:14
I think lastly here, where do you see
16:16
some of the best opportunities for organizational growth?
16:19
You know when we think about growth the
16:21
biggest opportunity is to connect our workforce strategy,
16:25
you know continue to connect it right into
16:27
our organization performance. You know when I started,
16:31
it's really about how people drive outcomes and
16:34
so
16:35
we've seen very clearly that that
16:38
connection backed for our team to have the
16:40
experience around the purpose, the mission of the
16:42
organization.
16:44
Are they supported in their well-being? Are they
16:46
able to grow?
16:47
It does strive stronger outcomes for our organization
16:51
and directly impacts that patient experience, safety,
16:54
engagement, retention, and then the organization's overall performance.
16:59
So there is a tremendous opportunity in how
17:01
we use technology and AI to help continue
17:03
to better our and
17:05
improve our work environment.
17:08
It's really more than
17:09
efficiency. It's about a better experience. So, you
17:12
know, if we can reduce some administrative burden
17:15
or create simpler, more intuitive systems that will
17:19
allow our teams to spend more time
17:21
where they create the most value and find
17:23
the most value in.
17:26
That will be really incredible
17:28
and you know finally leadership development remains one
17:31
of our greatest growth opportunities.
17:34
You know, organizations that have leaders who are
17:36
both outcomes driven and deeply people centered,
17:40
they're gonna have a real competitive advantage. So
17:43
ultimately,
17:44
organizations that are gonna win in healthcare will
17:46
be the ones where people,
17:48
want to stay at the organization, they want
17:50
to grow and do their best work.
17:53
And that's what I'm most excited about
17:55
here at Children's, you know, the opportunity that's
17:58
in front of us. And what we do
18:00
know is that health care is changing,
18:02
the workforce is changing, and organizations that are
18:05
willing to rethink
18:06
maybe how work gets done, how leaders lead,
18:09
how people experience work will be the ones
18:12
that thrive. And at Children's Nebraska,
18:14
we are leaning into that.
18:17
I love it. Janelle, thank you so much
18:19
for your time today. This has been such
18:20
a fun conversation. I appreciate
18:23
the opportunity to learn from you and, really
18:25
learn more about what you're doing at Children's
18:27
Nebraska. So thank you so much, and look
18:29
forward to continuing the conversation soon.
18:31
Thank you, Laura.