Speaker 1: 0:03

I just want to first say we're chatting at lunch today and for everybody in this room that has dedicated their time and energy to HR, especially in healthcare, it's really hard and you guys care for the people, that care for the people, and I just have so much respect and admiration and I'm always so inspired when I come to sessions like this to be able to talk with folks like yourself. So what are we going to talk about today? We are going to talk about navigating healthcare talent acquisitions. What does that mean? So we have changing environments, changing dynamics, shifting sands. If the last few years have taught us anything is that we need to expect the unexpected. So I'm going to kind of tee it up a little bit and just give you guys a little frame of reference. So you know how do we navigate this thing. What do we need to do? So I was talking with Dr Johnson, we were getting out of the elevator and he actually said are you going to give us the secret? Are you going to let us know how to do it? And I am, because we're friends and family here now. So really, what it means is to have a best-in-class talent acquisition process, and the way that we view, that is through these five lenses so people process, technology, digital recruitment, marketing and reporting. So we call it the human way because marketing and we need to brand it, but it should be the everybody way. And as you think about leveling up your talent acquisition function, you should really be thinking about it through these five buckets. And how can I be in the top 90th percentile in all of these areas? And if you can, then chances are you have a best-in-class TA function. It starts with people. So professional recruiters that are professionally managed. We know what they're working on, we're measuring them, but they're salespeople. They're your only salespeople in HR and that's really important that they're selling your mission, culture and values. From a process perspective, we live in a fast food world and if you have a cumbersome process, if you have a difficult to manage process, you're losing candidates. So make sure that it's streamlined and it's optimized. The next is your technology stack. So a lot of groups are transitioning to different applicant tracking systems and different platforms. But we really need to make sure that it is optimized and that foundation is sound, because it's really important and then you can bolt on other platforms that help alleviate administrative duties for your recruiters and the way that we look at technology is what can I take off of my recruiter's plate that allows them to focus on building relationships with candidates and building relationships with hiring managers From a digital recruitment marketing perspective?

Speaker 1: 2:49

Do you have a proliferation strategy and do you have an investment strategy? And are you measuring that it's really important? Then what are we saying? What does our digital footprint actually say about us? And do we have an EVP? Is that messaging woven in? Do we have a brand promise so, when somebody actually finds our jobs, can they really quickly identify how their life is going to be different and enriched based on coming to work for us versus somebody else? And the last thing the table stake, but it's so important is data and reporting. So we need to be able to pull the data that either validates the strategy or disproves it and allows us to really understand where we need to dig in. So first question so, jennifer, I'll start with you. So, of the five key components that we talked about people, process, technology, digital recruitment, marketing, reporting and data what is one area you feel your organization is thriving or is making exceptional strides, and how did you get there and any lessons learned that you might have?

Speaker 2: 3:51

So I actually feel that process and reporting and data kind of go together. So I think back at the end of 2023, we really, as an organization, sat down and took a look at our process and really needed to make some enhancements on three major processes that we were doing within the organization. One of them was really our interviewing process, along with our employee experience process, and then our onboarding and orientation process. So, along with our partners, we were able to make those enhancements by working with the teams and restructuring our interviewing process, by restructuring our behavioral interviewing questions, bringing back our in-person interviewing along with our shadow shifts. And then, as far as our onboarding and orientation, what we ended up doing is our onboarding was already centralized, but we worked with the team to centralize our orientation.

Speaker 2: 5:12

Prior to that, it was entity-based and everybody was hearing something different about the organization. So we decided to change that process and centralize the orientation. Change that process and centralize the orientation. So I think once you make all these changes to the process, then you have to be able to bring that data to back it up. So we worked with our workforce analytics team, along with the human team, to be able to provide our leaders with that information and the great thing about it is, you know, once we were able to establish those measures of success, we were able to partner with our leaders at the entities to provide them with really some insight and almost a forecast of how they can get ahead of their retention and also their first year turnover. So it was in all, it was extremely successful, and I mean as of right now, the leaders and the entities and even, to this point, the various units, rely on that information.

Speaker 1: 6:31

That's great. That's great, and I think about the cohesive message, definitely in onboarding, because that's your first entry point really to the organization and we want to make sure that we're saying the right things. Keisha, what would you choose?

Speaker 3: 6:43

Yeah, university of Chicago we have our tag is at the forefront and I think in this space we have been leaders in taking a look at the entire enterprise and key objectives for performance and, like many of your organizations, centered around quality and safety and experience. And so we were working diligently really around the experience space our patients and families in the communities that we serve, and that's my world. And so when I came on board to University of Chicago, the effort didn't match on the employee space and it was really important to me to not only understand the sentiment and expectations of our patients and families, but what were that of our employees, right. So we did a great job of bringing in great talent, but we did not do a good job of continually surveying, understanding what was most important to them and actually using the data. So really good that we got monthly data back from our survey vendor, from our patients, and we can operationalize the insights, not so much on the employee side. And so, at the forefront, we decided I was two years in at University of Chicago that we would integrate into one space and move from patient experience, family experience, into consumer experience and viewing our workforce as the consumer as well. And so taking a look at our benefits, taking a look at the environment that we create for those to come in and perform at their best, that we create for those to come in and perform at their best, we're asking these folks to take quality very seriously, to deliver in an environment that allows for safe practices and a safe environment for our patients, but we did not understand truly what does that environment look like? What's the best environment for our caregivers to do this, and what are they grappling with at home? We just saw a slide where 73% have some caregiver responsibilities. Do our benefits match that?

Speaker 3: 9:00

I shared with my colleagues here that, upon taking on the HR role, it was important for me to sit through all the key HR things. I had to sit through a presentation by one of our insurance vendors and what caught my eye during the conversation it was riveting, by the way, right, yes, let's talk about claims. Awesome. And what struck me was the double-digit increase in utilization for mental health support and I was very curious how often, how many years in a row, were we seeing double-digit increases Four years in a row? And I go, wow, what have we changed in four years? Nothing, and I said can I see a breakout Is it our employees or is it our dependents or spouses? And it was pretty much split. It was mostly our employees, but also their dependents, and what that said to me is someone who is tasked at the organization of leading on people and understanding what our people need, and how do we execute on that?

Speaker 3: 10:03

What it said was our employees, yes, are utilizing those services and getting the mental health support, but those employees also have dependents who are doing the same, and I share with my colleagues earlier today that if I'm that mama bear on the job and my responsibility is to keep patients safe, I'm also thinking about my kiddo, who may be accessing those mental health support services, and so it was important to me that we started to look at our benefits a little bit differently.

Speaker 3: 10:31

And how do we create that safety nest Not net nest, right, so a nest where we knew that we can provide even more resources, things that allowed the dependents to access it as well. So taking a look at app-based mental health support for our dependents, where they can still maintain some autonomy and privacy, but also assuring that our employees, that they are available to you, but also your dependents, and that has been a great marriage in which we're looking at what our patients and families are desiring, but also what our employees need as well, so they can come into the organization with a little less burden and knowing that we won't solve all of their problems, but we will provide the support and resources to lighten the load a little bit when it comes to personal responsibilities.

Speaker 1: 11:27

The safety nest Nest. I like that. I like that, awesome. So I'm going to jump around here, but could you share and, jennifer, I'm going to come back to you again Could you share a key tactic or strategy that you've implemented as it relates to talent acquisition that you're particularly proud of, and I would love for you to maybe touch on your travel reduction program.

Speaker 2: 11:49

Yeah, absolutely. I remember it like it was yesterday. So definitely our agency reduction. So we worked with Human to reduce our agency. The first thing we did was an extremely aggressive marketing strategy where we developed a welcome home campaign where we called all of our previous employees who were in good standing and invited them to come back to the organization and from there we were able to hire back I think around maybe 50 employees that came back to the organization and we also were able to work to convert a lot of the agency nurses to employees.

Speaker 2: 12:35

We also developed an internal agency, which was extremely successful. We invited our own employees to transition into this internal agency and we also developed a tier three float pool. So these nurses had a home facility, but they were required to work at one of our other facilities a minimum of two shifts a month, so that helped cover a lot of the available shifts at some of our other entities. And then we had, of course, our international pipeline, which we had started recruiting internationally back in 2017. So, with all of these strategies that we had put in place, within nine months we were able to reduce our agency usage by 61%, so a yearly premium of it was about 48 million. So prior to COVID we were spending maybe about 1.3 million a month on agency usage. At our peak we were spending about, I want to say, 9.7 million a month and currently we're around 2 million. So I mean significant reduction in agency usage just by developing those strategies, and we still use a lot of those strategies to date.

Speaker 1: 14:07

Yeah, and I think and it's a testament to the leadership and the team at Adventist and it was really an organizational effort and it started from the CEO all the way down, and it can't just be well, this entity or this clinical leader, it really has to be an organizational effort and I think that happened in nine months. Yeah, nine months, $50 million that's pretty good. Let's all do that. Awesome, Keisha, what about you?

Speaker 3: 14:35

I think not to sound like a commercial, but we've engaged Human as our partner for talent acquisition and it's been one of the happiest marriages we have, and truly a partner. And so what's a bit different at UCM is that we have this group of individuals who are well integrated into our business and also into our culture, and so it's important to us that we share with them our struggles, just beyond the numbers. And again, with me taking on this space, it's important that our HR folks, our teams there, understand what we're after in terms of safety and quality. We're really proud of our 25th straight A from Leapfrog and the Lone Standing Academic Medical Center, and so that's incredibly important for us, and so if you're a partner with us, you will know it too, and so for us, we thought it was important that they're in the conversations.

Speaker 3: 15:36

They're part of some of our huddles, they're part of understanding how the units and how the workforce is changing in our floors and what are some of those new team members that we're looking for, and so we love match day at academic medical centers, and so having more pop-up listening lounges, not only talking to our leaders but talking to staff of who is that ideal colleague and who would you like to work alongside, when we are at capacity, when we're in surge situations, and so learning a bit about what makes for the perfect team member, if you will, and making sure that they understand it, and so when they go out to a track that they're well immersed into our culture where they can speak to it.

Speaker 3: 16:26

And I actually started at UCM as a recruit and a candidate that was sourced through Human and today I stand as a business partner and so I know with my experience it was one of the best that I've had as a professional and we just trust that and we're confident, and those who are coming into our doors that they this team has helped us create that first impression, but also continuously having them integrated into our business to understand our goals and what are those top performing teams look like and how do we attract more of those. So looking beyond the traditional pipelines, being more creative in who we recruit and we have that in a partner with human.

Speaker 1: 17:11

Awesome and you know we actually have a tool, as Keisha was talking about how do you find the right person, how do you know who you're looking for? And it's called a candidate persona package or canvas, and it basically is like a buyer persona for sales. So if you're selling something, who are you looking for? What are we going? And you know those people are going to be, you know, certain stature or whatever, but from a candidate standpoint it's they're going to have certain clinical skills or educational requirements. But if we move beyond that, what are the core value attributes that you're looking for? What are those intangibles, those things that you can't teach somebody? So if anybody is looking for any tools to help start that dialogue or that conversation, we have a quick PDF that we could shoot over and it could just really help go beyond the job description or beyond the resume. That can be super helpful and really just to think about those people as people.

Speaker 3: 18:06

And if I can add to that, that has been incredible for our retention and we're proud of our 12% turnover that we had in prior year 11% and a lot has to do with using a tool that Derek is referencing that, beyond the skills and those intangibles that we know, those are the folks that are a better fit for our culture and they have been key contributors in our other performance metrics like safety and quality.

Speaker 1: 18:36

Yeah, awesome, thank you. So one more question. So obviously we're all partners here, keisha, you inherited us, yes, so I think it's been a pretty good experience. You're also a recruit, jennifer. You helped us build it and really customize our partnership from where it started to where it is today. What do you think is the biggest benefit? And, jennifer, I'll start with you with leveraging an external partner as your system navigates this crazy dynamic, and the next thing that comes along, yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:11

So first I just want to say we have a very unique model with human. We have a very unique model with human. We have a hybrid leadership model. So when we started working with human we we started with one recruiter who recruited for our ED, and right now I'm the only leader who sits at corporate and under me I have two directors and then we have two managers and they are human directors, human leaders.

Speaker 2: 19:40

So I would say the biggest advantage for me is just having that flexibility and being able to scale. So I'm sure, just like most of your organizations, you're growing. We have a hospital that's building a brand new tower, we have one that's opening up another unit, we have one that's waiting for a certificate of need to build a new hospital. So just being able to scale up and down with recruiters in a matter of two weeks, versus having to hire someone external, versus having to hire someone external, and then also just having that ability for me to focus on operations and strategy within the organization and having the team focus on the day-to-day and the recruiters and programs, onboarding, orientation, all of that. So I would say that's for me that's the biggest advantage of having that relationship.

Speaker 1: 20:40

That flexibility is key.

Speaker 3: 20:42

Keisha. That's the biggest selling point for us too at UCM the flexibility to go up and down based on our needs of the organization. Also, I talked about understanding our business model and what's coming next. What we also appreciate through human is that we, internally, are focused on the big business, the day-to-day, and human helps us with the lens externally and what helps us to shape the way we're thinking about who is the next generation of our workforce, right, and what appeals and attracts those folks. So they're even helping us with some insights and guidance as we continue to evolve in our culture and as our workforce is younger and younger, have we tailored things that makes a Gen Z want to stay, want to grow within the organization? And so, while they're doing the heavy work of, and I should say, hitting the pavement and getting those folks that fit our culture, they're also letting us know what we're seeing and how we should start planning as it relates to, once they're here, what does that culture look like?

Speaker 3: 21:51

So do we have an attractive culture to retain these folks, and so that's been incredibly important. I also think it's important that they understand what we're dealing with as it relates to our finances, right, and so to what we've heard from Jennifer is reducing that agency spend, driving down significantly our time to fill, particularly around hot jobs, and there's no big problem. We can't go to them and feel confident that they will help us work through it and just give us greater insights. That we've not considered and so has been a key partner with developing strategy for right now. We just completed our strategy for 2035. And so the workforce and talent acquisition is a big part.

Speaker 1: 22:38

Awesome, so we have a couple minutes left. Any questions that we could field? Oh, there's a couple.

Speaker 3: 22:49

Just for further clarification and, jennifer, you touched on this slightly, but am I to understand that for either organization you don't have internal recruitment functions? Is this solely recruitment through human?

Speaker 2: 23:02

We do have internal recruiters. So all of our we have a handful of internal recruiters and then also our onboarding coordinators are internal and then, like I mentioned, we have the hybrid model for the leadership. So we have two human directors, two human managers, and then some team leads and then also the human recruiters. So it's a combination.

Speaker 1: 23:30

Yeah, and it can really. They come in all shapes and sizes and at the end of the day, no organization is the same. So what might work for UCM, which that is, total outsourcing, just doesn't work for Adventist, and it could be a subset or it could be just one recruiter and then you get some flexibility that's built into that. Did I see another question over here?

Speaker 2: 23:52

Oh, that was your question as well.

Speaker 1: 23:53

Okay, awesome, awesome. So one thing that I want to mention. So, if you guys scan the QR code, we actually wrote this. It's not really a book, it's a novella I guess let's just say that and it's really a handbook of how to stand up a best-in-class TA process. At the end of the day, you could buy it, you could build it. There's a lot of different ways to go about it, but these are some really good resources that you may want to leverage. So, before we wrap and I'd be remiss if I didn't ask, because we have two amazingly accomplished professionals here, so we're going to get personal just for a second so what is the here? So we're going to get personal just for a second so what is the one thing that you believe has had the greatest impact on your success as you've developed and gone through your career? So, keisha, I'll start with you.

Speaker 3: 24:49

Okay, I think it's been important to understand the insights and what's most important to our workforce. I think we start there I'm sure a number of you all will agree and we build the greatest strategy. Without our people we don't see the success and I think it's been highlights of my day of going out and just talking to the people and understanding their perspective and getting to where you know, being where the work happens, to better understand their challenges and using those insights to shape the future of our workforce Right, those insights to shape the future of our workforce right. And so, with CMS and CAPS and everything, we know how to do that from the consumer standpoint. But our people that we trust, our patients, they're in their hands. We have not done a great job of doing that and I do think my ability to connect with people and want to better understand them has led to us building some really effective strategies.

Speaker 1: 26:02

Awesome, and if we could steal 30 more seconds.

Speaker 2: 26:05

Yeah, I think my success, my background is nursing. I'm a nurse, I worked surgical ICU for years. So I think, just now, being on the corporate side but working with the clinical programs, I can relate to what the nurses are going through, what the clinical managers are going through, what the needs are, and I also pride myself on just being able to build those relationships with the team and also with our executive team. So I think those would be probably the two things Awesome.

Speaker 1: 26:43

Excellent. Well, thank you, everybody Really appreciate it.

Speaker 3: 26:47

Thank you, derek Keisha and Jennifer Wonderful.