HJNO Jan/Feb 2021

HOSPITAL HEALTH FORCE 12 JAN / FEB 2021 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS   daughters, friends and neighbors.We already had an Office of Professional Well-being and worked to roll out programs including counseling, mindfulness education and the creation of decompression zones at our facilities. We also activated our Employee Assistance Fund to support teammembers experiencing financial challenges due to the pandemic. As many of our team members began working from home in March, we created and deployed professional development programs to help leaders manage their teams remotely. We redeployed team members from clinics and fitness centers to serve in new roles, like temperature checkers at our hospitals. Reimagining their roles helped us fill needs across the organization and ensured that we did not have furloughs or layoffs. RUPPERT As a true business partner, HR team members have had to step outside their comfort zones to address challenges not encountered in recent history – many outside the typical HR realm. Our primary focus was on the health and well-being of our team members. Being a member of the HCA family provided opportunities to retain a strong workforce by retraining and repurposing staff, introducing new pay practices to keep team members “whole” during the pandemic and implementing employee health practices to ensure the safety of our team members. issue in healthcare, COVID has presented many new staffing challenges. From a recruitment/retention standpoint, many RNs have taken advantage of high-dollar travel assignments, leaving facilities more short-staffed than usual. Additionally, higher than normal patient census, high- acuity patients and staff being out due their own illnesses have presented new staffing challenges that have led to frustration and burnout. CORTEZ Yes. I believe COVID has highlighted the nursing shortage or at least placed it on a larger stage. We have also seen a significant reduction in applicants for many positions in radiology (CT, MRI, Nuclear Med, Ultrasound, etc.) and lab techs. Most of these shortages are simply a matter of supply and demand. There has not been significant growth in graduates in these programs from local schools, and some areas have seen declines due to program eliminations. This leads to more competition for a limited resource. Editor Has COVID-19 shifted the focus of the HR department? If so, how? SCHIRO COVID-19 created some significant challenges that we needed to solve very quickly. I feel lucky that our CEO and executive leadership are extremely committed to supporting our employees. Our team and organization shifted rapidly to support the needs of employees throughout the pandemic. When school closures were announced, we had to find solutions very quickly to ensure that front line staff could continue to come into work and take care of patients. In a matter of days, we created a child care program that supported 1,500 employees and continued it through the spring. The stress of COVID-19 on employees, nurses and providers was also a critical issue to solve. Healthcare was not an easy industry before the pandemic, and burnout is common. We also were experiencing the stress of COVID-19 as parents, sons, CORTEZ Initially, we did see a significant shift in focus as everyone struggled to gain an understanding of the effects this would have on the workforce. In addition, new guidance and regulation seemed to appear, and change, daily. Once the initial flurry of the first three to four months passed, things calmed, and we have returned mostly to our normal work. Editor What are the top three HR challenges you see today in your organization, and how are they being addressed? SCHIRO Workforce pipeline, employee engagement and retention, and talent development are significant challenges that we’re working to manage and overcome. We’ve put extensive resources into developing several workforce programs that will help train the next generation of health professionals. This also helps people who are unemployed or underemployed. When Louisiana residents saw significant unemployment during the pandemic, we set up a training program for unemployed hospitality workers. This was funded by a grant and trained two cohorts of 25. I’m happy to share that all 50 participants received job offers at Ochsner. Employee engagement and retention are always a big focus, but our employees’ needs have evolved in recent months. Some “We already had an Office of Professional Well- being and worked to roll out programs including counseling, mindfulness education and the creation of decompression zones at our facilities. We also activated our Employee Assistance Fund to support team members experiencing financial challenges due to the pandemic.” - Tracey Schiro, MBA