Elements of a Work-Ready Workforce Strategy at Doctors Hospital
In my role of Director of Human Resources at Doctors Hospital and Integra Healthcare, I am privileged to assist with developing and/or shepherding a host of initiatives and strategies to ensure that our existing and future workforce is work-ready. We do this in the HR Department by working closely with functional leaders to understand the drivers for the Vision and Mission of the business, and to ensure that the skills and competencies required are deployed as needed. This collaboration can take many forms, including:
1. Creating Opportunities for Continuous Learning by every DH employee
Every Doctors Hospital’s almost 200-strong employees are entitled to access funding for their learning, training, certification or competency development on an annual basis, through the Tuition Reimbursement Programme. The funding is accessed by an Application to HR, and must be supported by their function leader or Manager. The eligibility for the annual funding begins after the employee completes his/her Probation, and begins at CI$1000.00 per year, and escalates based on tenure with the organization, strategic need, and benefit to the employee’s career and the Company.
2. Embracing the Concept of a Learning Organization
At the heart of building a work-ready workforce is the concept of a Learning Organization. Coined by Peter Senge of the Society of Organizational Learning and the Sloan School of Management at MIT, ” a Learning Organization is one that encourages continuous learning, fosters a culture of innovation, and adapts swiftly to change. Incorporating this concept into our workforce development strategies requires a shift in mindset and approach.
I realize that it is most likely that only medium-sized or large enterprises in Cayman may be able to tackle this concept. Nevertheless, for your guidance the framework for fostering a culture of the Learning Organization and Human Capital Development, either within the participating business enterprises, or nationally, within the Cayman Islands should include the following key stages:
- Conduct a Skills Needs Survey, for now but also recognizing future trends;
- Based on that Survey, conduct a Skills and Competencies gaps analysis or assessment;
- Informed by these first two steps, create Learning or Development Maps for each employee;
- Implement the Learning Maps, aligned with corporate strategy and supported by annual funding;
- Measure the impact of the implemented initiatives.
3. Fostering a Culture of Learning through Technology and Accreditation
To create a Learning Organization, we must foster a culture that values and prioritizes learning at all levels. At Doctors Hospital we implemented the following supporting strategies, in addition to the Tuition programme that I mentioned previously:
1. Fully leveraging our Learning Management System (LMS), known as Relias, to create a world of opportunities for our employees, whether this is technical learning or personal enrichment, articles and journals for reading, or learning video. Some of these learning activities can be voluntary or for personal development; OR some can and will be assigned, either for certification or clinical licensing purposes (as CME’s). Our LMS can track these and monitor completion, Grades etc.
2. Our primary HR Information System is BambooHR, and through that platform our HR team assists the functional leaders in aligning the annual Performance Management process, with the setting and monitoring of the agreed SMART Goals and objectives for each employee. These two platforms also interface with the Tuition Reimbursement Programme that Doctors Hospital HR Department administers.
3. Doctors Hospital is also on a journey to be internationally Accredited by the healthcare quality standard of Joint Commission International (JCI). This is a Standard much like ISO9000, “Black Belt”, and Six Sigma etc., and to a lesser extent Investors in People (in which several of Cayman’s leading organizations are certified). In the Skills, Qualifications and Experience Chapter of JCI, a number of Standards and Measurable Elements speak specifically to employees actively participating in structured workforce training, education, and development.
4. At Doctors Hospital we also seek to incubate our new recruits, and actively implement a 30-60-90 day new employees Orientation programme. However, our Work-ready efforts do not end there, we also provide our new Managers with nurturing by providing in-house or external Coaching and Mentoring opportunities. This will help to transition valued talent from technical or operational employees to effective Supervisors, Clinical Directors, or Managers.
This article was written with the insights of Mario Ebanks, Director of HR at Doctors Hospital
