HR Pulse - Fall 2008 - (Page 48)

>> THE ENGAGEMENT DILEMMA has been able to develop students and staff for the future of the organization. “Students that come here for clinicals have a chance to feel us out,” says Roundy. During focus group meetings, employees have appreciated the support commenting, “They do promote your education from my experience. If you want to further your education, it has been promoted. I have seen it personally and within my department.” Conclusion So do the beneﬁts of employee engagement outweigh the costs? “Better morale and teamwork, increased efﬁciencies. The atmosphere is so different today than it was in 2004,” Roundy says. “You can feel it walking through the ﬂoors. I don’t know how you put a number on that. I know it feels good when I’m going home at the end of the day. I feel good about what is going on at the hospital when I’m not there.” Being able to market to prospective employees using the engagement scores and organizational rank is a signiﬁcant competitive advantage. The organization has tangible evidence that it achieved a “Best in Class” status and that employees like working there. “Having a tool like the employee opinion survey helps to differentiate yourself in the market. These days you have to prove that you are seeking to be a good employer. If you’re a health care employee, it is a buyer’s market,” says Harding. CCH is still in the process of completing its departmental action plans for the year. It has an estimated 50 action plans, down from 170 in 2004. And to ensure action planning success, it assesses action planning progress quarterly. Harding says, “I have a hard time picturing anyone that is against the employee survey process. How could you not value your employees’ opinions, which are often correlated with employee engagement and organizational performance?” HR Solutions’ National Employee Engagement Research Murat Philippe is a principal consultant with more than 10 years of survey research experience. Philippe has helped HR Solutions establish its Employee Engagement metrics, evaluate the efficacy of repeat surveys, and helped many clients establish multi-tiered goals for their subsequent survey efforts. 1 has given us the ability to do a better job at listening to our most valuable resources: The employees.” 48 HR Pulse Fall 2008 Flexibility is Key It is no secret that our lives are becoming increasingly busy with activities both in and out of the workplace. As we add to our responsibilities with work, family, and personal commitments, making time for it all can seem like a daunting task. CCH is among many employers that have implemented some version of ﬂexible scheduling or ﬂextime for their employees, allowing them to remain active in all aspects of life. The job satisfaction outcomes are astounding, and these ﬂexible arrangements also can be great beneﬁts for employers with respect to recruitment, engagement, and retention. “Work schedules at CCH are very ﬂexible,” Roundy says. “Some people work 8 hours, some 12 hours, some work every third weekend, some work every other weekend. It is a bit challenging to manage, but we try to respect work/life balance and ﬂextime.” In addition to ﬂextime, CCH offers employees other timesaving perks such as on-site oil changes, dry cleaning, workout facilities, stamp sales, and UPS parcel post. “They don’t have to worry about running those errands,” she explains. Ensuring the Best Fit CCH has not taken the hiring process lightly. In addition to hiring a recruiter, the organization seeks to really understand how a potential hire will ﬁt with the organizational culture during the interview process. “Every position we hire includes staff interviews with co-workers, peers, and the hiring manager. These interviews are not just Q-and-A sessions; candidates might be asked to participate in scenario teambuilding activities to validate skills or (assess team dynamics),” says Roundy. The results of the team interviewing process are taken seriously as proven by one team’s decision to restart the hiring process after the team-building event revealed that the group interaction style of two ﬁnalists for a “key position” was a poor ﬁt. A second way CCH ensures a good organizational ﬁt is by “growing their own.” By partnering with schools in the area, hosting clinical practice, and fortifying its tuition reimbursement program, CCH 12/28/07 4:05:37 PM 355270_Spectrum.indd 1 http://www.spectrumhr.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Fall 2008

HR Pulse - Fall 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Irma Pye Sammy’s House: Making a Difference in Austin Working Mother Magazine’s 100 Best Companies Increasing CEO Engagement Pastoral Care Retaining Scarce, Critical Talent The Engagement Dilemma Diversity Considerations…More than AAP & EEO Quashing the Workplace Bullying Bug How to Become a Strong Human Resources Partner Citizen Lobbyists Descend Upon Capitol Hill Conference Highlights Schedule at a Glance Sponsors Exhibitors Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Fall 2008

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