Starting April 1, 2020, Joyce McDanel, vice president of human resources and education at UnityPoint – Des Moines, will be the new chair of the CareerSTAT Executive Committee. With more than 30 years of healthcare leadership experience, Joyce brings a wealth of expertise and strategic vision to the position. She takes over for Joanne Pokaski, senior director of workforce development and community relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who served as chair for three years. Under Joanne’s strategic leadership CareerSTAT expanded its network by over 60%, established and grew the peer recognition program, launched the Resource Center, and implemented the first cohort of the Healthcare Workforce Development Academy. In addition, Gerard Camacho, assistant vice president of workforce development at Atrium Health, will assume the role of vice chair.
Healthcare Workforce Development Academy: Peer-Learning in Action
Peer-learning is at the heart of CareerSTAT. It helped to establish the network as a go-to resource for frontline healthcare workforce development. To help organizations in the peer-led network accelerate the adoption of best practices for investing in frontline workers, CareerSTAT launched the Healthcare Workforce Development Academy in 2017. In late January, representatives from 16 healthcare organizations in the newest cohort of the Academy met in Charlotte, North Carolina, to start their Academy journey. Get an inside look at the power of peer-learning and read about the newest Academy cohort in our newest blog.
New Grant to Address Trauma and Workforce
The National Fund for Workforce Solutions has received a one year grant from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield to develop a strategy to integrate trauma-informed practices into workforce development. With this support, the National Fund will conduct research on current trauma resources and identify what needs to be modified or created for workforce development. Ultimately, the strategy will lead to a comprehensive plan for education, training, and technical assistance for employers, workforce development professionals, training providers, and community organizations to integrate trauma-informed practices and management techniques to support worker success.
Featured Best Practice: Supportive HR Policies and Practices
Does your organization have policies that create unintentional roadblocks to attracting and retaining talent? Many employers describe the same situation; they struggle with attraction, retention and engagement in their lower-wage workforce. To truly develop the frontline workforce, you need more than programs or initiatives designed for them. Good HR policies are a competitive advantage, as they can expand talent pipelines and improve employee engagement and retention. Learn more about this and other best practices in the CareerSTAT Resource Center.
New Tools, Reports, and Resources
Women’s Fund of Greater Cincinnati Employer Toolkit
Open positions and rapid turnover are a vicious cycle that is disruptive and expensive to businesses. There is a competitive advantage for an organization that succeeds in retaining and motivating their lower-wage employees. Created through extensive research, the Employer Toolkit is a collection of nearly 60 workplace policies that can help support, stabilize and retain lower-wage employees. Learn more about this great toolkit here.
Precarious Work Schedules and Population Health
Unstable and unpredictable work schedules are associated with poor health outcomes in adults, complexity and informality in childcare arrangements, and behavioral problems in young children. This brief synthesizes research findings that allowed us to connect the dots between precarious work schedules and health, and we identify the gaps that remain to be filled. Learn more here.
Messaging to Underrepresented Populations
Based on focus groups and survey results, Aspen Institute gained insights into how to message the value of community college programs to opportunity youth, unemployed adults, and underemployed adults. They took these lessons and developed a “Do’s and Don’ts of Messaging” toolkit that can apply be used by any institution in any industry that is seeking to market their different programs and offerings to a wide diverse audience. Learn more about the toolkit here.
Fostering Healthy Neighborhoods
Substantial evidence links financial well-being and health. As income and wealth increase or decrease, so does health. Individuals and families with more wealth and higher incomes are better able to access the material and physical conditions that facilitate good health and are less likely to suffer from the mental and physical effects of financial stress caused by income volatility, insufficient savings, and unmanageable debt. A report from Build Healthy Places Network, Prosperity Now, and Financial Health Network explores how to foster alignment across the community development, public health, healthcare, and financial well-being sectors. Learn more here.
Anchor Mission Communications Toolkit
Hospitals, health systems, and other anchor institutions from across the country are adopting an “anchor mission” to tackle the underlying economic and social determinants of community health outcomes and community well-being. This toolkit provides communications tips, tools, and examples from Rush University Medical Center, along with other HAN members and higher education anchor institutions, to help with the work of communicating an anchor mission approach. Learn more here.
