Written by Kara Marante
Working for the pediatric health system is special. What could be more rewarding than caring for the health and well-being of the youngest and often most vulnerable members of our community? Nicklaus Children's vision is to provide health care to all children. It is about building a brighter future. My colleagues and I take this goal seriously every day. My job as Chief Human Resources Officer is to ensure a culture that recognizes the importance of the work we do, focuses on the people within our organization, and further enhances our brand as a trusted health care system for children. to build and maintain. South Florida.
Everyone who visits our facility is intentionally aware of our human focus. When I started my role in 2020, we made a conscious choice to call the role Chief Human Resources Officer rather than Head of Human Resources. This really means something to us because our culture is people-first. Everyone who comes to work at Nicklaus Children's Home becomes part of our family. That means both figuratively and literally. I am also a mother and my children come here when they need care. In many ways, the communities we serve are also the communities within our organization. they are not separate things.
What many people may not know – Nicklaus Children’s is one of the largest employers in the area. The Nicklaus Children family currently consists of approximately 5,000 employees. Together, we treat nearly 500,000 patients each year. Our culture is defined by six values and guiding principles: Collaboration, Responsibility, Empowerment, Advocacy, Transformation, and Empathy (Create for short). All employees in our organization are aware of these and do their best to put them into practice in their daily work and other settings. They also guide our planning and recruitment from a chief human resources officer perspective.
Driving and developing our talent pipeline has been one of the key areas of focus for me since I started this role. We don't just fill open or new positions with candidates from outside the organization, we also look internally to see who is the best fit or who is seeking a new role or responsibility. An even more important element is succession planning. While we want to retain as many of our Nicklaus Children's professionals as possible, we understand that some will want to move forward and others will leave. Therefore, we are actively planning the succession process for various roles within our organization.
The second key theme is organizational and human resource development. This means we need to ensure that our doctors, nurses, other professionals and staff are ready to perform the duties necessary to care for the children of our communities now and in the future. means. The best way to improve the skills of your employees is something I take very seriously, and as healthcare evolves and new technologies such as artificial intelligence become more important and used in everyday roles. , should be reviewed regularly.
Finally, it is important that we cultivate and strengthen our culture, which is built around the six values and behavioral principles listed above. Not only has the role of employers evolved and changed since the global pandemic. Employees value and expect more than ever, especially healthy lifestyles and financial wellness programs. Nicklaus Children's has introduced and expanded some of these programs, including mammography for female employees in the field. We have also recently started offering pregnancy support as part of our employee program.
Overall, our talent efforts have been largely successful. Our turnover rate is just over 12%, which is lower than the industry average. We have a large number of employees with above-average tenure and strong employee engagement scores. All of this points to the importance of fostering a human-centered culture. It's important in any organization. This is even more important in pediatric healthcare institutions, which are dedicated to ensuring the health and well-being of society's youngest members.
Kara Marante is vice president and chief human resources officer at Nicklaus Children's Health System, where she leads the health system's human resources and organizational development teams.
Post views: 2
