Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement / en Sun, 20 Oct 2024 09:06:58 -0500 Thu, 13 Jul 23 10:09:09 -0500 Skill.Set.Go. /skillsetgo <div class="banner-design"><img src="/sites/default/files/2023-07/SSG-final-abstract-banner-and-logo-1200px.png" alt="91��Digital Learning Platform - Skill.Set.Go." width="1200" height="487"></div><h1>Skill.Set.Go.</h1> Thu, 13 Jul 2023 10:09:09 -0500 Employee Engagement 9 Keys to Avoid the Great Resignation /education-events/9-keys-avoid-great-resignation The Great Resignation is sweeping the globe and hitting the healthcare field particularly hard. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the sector has lost almost 500,000 people since the beginning of the pandemic and according to a USA Today poll in February, 23% of those remaining in the sector are considering leaving. Other industries have taken note and are targeting healthcare for their recruiting efforts. And other areas within healthcare are targeting the Environmental Services areas. Employee retention has never been more important — or more difficult. Please join us for an engaging and highly practical session with global Future of Work speaker, Kim Seeling Smith where she will share her proprietary model, based on over 5,000 exit interviews to help us understand what our employees really need to be motivated to stay and to do great work. Product Code:&nbsp;324WB0722 <h4>REGISTRATION INFORMATION</h4> This is a pre-recorded, on-demand webinar available at your convenience. On the webinar release date, you will receive an email with a link to the webinar. This webinar will remain available on-demand following the initial release date. <hr /> <h4>SPEAKERS</h4> Kim Seeling Smith, CSP, CVP EO &amp; Founder&nbsp; Ignite Global Fri, 20 May 2022 12:23:32 -0500 Employee Engagement Core Competencies for Health Care Environmental Services Professionals Report /core-competencies-health-care-environmental-services-professionals-report .left-image { float: right; margin-right: 25px; margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; } <div class="left-image"><a href="https://www.ahemediakit.org" target="_blank"><img alt="91��Education Image" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="f5ca31e0-6625-47f3-9ca4-a8a8dca4e9f3" src="/sites/default/files/inline-images/ahe-house-ad-image-300x250.png" width="300" height="250"> </a></div> <h2>Core Competencies</h2> A core competency is considered one that is an absolute requirement for a specific job. These core competencies may be used to create job descriptions, assess performance and guide professional development; self-assess skill levels and training needs and set improvement goals, and determine staff training needs. It should be noted that job titles vary by organizational size, structure, level within a health care system and other organizational attributes. Core competencies, not titles,&nbsp;should drive decision-making about compensation and appropriate pay bands. It should also be noted that leadership titles vary by size, system level, organizational structure and other characteristics of a health care organization. Users should exercise judgment in determining which title most applies to their particular management structure. These guidelines were developed for acute care hospitals, but they may be used in various health care settings as most of the core competencies have broad applicability. The core competencies were developed using two job task analyses as a starting point. In the second phase of development, subject matter experts determined which competencies should be elevated to the core level.&nbsp; <a class="btn btn-primary btn-xs" href="https://ams.aha.org/EWEB/?ahabu=AHE&amp;Action=Add&amp;ObjectKeyFrom=1A83491A-9853-4C87-86A4-F7D95601C2E2&amp;WebCode=ProdDetailAdd&amp;DoNotSave=yes&amp;ParentObject=CentralizedOrderEntry&amp;ParentDataObject=Invoice%20Detail&amp;ivd_formkey=69202792-63d7-4ba2-bf4e-a0da41270555&amp;ivd_prc_prd_key=229b23aa-3b45-48db-bd92-9dead6cf3faa" role="button">Get the Full Report</a> <h3>Fees</h3> Member: $0.00 Non-Member: $129.00 <hr> <h4>Not a member?&nbsp;<a class="btn btn-primary btn-xs" href="https://ams.aha.org/eweb/dynamicpage.aspx?webcode=AHAMembershipList&amp;asn_key=33113A9D-2029-4060-8C94-43F794AD56DB" role="button">Join </a></h4> Mon, 11 May 2020 08:43:36 -0500 Employee Engagement Using Lean Management Strategically /using-lean-management-strategically <h1>Using Lean Management Strategically</h1> <h3>By Kent L. Miller, MHA, CHESP, T-CHEST</h3> November 1st, 2018&nbsp;|&nbsp;Formats:&nbsp;Technical Paper |&nbsp;Content Areas:&nbsp;Administration&nbsp;|&nbsp;Tags:&nbsp;Career Development, Employee Engagement, Employee Life Cycle, Lean/Six Sigma, Management <hr /> Abstract Health care is under enormous stress today. This comes as a result of the Affordable Care Act, state and federal regulatory pressures, internal financial pressures, competition, human resources and supply management. The questions are: <ul> <li>Do you know what your metrics are for the patient experience? How do you meet the organization’s goals?</li> <li>Do you know how well your quality meets the regulatory and/or organization’s expectations? How do you meet the organization’s goals?</li> <li>Do you know how well your colleagues are engaged? How do you meet the organization’s goals for colleague engagement?</li> <li>Do you know how you stand financially as a department? How do you compare to the organization’s financial sustainability?</li> <li>And, how do you meet the goals of population health within your own department? And, how does that meet the organization's goals?</li> </ul> The Environmental Services leader needs to "step up to the plate" and determine how they can survive in this new environment. Lean process will assure we achieve success. An Environmental Service's leader as a Lean leader needs to be patient, inquisitive, keenly interested in problem-solving, a good communicator, and a mentor who likes to see people succeed. This proactive leader will be in the middle of the action, not directing from a desk. The Environmental Services leader can be all of these. This paper will propose a proven strategy for becoming a Lean department through the leader's eyes. &nbsp; <div class="col-md-8"> <div> <h4 class="text-align-center">Access Today</h4> If you do not have member access, complete the form below to view this resource. If you are a member, login and access the technical paper through Key Resources on this page. &nbsp; MktoForms2.loadForm("//sponsors.aha.org", "710-ZLL-651", 2944); </div> </div> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Thu, 01 Nov 2018 12:50:49 -0500 Employee Engagement Hiring & Retaining the Right Staff /hiring-retaining-right-staff <h1>Hiring &amp; Retaining the Right Staff</h1> <h3>By Carl Solomon Sr., MBA, CHESP</h3> August 31st, 2018&nbsp;|&nbsp;Formats:&nbsp;Technical Paper |&nbsp;Content Areas:&nbsp;Administration, Environmental Sanitation Operations, Financial Stewardship |&nbsp;Tags:&nbsp;Change Management, Employee Engagement, Employee Life Cycle, Leadership, Lean/Six Sigma, Management, Process Improvement, Staffing Models, Succession Planning <hr /> In today’s health care environment, Environmental Services Leaders must find new and creative ways to attract, hire, and retain great employees. It becomes an even greater challenge when opening a new facility, which may require hiring 100 or more employees. Also, you may be competing with neighboring hospitals trying to attract the same employee pool. With a focus on customer service and improving the patient experience, it is essential to hire people who are a good fit to your hospital during recruiting, hiring, and onboarding processes. The purpose of this paper is to provide you with proven strategies in attracting, interviewing, hiring and retaining staff. &nbsp; <div class="col-md-8"> <div> <h4 class="text-align-center">Access Today</h4> If you do not have member access, complete the form below to view this resource. If you are a member, login and access the technical paper through Key Resources on this page. &nbsp; MktoForms2.loadForm("//sponsors.aha.org", "710-ZLL-651", 2942); </div> </div> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Fri, 31 Aug 2018 14:52:38 -0500 Employee Engagement Comprehensive Training Program /comprehensive-training-program <h1>Comprehensive Training Program</h1> <h3>By Michael Cataznaro, FAHE, MREH, CLLM, CHESP</h3> August 31st, 2018&nbsp;|&nbsp;Formats:&nbsp;Technical Paper |&nbsp;Content Areas:&nbsp;Administration&nbsp;|&nbsp;Tags:&nbsp;Career Development, Employee Engagement, Staffing Models, Succession Planning <hr /> Abstract The days of clean, shiny floors being Environmental Services’ number one priority are long gone. Our departments have evolved and our role has become exceedingly more complex. As health care professionals, we are facing new challenges and responsibilities as our industry adapts to changes in the economy and health care reform. Whether or not we are successful as managers will be determined by administrative support as well as the staff’s knowledge and understanding of their duties and responsibilities. Training must begin when a new staff member walks through the door and should follow them their entire career. A comprehensive and regulatory compliant training program begins with hospital and departmental orientation, and continues with regular departmental meetings and in-services, with meaningful annual reviews rounding out the program and adding to the communication process. The program is enhanced and fine-tuned through management rounds and in-depth inspections by supervisors who are competent in their own right and who support the program. Objective, clear feedback provides the staff operational transparency and should corrective action be required coaching, retraining and counseling occurs prior to punitive disciplinary action. A planned and well-thought out comprehensive training program is essential and must have the resources and support from all levels within the facility in order to be successful. &nbsp; <div class="col-md-8"> <div> <h4 class="text-align-center">Access Today</h4> If you do not have member access, complete the form below to view this resource. If you are a member, login and access the technical paper through Key Resources on this page. &nbsp; MktoForms2.loadForm("//sponsors.aha.org", "710-ZLL-651", 2937); </div> </div> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Fri, 31 Aug 2018 13:45:47 -0500 Employee Engagement Important Steps to Eradicate Negativity in the Workplace /important-steps-eradicate-negativity-workplace <h1>Important Steps to Eradicate Negativity in the Workplace</h1><h4>By Joe Tye</h4>February 29, 2016&nbsp;|&nbsp;Formats:&nbsp;Article&nbsp;|&nbsp;Content Areas:&nbsp;Administration&nbsp;|&nbsp;Tags:&nbsp;Communication, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Management<hr>The Invisible Healthcare EnvironmentWhen I walk into your facility, my first impression will be created by the visible architecture. Is it beautifully designed and well-maintained?But if I’m a patient, visitor, or new employee, that first impression will quickly be replaced by what I see of what I call your organization’s Invisible Architecture™ of values, culture, and attitude. Are people emotionally positive? Do they treat me and others with respect? Are they friendly and cheerful in the hallways? Do they talk to each other, or do they talk about each other behind their backs?If you walk through the main lobby of Midland Memorial Hospital (MMH) in West Texas at 8:16 on any weekday morning you will see an administrative huddle where, depending upon the day, between 50 and 100 people are gathered for a quick update. If you stop to listen you’ll hear the group reciting The Pickle Pledge: “I will turn every complaint into either a blessing or a constructive suggestion.” If you look closely, you’ll see that most of the people in the huddle are not reading the pledge — they know it by heart. The way MMH employees have embraced this commitment to&nbsp;transform negative attitudes into positive action has been responsible for significant improvements in both employee and patient satisfaction.It has also achieved something more important: It is helping people to be more positive at a personal level. The research has been done and the verdict is clear: Your attitude profoundly influences not only your career success, but it also has a huge impact upon your health, your happiness, and your longevity. Toxic emotional negativity (TEN) — as reflected in complaining, finger-pointing, gossiping, and other emotionally negative behaviors — is malignant in the same way that cancer is malignant. A negative attitude contributes to feelings of helplessness, victimhood, and hopelessness. These in turn compromise your immune system and your ability to foster personal health and fight off disease.TEN is also contagious. One emotional vampire (we call them Pickle Suckers because people who are always complaining look like they’ve been sucking on a dill pickle) can drag down the morale and productivity of an entire work unit the way one person lighting a cigarette in a room instantly pollutes the lungs of everybody else in that room. In their Harvard Business School working paper, Toxic Workers, Michael Housman and Dylan Minor conclude that “avoiding a toxic worker (or converting him to an average worker) enhances [overall department] performance to a much greater extent than replacing an average worker with a superstar worker.” It is a fundamental management responsibility to not allow toxically negative employees to bring down morale and productivity.Unfortunately, in many organizations the inner emotional environment is not nearly as beautiful and well-maintained as the visible architecture is. The healthcare literature is filled with words like bullying, burnout, compassion fatigue, and disengagement. In the culture assessment survey we conduct for client organizations, on average more people disagree than agree with the statement that they and their coworkers have positive attitudes, treat others with respect, and refrain from toxic emotional negativity.That is the healthcare crisis within. If every employee and provider at every hospital, long-term care facility, and outpatient clinic in America strongly agreed with the statement, “Our people reflect positive attitudes, treat others with respect, and refrain from complaining, gossiping, or pointing fingers,” then we would far more effectively deal with the challenges of the external environment.Environmental services professionals are in a unique position to have a positive impact on this inner environment. They are physically present and visible in every area of the organization; they have frequent opportunities to interact with patients, visitors, and coworkers; and they are often seen as informal leaders. Paradoxically, precisely because of stereotyped impressions of where “housekeepers” fall on the status totem pole, a collective change in attitudes and behaviors by environmental services professionals is more likely to be&nbsp;noticed than one made by any other group within the organization.The Pickle PledgeHundreds of books and articles have been published on culture change in recent years. Almost all of them overlook this central reality: Culture does not change unless and until people change. Culture is shaped by the collective attitudes, behaviors, and habits of the people who work in the organization. If people don’t make personal changes, then culture will not change. But people will not change unless they are given tools for making those changes, and inspired to use those tools.The Pickle Pledge is a simple (though by no means always easy) promise that one makes to oneself and to others to turn every complaint into either a blessing (“my head is killing me” becomes “thank God for modern pharmacology”) or a constructive suggestion (“the first symptom of dehydration is a headache, so I should drink some water”). By taking to heart the footnote, one is also committing to not allow toxically negative coworkers to sap their energy (or to ever do that to anyone else).In organizations where people take this to heart, we are seeing phenomenal culture change. We’ve heard from hospital CEOs who have told us that some of their most negative people are leaving — not because of a disciplinary process but because their coworkers simply don’t put up with them anymore. We’ve heard stories of people making incredible changes in their personal attitudes (and consequently in their self-image and self-esteem). People have taken The Pickle Pledge home and shared it with family members. One nurse told me that her&nbsp;house was very quiet for several weeks, but then, for the first time ever, family members started talking about things that really matter instead of just whining about the complaint of the day.Key Success FactorsIn our work with hundreds of hospitals and other healthcare organizations, we have identified a number of important steps to eradicate toxic emotional negativity and promote a more positive and productive culture of ownership.1) Start with an objective assessment:One of the first things we do with health care clients is conduct a Culture Assessment Survey. This helps to identify problems and potential areas for improvement, gives a baseline to monitor future progress, and in many cases challenges overly optimistic assumptions about how people perceive their current culture. You can do your own quick assessment of the degree to which your organization, or your department, has a healthy culture of ownership here: http://valuescoach.com.2) Leadership engagement:Whether The Pickle Challenge is being conducted by a single department or an entire organization, the single best predictor of a sustained positive impact is the engagement and role-modeling of the management team. Make sure leaders in your area are modeling the expected behaviors, and that there is a common approach to dealing with inappropriate attitudes and behaviors in the workplace.3) Ask for a personal commitment:One of the most effective actions for a successful culture change initiative is asking people to sign and post The Florence Challenge Certificate of Commitment to be more emotionally positive, self-empowered, and fully engaged. You can download the Certificate of Commitment at the Resources page of www.TheFlorenceChallenge.com.4) Make it fun:The Pickle Challenge is a great opportunity to unleash your people’s creativity — to do good things and have fun in the process. We’ve seen singing pickles, dancing pickles, pickle&nbsp;piñata parties, pickle cake decorating contests, and dozens of other creative ideas. One of the most popular activities is a pickle jar decorating contest, with people being invited to deposit a 25-cent “whine fine” whenever they catch themselves or others wallowing in a negative attitude.5) Keep it visible:The first thing people see when coming through the employee entrance of Midland Memorial Hospital is the Big Pickle — a chainsaw carving created by one of their coworkers. That’s just one of many visible reminders throughout the hospital. At another hospital, environmental services staff posted The Pickle Pledge in restrooms; they call it “potty training.”6) Plow through resistance:As with any positive culture change initiative, there will be resistance to The Pickle Challenge, and it will be most vociferous from the people who are the biggest problems and who could most benefit from having a more positive attitude themselves. It is imperative that management have the courage and determination to stay focused on promoting a more positive workplace until it becomes part of the cultural DNA.7) Measure your progress:After the first year of its Values and Culture Initiative, we conducted a follow-up Culture Assessment Survey at Midland Memorial Hospital. The self-reported level of toxic emotional negativity had been cut in half, resulting in an annual cultural productivity benefit of more than $7 million. Patient satisfaction levels had gone to record highs by the end of the year. More important, nearly nine out of 10 respondents reported being more personally positive as a result of the initiative. Measuring your progress and sharing success stories is essential to maintaining motivation and momentum and not allowing the effort to degenerate into just another “program of the month.”The Pickle Challenge for CharityDuring 2015, Values Coach challenged 12 different client hospitals to raise a certain amount of money — typically $1,000, all in quarters — in a one-week period by having people catch themselves and&nbsp;coworkers complaining, gossiping, or otherwise engaging in toxic emotional negativity. When this happened, they would be invited to deposit a quarter in a pickle jar. If the hospital hit the target and donated that money to an appropriate charity (typically the employee assistance fund), then we agreed to match the donation.During the year, we wrote matching donation checks totaling $10,300. That represents 40,900 individual episodes of TEN being caught midstream, one quarter at a time, all in just a one-week period. If sustained for a full year, in those 12 organizations’ more than two million incidents of complaining, finger-pointing, rumor mongering and other forms of TEN will be prevented.Extrapolated to the entire healthcare system, we could eradicate more than a billion individual episodes of TEN every year if every hospital, long-term care facility, and outpatient clinic made a good-faith effort to honor The Pickle Pledge. Fixing this healthcare crisis within would go a long way toward helping us to more&nbsp;effectively deal with the health care crisis in the external environment.Let me close with this: If I could wave a magic wand over your organization so that for 30 days there would be no bitching, moaning, whining and complaining (the other BMW Club!), you would never again tolerate toxic emotional negativity in the workplace — the way we will never again allow anyone to pollute the physical environment with toxic cigarette smoke. The CEO of a client hospital in Nebraska sent us a note saying, “I got a whole new team and didn’t have to change the&nbsp;people because they changed themselves.” Being able to say such a thing is the gold standard of positive cultural transformation.Remember, culture does not change unless and until people change. And the real winners in this process are those people who make the change.Joe Tye is CEO and head coach, Values Coach, Inc., and author of The Florence Prescription: From Accountability to Ownership. He can be reached at Joe@ValuesCoach.com or 319-624-3889. Mon, 29 Feb 2016 14:30:25 -0600 Employee Engagement Workloading in Environmental Services /workloading-environmental-services <h4>By Karen Hill-Whitson</h4> June 23, 2015&nbsp;|&nbsp;Formats:&nbsp;Article&nbsp;|&nbsp;Content Areas:&nbsp;Administration&nbsp;|&nbsp;Tags:&nbsp;Employee Engagement, Management, Staffing Models <hr /> Workloading is not just an overused industry term. It serves a real purpose and, when implemented correctly, it has a profound positive impact on everyone including the client, frontline staff, middle management, financial overseers, and organization as a whole. Of course, the opposite also is true. If environmental services workloading is not managed appropriately, the negative impact will affect everyone in your organization as well as your clients, and the outcome will be costly in terms of both dollars and reputation. So why all the hype about this widely recognized terminology and exactly why is it so important to get it right in environmental services operations? Now, more than ever, efficient and equitable workloading is key not only to managing your budget (and we all know we are expected to do more with less these days), but in providing clean and safe work environments within the proposed level of service. Remember, 85 percent of the environmental services operations budget is labor and the rest is equipment and supplies, so having that 85&nbsp;percent working productively 100 percent of the time is a must. Anything less than that is likely to result in detrimental outcomes. The Impact of Improper Workloading So what are these detrimental outcomes and what impact will improper workloading have on an organization relying on a clean and safe environment? Well, let’s take a look at some examples. Imagine your organization is an acute health care facility. We will take a look of the impact of poor workloading from the “bottom” to the “top,” so to speak. If frontline staff are expected to do more with less and the tasks they are expected to perform, when performed correctly, add up to more hours than they are scheduled to work, that means something in their job routine has to give. We know how this usually goes: either corners will be cut or work will not be performed. In addition, if work is not distributed equitably— and this often is the case—morale of the cleaning staff is affected. So how do you think an overworked employee with poor morale will perform their daily tasks? Now imagine cleaning tasks not being performed to their fullest extent or with the attention they deserve. We all know what&nbsp;can happen next: contaminated surfaces, cross-contamination and, yes, the spread of infectious diseases from patient to patient, across an entire wing or ward of a hospital and, in some cases, across several wings. Now we have the frontline staff impacted as well as the clients/customers who entrust their lives to the organization. This cost of an outbreak in any institution is extremely high monetarily and in terms of public opinion and reputation as well. The impact makes its way all the way to the “top” or the CEO. If fatalities are involved in this scenario, the impact is far greater and will entail investigations, possibly lawsuits and, of course, the immeasurable gravity of the impact for those who lost loved ones. Getting it Right So back to the “workloading” itself. Now that we understand why it is so important, we need to know how to ensure we get it right. There are three parts to this: <ol> <li>How do we ensure productivity?</li> <li>How do we ensure efficiency?</li> <li>How do we ensure equitable workloads amongst staff?</li> </ol> There are several tools on the market today (some more comprehensive than others) to assist environmental services operations managers in workloading efficiently and accurately. These software tools have industry time standards for hundreds of environmental services tasks using hundreds of different pieces of equipment built into the software so there is an accurate way to measure the amount of work performed. Associating these tasks with a job routine or employee allows the tool to determine whether workloads are divided equitably. Productivity can also be measured in the same manner. If one is looking to gain productivity, one could simply and quickly see the impact of swapping out one task for another or one piece of equipment for another. Back in the day, environmental services operations managers simply relied on their knowledge, know-how, and expertise to determine whether they had their facilities workloaded appropriately. Today, with far more complex work processes, hundreds of cleaning tools on the market, productivity demands from clients and financial departments and, in some cases, industry cleaning regulations, it is much more difficult to determine fair and equitable workloading by calculating it in our heads. We all are turning to technology to make our lives easier and software tools and apps seem to fulfill our needs in many cases. It makes sense there is a tool available to assist custodial managers in managing their cleaning operations. You use technology in other parts of your operations, so why not with staffing levels? Engaging Management in Your Operations&nbsp; Since workloading continues to be absolutely critical to the success of environmental services and in creating clean, healthy, and safe environments, it&nbsp;is imperative that environmental operations managers continue to have conversations about the importance of “getting it right” with their senior leadership team. Management needs to have a vested interest in your operations. They need to understand your business. Your success is their success. When you are presented with the dilemma of “doing more with less,” don’t just say “Okay, we will have to make it happen.” Go back to your senior leadership team and provide them with two or three specific, explicit, and detailed workloading&nbsp;scenarios along with the accompanying impact reports (which software tools will provide) and together make a decision that holds all of you accountable and is one with which you all can live. It is the age of information, and we can all agree information is power. Bring your environmental services operations to a new level by harnessing the power of technology. &nbsp;&nbsp; <ul> </ul> Tue, 23 Jun 2015 15:55:30 -0500 Employee Engagement Encouraging Positive Change /encouraging-positive-change <h1>Encouraging Positive Change</h1> <h4>By Paul Picciurro, CHESP</h4> March 23, 2014&nbsp;|&nbsp;Formats:&nbsp;Article&nbsp;|&nbsp;Content Areas:&nbsp;Administration&nbsp;|&nbsp;Tags:&nbsp;Employee Engagement, Employee life cycle , Leadership, Management, Staffing Models <hr /> A well-trained staff is the cornerstone of any Environmental Services Department. Well-developed and polished Shift Leads are even more important to the department’s growth and success. For that reason, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in Milwaukee, Wis., created a&nbsp; year-long Leadership Development Program for Shift Leads to sharpen their skills and help elevate the department’s level of service. While we have existing Shift Leads enrolled in the program, we have also invited frontline “Charge” staff who expressed an interest in advancement and acquiring more responsibility. The Charges act as assistants to the Shift Leads, learning the role to cover in a lead’s absence or to support the department when needed. In total, we have 16 employees from four facilities enrolled. Each of the 16 enrolled were chosen by their respective managers and received a formal invitation from the EVS director. All of the EVS managers met and created specific prerequisites for the course, which include: <ol> <li>No corrective action within the past six months.</li> <li>Ability to perform specific job duties including standard housekeeping tasks and basic floor care work.</li> <li>Administrative skills such as the ability to compose and manage emails and voice mails, and the ability to create and modify the daily schedules.</li> </ol> The program covers basic leadership skills including conflict management, dealing with difficult situations, and time management. It also gives participants a chance to discuss their own specific challenges at each of the four facilities. Classes meet monthly and participants are given homework to be completed for the next session. The Leadership Development Program compiles information and advice from different sources such as 91��Webinars, Sodexo trainings, other association publications, and podcasts from Mind Tools. Participants discuss the material and relate it to their daily experiences. In addition, each of the EVS managers participates in the program and teaches a session. Ongoing testing and assessments are done throughout the program, and participants meet one-on-one with the EVS director&nbsp;and their managers to identify specific needs each participant may have. Development plans are created, and participants are mentored to improve and sharpen their skills. Participants are also asked to create resumes and participate in mock interviews with EVS leadership at all levels. Once the program has concluded, graduates of the first round will participate in and help develop the next. While we are still in the beginning phases of this program, we have already observed positive results. Many of the frontline staff have asked what it would take for them to be promoted, and in 2013, at just Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – St. Joseph, we promoted six EVS staff within the department, we saw two members of the EVS department be promoted to other departments within the facility, and we had the privilege of promoting one of our Shift Leads to a Sodexo manager position. Along with the promotions, the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare – St. Joseph facility has seen inspection scores increase from 2.79 to 3.19 (3.0 being a passing score) over a six-month period and black-light inspection results show a 96 percent passing rate. The overall goal of the program is not only to improve the level of service the EVS department provides, but to equip each participant with the skills needed to advance in the industry and within the organization. We are also anticipating a decrease in staff turnover as employees become more engaged and invested in their work. Developing future leaders is also developing the future of an EVS department. Although creating and conducting a Leadership Development Program is a major time investment for EVS leaders who are already pressed for time, it is well worth the commitment. Investing time developing your staff results in internal promotions and produces future leaders not only for the department, but for the organization. Sun, 23 Mar 2014 14:17:49 -0500 Employee Engagement