Helping Encompass Health's more than 32,000 employees at its hospitals understand their career opportunities has been a challenge for several years. Managers and location HR directors shared development plan resources and promoted internal openings to support the effort. Meanwhile, hospital educators focused on clinical learning to ensure high-quality care and meet regulatory requirements. Career development was always important, but too often it got lost among the critical information sharing that occurs in the healthcare environment.

One way the company uncovered that was from employee engagement survey results. In the fall of 2017, only 59 percent of employees indicated "There are career opportunities for me at Encompass Health." Additionally, career-related turnover comprised 20 percent of separations in 2018, meaning employees were leaving for that very reason.

Solutions

The company knew it had to try to change that perception. To do so, I collaborated with the internal communications department and created a robust plan to promote career opportunities during the ensuing several months. I also began working on a long-term project to provide more career development options. While I was developing the solution, survey results from 2018 revealed that the responses improved to 60 percent, demonstrating that the communication plan helped. But employees wanted more.

After analyzing the data, I realized employee perception is too complex to understand without details and context. A national meeting with the HR directors was coming up in a few months, so I requested, and was granted, time to workshop with the West region.

When the group convened, I led an activity that had participants break into three groups to make a career movement map out of straws and index cards. It was encouraging to see lively discussions, and one team even spread its map onto the floor.

Participants displayed common career moves, such as registered nurse to nurse supervisor, and uncovered less-obvious lateral moves and promotions, such as unit secretary to admissions representative.

During the debrief, I learned that employees often do not know the necessary development to reach their aspirational role. That was a critical detail, which ultimately helped steer the project toward the final solution.

The group also discussed barriers to internal movement: Internal candidates often were not up to date on resume creation; interviewing practices; and how to represent their performance, competency, and experience in the best light. To help fill those gaps, I worked with the participants to develop a list of action items for the project that could help internal candidates succeed.

I left that regional session armed with details and context for the data I was seeking, which enabled me to next focus on helping employees understand their options and how to succeed. Once employees were aware of the options, belief in career opportunities would be possible.

Thus, I created a formal project plan to:

• Identify practical suggestions for employee development along four main career options.

• Provide resources, including supplemental learning options, development plan tools, and links to relevant content.

• Create sample career paths for nursing, therapy, operations, and administrative roles to illustrate paths for opportunities.

• Share tools for undecided employees to help them find a path.

• Develop internal interviewing resources for employees.

The project involved collaborating with subject matter experts and the home office internal communications team. Together, we had to ensure our guidance was correct and valid at all the hospitals, which significantly vary in size and structure. The plan also had to meet all employees' needs and take into consideration their education levels as well as comfort level in navigating the intranet site.

The Career Resources Hub launched on the intranet homepage in December 2019, shortly after the 2019 survey closed. We announced the hub in the HR e-newsletter and internal staff email publication. I also gave virtual tours of the site on regional Webex calls and for hospitals as requested.

In the hub, employees can explore ways to develop expertise, specialize, move laterally, and advance. Each of those endeavors has a subpage with a description of the option and specific actions for clinical and nonclinical development. Under the Advancement section, for example, employees can find sample position maps that highlight ways to move into roles requiring higher levels of knowledge or skill. That is where the index card and straw activity paid off; it saved substantial time that I otherwise would have spent consulting SMEs.

Undecided employees can use the Exploration section to complete free assessments, including the Career Interest Profiler and Work Importance Survey available through the Occupational Information Network (O\*Net) program, sponsored by the US Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. Employees also can complete Encompass Health's Performance-Aspirations-Competency-Experience Self-Assessment.

The Internal Applicant section contains a link to the company's recruiting system so employees can look for current openings; a resume-creation page with tips and downloadable samples; and interview preparation tips and resources.

Finally, the hub has a link to a webpage of development tools comprising information on creating development plans, as well as links to the company's development library and supplemental learning options, multirater 360-degree competency assessment, and free external resources.

It is critical to understand that the Career Resources Hub's resources do not replace key development conversations between managers and employees. Those are still where development planning should take place. However, the hub enhances the dialogue and enables employees to independently research options.

The Career Resources Hub's cost was mostly labor, plus around $40 for index cards, boxes of straws, and some labels. The intranet already existed, so there were no technology expenses. We used existing or open source materials and created our own content to cover any gaps. I contributed approximately 300 hours of my time over seven months, and a specialist spent about 10 hours building the site.

Results

The project team received positive feedback from hospital leaders, who expressed that the site made it much easier for them to support employees. We also heard directly from employees and managers who found the information useful.

Immediately after the initiative's rollout, the pandemic limited our ability to promote the program because our hospitals are focusing on their patients and keeping employees safe. As of November 2020, however, employees responding affirmatively to the question "There are career opportunities for me within the company" increased to 66.9 percent. We also know that the percentage of career-related separations has dropped by 2.2 percent so far. As a national employer, even a small percentage drop can make a significant difference.

Most importantly, the hub saves employees and managers time when exploring career development options. That translates into improved efficiency, consistency, and access for all employees.

Whether you are creating an in-house career development program or working on other projects where time, budget, or staff are limited, you can use a similar approach. The formula for success is to uncover the cause, identify the scope, pursue free and low-cost options, and always focus on the results.

Scope

Clearly understand the need early on via data, subject matter experts, and end user input, so the time and budget you devote won't need to be reworked later.

Savings

Take advantage of existing meetings to brainstorm ideas and collaborate.

Result Orientation

Focus on the desired results and how they will help the organization. That’s important in the beginning when you pitch the project and all the way through evaluating the results.