Telecare's Workforce Development Within Telecare

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Last month, we introduced our Workforce Development Plan and how Telecare will use this blueprint to strengthen our organization and hire more than 2,200 qualified individuals by 2020 to staff our new and existing programs. We shared key actions we are currently taking as a result of our workforce research, including advocating for Peer Certification in California, which coincides with our company-wide goal of having two full-time peer staff at every program by the year 2020.

This month, we share some specific things we are doing internally at Telecare to build a better workforce for the future!

Onboarding

At Telecare, we want our employees to stay with us for the long-term. Our data shows that if an employee stays with Telecare past six months, it is more likely that they will stay at Telecare for five years or longer. One of the key factors in determining whether a new employee will stay with the company beyond the six-month mark is their onboarding experience. Those first few days with Telecare are so critical in terms of communicating our culture, our history, and the essence of the important work that we do with the people we serve. To this end, we created and launched a new and improved New Hire Orientation.

Suzanne Rudnitzki, Co-author of the workforce development plan  and Telecare's Senior Vice President of Human resources

Suzanne Rudnitzki, Co-author of the workforce development plan  and Telecare's Senior Vice President of Human resources

Shelagh little, Co-author of the workforce development plan  and Telecare's director of business development

Shelagh little, Co-author of the workforce development plan  and Telecare's director of business development

In this process, the first two days of every new hire's experience at Telecare are spent with a range of leaders and facilitators who educate new staff on our history, scope, mission, culture, and our recovery philosophy, as well as all the required information they need to be successful in their career at Telecare. We use activities that fully engage the new hires in learning, building connections, and gaining a consistent foundation of knowledge as they begin at Telecare. The feedback since launching this new orientation has been extremely positive, and we look forward to developing this further as we continually improve the onboarding process.

Hiring

We are looking at creative ways to interview and hire as we expand into more geographically diverse areas. For example, we are implementing video interviewing as a way to increase efficiency in some locations, as well as making it more convenient for potential new hires to apply to Telecare.

In addition, we are exploring ideas such as relocation assistance and sign-on bonuses for leadership roles in our more rural or harder-to-serve areas. Our hope is that this will encourage great people to join Telecare in areas that are traditionally more difficult to staff, where they can grow their careers, wherever their career paths may take them. Our hope is that they stay and grow with Telecare!

Specialized Learning and Coaching

As we look to the future and envision the leadership we will need, we are strongly aware that many of our best leaders emerge from existing staff. The leaders who have grown within Telecare become our best culture carriers and our strongest advocates. To support this growth, we have implemented several new tools for developing leadership within Telecare.

  • We have a passion for investing in our leaders. The goal of the Emerging Leaders Program is to empower, elevate, and connect the next generation of leaders within Telecare. Emerging Leaders is a 10-month (one full day each month) program that assembles a select cohort of emerging leaders and guides them through a rigorous, relevant, and applied curriculum. Our first Emerging Leaders Program is currently in session, and initial feedback has been positive.
  • Our Leadership Success Series for hiring managers provides essential Human Resources training as well as key problem-solving techniques, management coaching, and additional tips for being an excellent leader.
  • We recently restructured our regional leadership roles, localizing program oversight on a regional basis, and elevating key leadership staff to roles in geographic regions with which they are already familiar with. This has created better customer relations, deeper connections with local care systems, and opportunities for staff to grow.

We believe in the potential of our staff to grow within Telecare, developing into leaders who attract like-minded people who want to join Telecare and contribute to the amazing work that happens here every day, now and into the future.