JOCELYN WESSELS

Executive director of human resources

Sanford Health – Fargo

Fargo, N.D.

Q. AS A HEALTH-CARE ORGANIZATION THAT RUNS 24/7, HOW DO YOU HELP YOUR EMPLOYEES MAINTAIN WORK-LIFE BALANCE? A.

Sanford is very committed to work-life balance. We even have a very active committee dedicated to it! This employee-led group is a safe place to provide feedback for enhancing our company culture and suggesting new ideas that are important and relevant to employees and their ability to balance work and other areas of their lives.

From providing employees free leg vein screenings during National Nurses Week to offering healthy to-go meals in our restaurants and cafeterias, Sanford “walks the talk” of promoting health and holistic wellness.

As an organization of our size and complexity, Sanford Health offers a variety of unique job opportunities, career paths and potential for advancement. We also offer full-time, part-time and short-term positions in a variety of clinical and non-clinical positions and work settings. This variety lets our employees work when and where best fits the needs of their family and lifestyle.

Most people are familiar with our generous paid time off, insurance benefits and discounts on wellness services. But beyond those table stakes is the dedication our leaders have to protecting our “Family First” culture, meaning that we treat our employees and co-workers like family.

The health, safety and well-being of our employees – as well as our patients – come before anything else at Sanford.

A.At Sanford, we foster an environment that encourages staff to grow as individuals and within their career. We strive to attract and retain talented employees. One key example is the number of financial benefits we offer, including loan repayments, referral bonuses and training/certification reimbursement.

Another is our free continuing education, which we offer through our Center for Learning and Emergency Medical Services Education.

Often, it’s the non-monetary benefits we hear about from employees. Our employees strongly leverage the benefits such as on-site hot and cold food options, dry cleaning drop-off service and concierge service for oil changes while they are working.

We have a high level of employee engagement though our volunteer opportunities, peer-nominated monthly and annual awards and other internal celebrations. For example, even most clinical areas can and do take part in our “wear jerseys to work” days to incorporate fun into their work environment.

Additionally, Sanford builds strong partnerships with other organizations, so employees can enjoy discounts for food, furniture, travel and entertainment.

Q. WHAT KINDS OF ONBOARDING POLICIES AND TOOLS HAVE PROVEN MOST EFFECTIVE? A.

As we welcome new members to our Sanford work family, we use a robust new foundation for employee orientation, dedicated to grounding individuals in our mission, vision and values, as well as our Sanford standards.

We are expanding our approach to go beyond the traditional 90-day onboarding process, focusing on the entire first year of employment to help new team members get fully acclimated and be successful.

We also use talent profiles, including the StengthsFinder assessment and World View Intelligence, to help us get to know our employees and their talents. These tools are very beneficial in helping us create high-performing teams.

Sanford also provides a core curriculum of online, facilitator-led courses to orient new leaders. In addition, Sanford recently piloted a leadership learning program that is a cohort community-learning model and leverages our learning management system.

Q. HOW DO YOU TRAIN OR ENCOURAGE INTERNAL CANDIDATES TO PREPARE THEM FOR EXECUTIVE ROLES?

Sanford Health helps employees grow into executives through multiple approaches dedicated to leadership and career advancement.

We use individual development plans as the basis for identifying ongoing growth opportunities. We’ve found that a balance between educational classes, coaching and experiential learning produces the greatest benefits for our developing leaders.

Sanford also has several very successful leadership academies. Our pinnacle program, “Leading the Way,” focuses on the leadership development of executives and physicians. This program received a national award in 2018 at the LEAD2018 Conference.