The Bonnyville Health Centre has been named an employer of choice in Alberta, but this isn’t the first time.
The local healthcare centre has been recognized for being one of Alberta’s top 70 employers, and has also made the list for Canada’s 10 most admired corporate cultures, and the 2018 world’s most ethical companies.
Rosa Rudelich, vice-president and chief operating officer for Covenant Health, believes it’s the Bonnyville Health Centre’s connection with the community that truly stands out amongst other organizations.
“We (Covenant Health) have looked to Bonnyville and actually learned a lot in terms of some of the great community supports that they have in place,” she expressed. “Sometimes, our sites will actually help us form our strategy, and we spread it throughout of all of Covenant Health. I would say, in terms of community connections, Bonnyville has been a leader the rest of the organization has learned from.”
Community involvement isn’t where they draw the line in terms of success. The centre has also proven they can collaborate and establish healthy and achievable goals for Covenant Health.
“I think that is something the Bonnyville team has been able to benefit from. Teams get together and talk about what’s good about working at a Covenant Health facility, and what’s a goal for us over the next year together to make it even better,” said Rudelich.
Their aspiration is to provide a safe working environment that encourages learning and culture on a daily basis.
Rudelich believes it’s the importance of their cultural strategy that has also made the organization flourish.
“People and culture strategy is integral in terms of who we are as an organization, because it really is our people and our teams and having that culture, which for us, is reinforcing that call to serve,” she said. “From our perspective, we want people to feel fulfilled at work. We want it to be meaningful work. We intentionally developed a people and cultural strategy that said ‘we want teams to flourish.’ We need to look at what it’s going to take for people to look at us and say ‘I want to work for this organization, I want to live the mission, and I want to really serve my community.’”
Covenant Health looks at what other organizations are doing and works on “making sure that our programming is leading from that perspective.”
This includes their leadership pathways, which Rudelich hopes is engaging employees and allowing them to continue learning and growing within the organization.
The modules allow for staff to work at their own pace and continually improve and provide better service, she explained.
“It’s really about honouring our staff, our physicians, our volunteers. It’s really for them that we do the work,” continued Rudelich.
However, the most important strategy they implement, Rudelich said, is about the people working within the organization and those they serve.
“Within the people and culture strategy, what’s really important to us is our mission, and engaged employees. We have spent a lot of time working through defining and helping people articulate what it means to work for a mission-driven organization,” expressed Rudelich. “If we have a good culture and we can put in strong programs for our teams, then we truly feel we’re looking after the individuals who come in every day to do good work for our communities.”
CEO of Covenant Health, Patrick Dumelie said in a release, “We’re always honoured to receive these recognitions. We foster a workplace where diversity and inclusive practices are sought out and where we make it a priority to do the right thing. Everywhere I look, I see our teams coming to work every day empowered to make a difference in the lives of Albertans. I’m very proud of what we stand for, and our continued commitment to serve those in need by delivering passionate care.”
