Providing a Good, Healthy and Happy Culture for Employees

Updated on July 31, 2014

Bill GammieBy Kathleen Ganster

There may be no other career field where the care and understanding of employees is as important as it is in the health care field. These are the people who are taking direct care of loved ones and family members and what job could possibly be more important than that? So helping health care workers know what is happening in the overall industry and helping them do their jobs as best as they can is imperative. 

Celtic Healthcare knows and understands the importance of this role. And with ever-changing health care policies and regulations, keeping employees abreast of these changes and knowing that they are satisfied can be a challenge. 

“With health care changes happening at such a rapid pace, we feel this focus is even more important – we want our team to know what is happening, but also take the temperature of what they feel about the changes and how to implement them,” said Bill Gammie, Vice President of Value Based Care at Celtic Healthcare.

While team meetings are important and can be valuable ways to share information, they are not the only method Celtic uses to assist their employees. 

“So many times there may be a meeting and no one says anything. Just because no one says anything, doesn’t mean all is well,” he said. 

That is why Celtic uses tools to measure the individual and cultural satisfaction levels. Taking it even one step further, they use personality profiles to assist in working with each individual to provide new information in the best format for each employee.

“These assessments look at how each individual is going to best accept changes and the best methods to communicate with that individual,” Gammie explained. 

The tests are part of the normal application process for employees and then they are readministered on a periodic basis. 

“We use a very popular program called Peoplekeys.com that provides information on how different people need to be guided. Everyone is different,” he said. 

The Celtic cultural assessment includes looking at “each level, each location and each role,” according to Gammie. 

“We want to see how each one is doing, how they are feeling and how they are working together,” he said. 

Gammie gave the example of when Celtic discovered employees want to know more about what was happening in the healthcare industry as a whole, then how that effected Celtic. 

“We then implemented Town Hall Meetings where we explain different issues in the industry and our employees can ask questions,” he said. 

Front line supervisors are well trained in assisting their employees in learning new policies and procedures, and work hard in communicating with their staff. 

“Ongoing communication is a key component to our environment,” Gammie said. 

Online tools also help provide training and assistance, so every member of the Celtic team is able to easily keep up-to-date on changes and new techniques. 

“We love saying, ‘Culture eats strategies for breakfast.’ We feel that you can’t leave change to chance, you have to manage it,” he said. 

Admitting that it is a new twist on a new cliché, Gammie said, “A good, working culture is a journey, not a destination. We are always working at keeping a good, healthy and happy culture at Celtic.” 

To learn more about Celtic Healthcare visit www.celtichealthcare.com

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