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Intended audience: Frontline workers, managers and physicians
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Does your team need a tune-up on performance improvement tools?
Dust off the old tool belt and dig into all the Labor Management Partnership resources at your fingertips. LMPartnership.org offers more than 700 tools.
Finding the right tools is easy if you follow these simple steps:
Need more help? Check out this cool video!
Caretia Silva, a licensed clinical social worker, is a labor improvement adviser with the Alliance of Health Care Unions in Portland, Oregon, and a member of OFNHP. As many nonclinical employees prepare to return to the office, she offered advice about ways to reduce stress related to the latest challenges of COVID-19.
Many employees will soon return to the office. What feelings might they experience?
For some folks, working from home has been wonderful; for others, it’s been very stressful. Many people were managing a lot of competing priorities with children at home, online schooling, sharing “office” space with partners at home and extended family concerns.
Some people may experience anxiety, grief, excitement, anticipation — and many other feelings as they encounter unknowns — with returning to the office. For folks who have already returned to the clinics, they’ve had a gradual reintroduction and the process has been slightly more paced, although it hasn’t been without stress.
What tips do you have for staff preparing to return to the office and send their children back into the classroom?
There are bound to be challenges as we work out new routines. Anything you can do the night before to prepare for the next day is a good idea — set out clothes, load backpacks, make lunches. It can also be beneficial to have a consistent and routine bedtime, not just for your children, but also for yourself. If you have trouble settling down at night, try the Calm app.
In the morning, set yourself up for success for the day by building in “transition time” — this is time to get people from the house to the car, including all the needed gear for the day. Building in transition time allows for any last-minute items and reduces the stress of being late. If you arrive early at school with the kids, take advantage of the one-on-one time with encouraging words to pump them up for their day. It only takes a few minutes to make a meaningful connection with your kids.
How can team members set each other up for success in the workplace?
Coming back to the office or clinic is a major change compared to working from home.
And some folks never left the clinic. Everyone had their own unique experience over the last year and a half. This transition will take some adjusting. Fatigue among workers may be common due to the increased social interaction. In the beginning, people may feel some nervous energy bouncing off each other as they acclimate to the new environment. It’s important to give people the time and space they may need to reacclimate to an in-person work environment.
How can unit-based team co-leads support their teams?
People will acclimate to the office environment at different times. When people seem fatigued, be aware that they might need some space.
Sometimes people need to take a break and disengage from the group. It’s a process that allows them to realign and center themselves. Have empathy for staff adjusting to this change.
How can unit-based teams use LMP tools to help them through this time?
The Partnership behaviors are a solid foundation for teams to ground themselves, and the Free to Speak tools are also good to foster a culture of trust and engagement. This might be a good time for a UBT to take another look at its ground rules and see if the rules need updating. Interest-based problem solving can also be useful for teams struggling with processes that have been adapted or need to change.
What advice do you have for managers during this transition?
The success I’ve seen with managers is when they are authentic with their staff and allow themselves to be seen. They don’t have to reveal personal secrets, but when anyone is sincere and approachable, there is more trust and engagement.
What else is important to consider?
The world has changed in ways we never saw coming. The pandemic was catastrophic and, on top of that, we also dealt with social justice issues and political unrest. It’s important to acknowledge how these and other challenges — such as financial insecurity and housing insecurity — have contributed to stress and anxiety for many people. Self-care is crucial now more than ever.
How do I recognize signs of stress?
If close friends, family or loved ones have mentioned that you seem different, consider what they are saying. Are you more emotional — quick to cry, jump to anger or experiencing mood swings? Have your eating or sleeping habits changed? Changes and impacts to your daily living habits are signs that stress may be affecting you. Reach out to the Employee Assistance Program, find exercise you enjoy, or check out emotional wellness apps like Calm or myStrength.
As we move toward the “next normal,” the Labor Management Partnership has played a key part in supporting COVID-19 vaccinations.
Frontline workers, doctors and managers have come together to get shots in arms. These fruitful collaborations point the way forward as Kaiser Permanente and the Partnership unions work to transform fear into confidence, confusion into clarity, and hesitancy into bold action.
A joint effort between SEIU-UHW and physicians pushed vaccination rates of the union’s members from less than 50% all the way up to 64% within 3 months. It began when union leaders crunched the numbers — and didn’t like what they saw.
At the beginning of February, less than half of SEIU-UHW members at Kaiser Permanente were vaccinated against COVID-19. For instance, only 40% of union employees were vaccinated in the Emergency Department at Downey Medical Center in Southern California, where Gabriel Montoya works as an emergency medical technician.
Montoya and his fellow union members — working with physicians and managers — wanted to raise those rates, so they pulled together labor-doctor huddles. Union members were scared, confused and hesitant.
At first, they considered joint physician-labor rounding. But they realized being in patient areas wouldn’t support those conversations, so they pivoted to huddles — short, informal team meetings.
Carol Ishimatsu, MD, a pediatrician with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, was one of the first doctors to join a huddle in Downey.
“Vaccines are our most important intervention,” says Dr. Ishimatsu, who participated in the clinical trials for the shots when they were being tested.
To build trust, Dr. Ishimatsu emphasized her shared experience with SEIU-UHW members as warriors on the front line. “I told the employees: I do the same thing you do after work,” she says, describing her ritual of removing her clothes in the garage and putting them directly in the washing machine before entering the house. “We are in different professions, doing the same thing.”
Joel Valenciano, an Environmental Services manager at Downey, helped organize huddles at outlying clinics.
“I encouraged the staff to be honest, relate their fears and doubts, anything holding them back,” he says. “And they really opened up.”
“We did it in partnership,” says Montoya, the emergency medical technician. “The labor partners led the huddles and introduced the doctors.
I can’t imagine that happening in a nonunion hospital, or even a non-Partnership hospital.”
It’s summertime, and the living has been far from easy.
The past year-plus has seen a global pandemic, social unrest and political turmoil.
But signs of hope are emerging.
Vaccines are helping to turn the tide against COVID-19. As we move forward, the Labor Management Partnership has played a key part in supporting vaccinations. Our cover story highlights how labor-doctor huddles and community collaborations have helped get more shots in arms — and provides tips for boosting vaccine confidence and increasing inoculations.
See our Humans of Partnership, where employees share heartfelt stories of why they got vaccinated. It’s OK if you cry.
With conditions improving, many nonclinical employees are preparing to return to the office. Our Q&A with a licensed clinical social worker offers advice about how you and your teams can reduce stress related to the transition.
When it comes to advancing the Partnership, LMPartnership.org offers more than 700 tools to help you and your teams complete your performance improvement work. See our guide to finding the right tool, along with links to a few of our favorites.
Meanwhile, Washington has become the newest region to join the Labor Management Partnership. Watch a video in which team members share their hopes about working in partnership.
Also, don’t miss our puzzles and games for reminders of how to protect you and your family against COVID-19. And check out our back cover for convenient ways to fill and manage your prescriptions.
Lastly, the movie “Back to the Future” — a summertime release — inspired our front cover. As we reflect on the pandemic, we thank you for your partnership. Such collaboration offers hope for a healthier future.
“Dexter” Janet Borrowman is an operational excellence coach for performance improvement in the Southern California Region. She recently spoke with LMP Communications manager Sherry Crosby about the importance of rounding conversations for managers and frontline workers. Building a workplace culture where everyone’s voice matters is key to our Labor Management Partnership.
What is rounding?
Rounding is an evidence-based practice that relies on purposeful conversation and observation to drive workplace engagement and insights. Direct report rounding involves conversations between a team member and that person’s supervisor, manager or leader.
How does rounding benefit managers and frontline workers?
When done well, rounding helps managers build trust with staff, gain insights into workplace challenges and recognize employees, which fosters joy in work. Frontline workers benefit by having a chance to connect individually with their managers, share ideas, express concerns and find deeper purpose in their everyday work.
What evidence shows rounding is an effective practice?
Rounding is one of the most effective ways for managers to spend their time. And the more they consistently round, the greater the impact. According to People Pulse, departments where rounding is routinely practiced achieve more meaningful levels of engagement, better patient care outcomes, fewer workplace injuries and improved attendance.
How can frontline workers get the most out of rounding conversations?
Sometimes employees don’t see the benefit of direct report rounding; they just see it as helping the boss complete their checklist. It’s totally missing the point! Rounding is your chance to discuss what you need to be successful and the support you need. This is all about you!
How can managers get the most out of rounding conversations?
Rounding is one of the best tools that managers have for proactively surfacing and addressing issues which can create safer, more efficient and productive teams and environments. Use rounding to connect with your team members. People need to feel that their life and work has meaning, and that they are personally supported and cared for as a complete person. People need a personal touch, especially during difficult times, and rounding can help with that.
How can managers use rounding to build trusting relationships?
Your direct reports need to feel that what they’re saying is important and that you’re following up with action. Circle back to that person who brought up the issue with you. Go to the huddle and follow up with the whole team. We build trust by following up after a rounding conversation. We break trust by not following up.
What advice do you have for those who want to enhance their rounding practice?
If we are doing rounding the right way, if we’re doing it consistently, if we’re doing it authentically, then we will discover what matters most to our people and we’ll be able to better support them and the work they do.
Union leaders crunched the numbers, and they didn’t like what they saw.
At the beginning of February, less than 50% of SEIU-UHW members at Kaiser Permanente were vaccinated against COVID-19. It was even worse for employees in the Emergency Department at Downey Medical Center in Southern California, where Gabriel Montoya works as an emergency medical technician. There, only 40% of his fellow union members got the shot.
Montoya and his fellow union members — working with physicians and managers — wanted to raise those rates, so they pulled together labor-doctor huddles. And by mid-April, 64% were vaccinated.
“We did it in partnership,” says Montoya. “The labor partners led the huddles and introduced the doctors. I can’t imagine that happening in a nonunion hospital or even a non-Partnership hospital.”
SEIU-UHW members set up a phone bank to call — in Spanish and English — members who worked in housekeeping, food service and central supply departments, where vaccination rates were lowest. The union also hosted a Facebook live event where Black and Latino KP doctors answered questions.
Those proved so popular that they wondered, why not do this live at the facilities?
Angela Glasper loved the idea. The chief shop steward at Antioch Medical Center in Northern California got frustrated when she talked to fellow union members who were conflicted about getting vaccinated.
“I listened, but I couldn’t address their concerns,” says Glasper, who works in optical sales and needed someone with the clinical expertise to answer their questions. “Wouldn’t you rather hear it from a doctor than me?” she asks, with a hearty guffaw. “People would say to the doctors, ‘Labor has been telling us about it, but you answered our questions.’”
One of the most popular doctors at the huddles in Antioch was Jeffrey Ghassemi, MD, an anesthesiologist. He shared his harrowing stories about working on the COVID units and was, in Glasper’s words, “patient and gentle.” With a newfound confidence, employees signed up for vaccine appointments during huddles.
Pediatrician Carol Ishimatsu, MD, who volunteered to talk at a huddle in Downey, has given children shots to prevent measles, mumps and chickenpox for more than 2 decades.
“Vaccines are our most important intervention,” says Dr. Ishimatsu.
To build trust, Dr. Ishimatsu emphasized her shared experience with SEIU-UHW members as warriors on the front line.
“I told the employees: I do the same thing you do after work,” she says, describing her ritual of removing her clothes in the garage and putting them directly in the washing machine before entering the house. “We are in different professions, doing the same thing.”
Joel Valenciano, an Environmental Services manager at Downey, helped organize huddles at outlying clinics.
“I encouraged the staff to be honest, relate their fears and doubts, anything holding them back,” he says. “And they really opened up.”
The trust and open communication cultivated by working in partnership were key to building vaccine confidence.
“Working in partnership has intensified during the pandemic,” says Valenciano, “because people realize we need to work together.”
Dr. Ishimatsu agrees. She was involved with the Labor Management Partnership when it started more than 20 years ago. “At the time, I wasn’t sure it would evolve,” she recalls. “It treats us like one big family, instead of segments. The thing that keeps one person safe, keeps everyone safe.”
The training and education resources negotiated by Kaiser Permanente and the Partnership unions are helping employees advance their careers. These opportunities are making KP’s promise of a diverse and inclusive workplace come to life. Learn more from employees, managers and leaders who shared their stories during the first virtual Workforce Development Week.
Addie Darby, UFCW Local 1996, quality control, Health Information Management, Georgia
With the help of the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust and encouragement of manager Sophia Wilson, Darby has earned an associate degree in business management, a bachelor's in health administration, and a master's in health technology and education. She’s not stopping there. Darby is enrolled in a doctorate program and plans to graduate this year (2021).
Sadao Nakachi, UNAC/UHCP, emergency room nurse, Southern California
After leveraging workforce development opportunities to become an RN and earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing, Nakachi went on to get a master’s in business for veterans. He holds numerous professional certifications and connects fellow nurses to educational opportunities. “I always try to find courses that’ll overall maximize my potential at KP,” he says. Follow him on Instagram @NurseScholar.
Crystal Muir, OPEIU Local 2, clinical assistant, Mid-Atlantic States
Muir is using tuition reimbursement to pursue her bachelor’s degree in nursing. She’s also used the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust’s Individual Stipend Program to attend school once a week, which she says, “I've been fortunate to do with trying to balance school, work and life being a mom.” She aims to graduate in 2022.
Sophia Wilson, supervisor, Health Information Management, Georgia
“I encourage all my staff to pursue education to stay marketable and relevant,” Wilson says. “I tell managers, ‘Please do not be so rigid as to make it harder for your employees to soar.’ If you put the resources into your staff, it can be nothing but a win-win.”
Philidah Seda, director, Specialty Care, Georgia
Not only does Seda encourage her staff to use workforce development resources, but she herself is studying for her doctoral degree. “The health care environment is getting more and more complex,” she says. “For us to prepare the workforce of the future, we have to invest in their learning.”
Eula Smith, SEIU-UHW, medical assistant, Northern California
Ask Smith why she wanted to work in health care, and she will bluntly tell you she didn’t. She started at KP as a shuttle bus driver. When that department was outsourced, Smith was offered the opportunity to train as a medical assistant with the help of the SEIU UHW-West & Joint Employer Education Fund. She has overcome her initial reluctance to deal with patients, saying “I love it now.”
Ingris Solares, SEIU Local 105, medical lab technician, Colorado
Solares began her career at KP as a phlebotomist before getting trained in her current field in an apprenticeship program with the help of SEIU Local 105 and the SEIU UHW-West & Joint Employer Education Fund. She intends to get more education to become a clinical lab scientist. “I knew I wanted more because I'm the first generation here in the United States,” she says. “My parents came from Guatemala, so I always felt like I needed to make the trip here worth it.”
Michael Brown, senior vice president, HR Consulting, National Functions
Before embarking on a career path that would bring him to KP as an HR leader, Brown went to law school. His father was frank with him: As a Black man, he needed an advanced degree to position himself for the same opportunities that others had.
“Before I even started working, I knew that education was going to be the equalizer.” That’s why he encourages KP employees to use workforce development programs and cultivate learning agility by trying different shifts, joining different departments and seeking informal leadership roles.
Kerrin Watkins, manager, Dental Office, Northwest
It's hard to lose top performers, but amazing to see them grow. “Invest in your employees and let them know you want to see them succeed,” Watkins says. “This will benefit you in the long run, because you will have employees that will feel more valued. If you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of your business.”
Spurred by nationwide protests against racism and social injustice, unit-based team members are launching cultural competency projects aimed at delivering more equitable outcomes for their patients by looking closely at their own beliefs.
Mid-Atlantic psychotherapist Erin Seifert knows that big change often involves many small steps. Delivering equitable care is no different, she says.
“To give our patients the support and resources they need, we have to start with ourselves and our own biases and cultural competence,” says Seifert, labor co-lead for the North Baltimore Behavioral Health team and a member of UFCW Local 27.
Team members, who are represented by unions belonging to the Alliance of Health Care Unions and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, began a monthly lunch-and-learn series about bias awareness in November. Activities include a pre- and post-evaluation and guided learning exercises that stimulate conversation about differences.
“It’s very informative,” says Regina Foreman, a mental health assistant and member of OPEIU Local 2. “I’ve learned a lot, especially about implicit bias. The training is helping me be more aware of my own biases.”
Such responses are encouraging, says Kristin Whiting-Davis, operations manager and the team’s management co-lead.
“We need to be able to talk about our own privileges and our own biases,” Whiting-Davis says. “I hope it will help people practice having those discussions that, ultimately, will translate into the work we do with our members.
Eager to protect their young patients from the effects of racism, members of the Southwood Pediatrics team in Jonesboro, Georgia, began by educating themselves. They held listening sessions for staff and read about the impact of intolerance on children.
Their efforts informed discussions on ways to create a more welcoming environment for patients, families and each other. Ideas include a coloring contest featuring uplifting images, adding diverse artwork to the department and creating resources for families coping with racial biases.
Next steps call for staff members to vote on the most promising proposals for further action.
“We want all cultures and races to feel welcome when they come to our pediatrics unit,” says Stephanie Henry, MD, physician co-lead of the Southwood Pediatrics team. “We all have biases. We need to be open and honest about how to confront them. Then we can build bridges to start having conversations about the patient’s health.”
With reporting by Brenda Rodriguez and Tracy Silveria.
