Recognizing and Celebrating our HR Team!
Yesterday, September 26th, was Human Resource Professionals’ Day, and in honour of that day, we want to highlight the important role that our HR team plays here at St. Mary’s and thank them for everything they do.
Our HR team here at St. Mary’s consists of 11 team members including: HR Administrators, HR Consultants, Talent Management Consultant, People Services Data Analyst, Senior Manager People Services and Manager Volunteers Services & Staff Scheduling.
When asked what HR professionals do, we often think about their role in hiring new staff, but there are so many other responsibilities that fall under their portfolio.
Each member of the team plays an important role in the work we do here at St. Mary’s. The team strives to provide a positive experience for candidates, employees, and the leadership teams on a daily basis. The work they do includes processing, educating, and coaching on the following areas:
- Recruitment and onboarding
- Benefit management
- Leave of absence management
- Employee/labour relations
- Student placements
- Volunteers
“It is an honour to work alongside some amazing HR professionals that truly take great pride in supporting our people throughout their journey with SMGH,” says Sheona, Director People Services. “I am amazed at their ability to do their work with such care and compassion for each person they touch. They do put the HR in HeaRt!”
The work this team does ensures that we can continue providing exceptional care to our patients and community. A focus of the team this year has been on the Health Human Resource strategy, and to support this, the team has brought on a talent acquisition consultant to specifically look at our recruitment and retention initiatives. Additionally, the team has also brought on a data analytics role, which will allow the team to measure their progress with greater accuracy and detail.
“The organization has been no stranger to change these past three years,” says Nicole, Interim VP HR. “As HR Professionals, our team is prepared for constant change and to support the organization in those times of change. As we look towards addressing our health human resources challenges, our HR team is well equipped and committed to supporting staff and leaders through this opportunity to explore new employee experience models. We are very lucky to have such a committed and experienced HR team at SMGH.”
Every department in the organization felt the impacts of COVID-19, and HR was not exempt from this. Prior to the pandemic, St. Mary’s had not utilized agency staff, but through collaboration with stakeholders, the team was able to develop a new agency recruitment process to support our frontline staff. This new process resulted in additional improvements in the recruitment procedures as a whole for the team.
The pressures of the pandemic meant that our HR team was putting in a lot of hours to bring in additional staff. At the beginning of the pandemic, 150 new staff, a combination of St. Mary’s and agency staff, were onboarded within a five-week period, which was an exceptional feat for the team.
As a result of COVID-19, as well as a growing team and limited physical space, the team implemented a hybrid working model. The HR team had to quickly adapt their models of work to facilitate the remote work, which meant moving away from hard-copy, paper work to electronic formats. Although unplanned, this change ultimately led to greater efficiency and quicker service for everyone.
The team has seen growth over the past few months as we accommodate the growth of the organization and the importance of health human resources. “There are many new faces on our team and a lot of learning being done,” says Sheona. “We are very appreciative of the kindness and patience everyone at St. Mary’s has shown us – thank you!”
When you see or talk to a member of our HR team this week, give them a quick “hi” and thank them for their commitment to our staff and the work they do.