HCHR Week: Team of the Day - Thursday

Norwegian American Hospital
Chicago, Illinois

Nominated by:
Delma Guevara
Vice President, Human Resources
Norwegian American Hospital

A team of 6 amazing HR professionals that dedicate their every minute to the great staff of 900+ at our stand alone safety net hospital. The team is comprised of two members focused on recruiting and onboarding, a compensation & benefits specialist, an Employee Relations Liaison, a Leave and Work Comp Specialist, and a Senior Business Partner.

As a safety net hospital, we don't have the latest state of the art technology, but this team constantly looks for efficiencies and ways to evolve our operations and better serve our team at all levels of the organization. Some of the major changes accomplished by this team in the last 12 months include: 

• Reducing vacancy rate by 67% in less than 12 months 
• Streamlined recruiting and onboarding process, lowering premium labor (including agency and travelers) by 60% resulting in $225K savings (for a 12-month period) 
• Re-designed health and wellness benefits plans, consolidated benefits vendors and utilized engagement survey data to redesign the health plan - ultimately resulting in a $200K/year savings. 
• Redefined organizational culture by engaging members of the organization at all levels, in their work space. This was accomplished by hosting "Late Night with HR," and HR rounding.