Transcription:

Joey Wahler: Forbes Magazine named them the Best Healthcare System employer in the state of Alabama. So we're discussing working for Infirmary Health System.

This is Life Cast, a podcast from Infirmary Health System. Thanks for listening. I'm Joey Waller, our guest, Ivy Singly. She's manager of Employment Services for Infirmary Health. Ivy, thanks for joining.

Ivy Singley: Yeah. Thank you for having me.

Joey Wahler: So first, congratulations on being recognized by Forbes. And so in a nutshell, and we'll get into more specifics of course in a moment, but what do you think makes working for Infirmary Health so unique and positive that led to that status from Forbes?

Ivy Singley: I think it has a lot to do with all the great things that Infirmary Health does for our employees. We do a great job at making sure staff have the latest and greatest in equipment to do their jobs. we always conduct annual employment engagement surveys to get their feedback because it's so important to get their feedback and what they're interested in and what their needs are.

We do a great job at implementing what they tell us and give it back to the employees and provide the most competitive benefits, in our area. And I think that means a lot to the workforce today that just shows that they are valued and that we value their suggestions.

Joey Wahler: Well, that sounds like a great idea. Employee surveys, and other than that, as you well know, part of being a great employer is creating a positive work environment. So nowadays, besides those surveys, how do you do that?

Ivy Singley: Well, I think what you have to do is you've got to cultivate it from the top down. When you employ people to become the management or the leadership of the infirmary, it's about adopting our core values. We have something that's called life and it stands for leadership, integrity, family, and excellent service.

So when people from the management adopt those ideas and they practice them every day. Then you wanna hire employees that are gonna have the same belief system and the same core values. So I think a lot of that goes into it in fostering that type of environment, no matter what facility or area that you work in inside Infirmary Health.

Joey Wahler: Well, Ivy, I don't know if you're a big sports fan or not, but in sports nowadays, we hear so much about culture, about teams and organizations trying to build a quote unquote culture to buy into the same belief system. And it sounds, from what you just said, Like Infirmary Health tries to do exactly that with their employees. Right?

Ivy Singley: That is correct. We, establish the core values. We make sure that employees understand that when they come through orientation, and it's just our belief system. That's how we do our perform. Evaluations. That's the belief system that we live out. We make sure all of our employees understand that and know the meaning of each letter, so that that way we have that culture at all facilities and no matter where you work inside Infirmary Health, we all have the same core values.

Joey Wahler: Indeed. So becoming a doctor or nurse naturally involves such commitment and so much hard work. Can you discuss infirmary health systems residency programs for both doctor and nurses?

Ivy Singley: Well, for the doctors, it is a newer program. We probably are in our third year of this. It is something that is sponsored by Thomas Hospital, which is one of our campuses, one of our hospitals. And doctors do the matching process where they're matched up from their colleges to our facility. And then they come here for about a three year, three to four year program where they can do their residency.

And really learn about the type of specialties that they're interested in. They have a clinic that they operate out of and that way they can learn and finish up their medical degrees with us. when it comes to the nursing program and the nursing residency. Basically what happens is a nurse graduates from college and then they have this continuum type of education that we do, and we call it the nurse residency. And they come out and it's for about almost a year, but it's really a 12 week long process. Where they go a little bit deeper into, what are the fundamentals about being a nurse.

What are the true skills. And we try to hone in on that for them and introduce them to the other parts of the hospital where they can round and learn not just about nursing, but maybe about respiratory, but about pharmacy, and learn how those other departments work alongside with nursing. So the residency program, has been very successful. We've done it probably the five years. And, nurses love coming in there because it just gives them a deeper dive into the field that they have chosen.

Joey Wahler: Now, that being said, you also of course employ many clinicians and other staff. Those of us that have either been in the hospital. or Visited someone there. We know that often it's the people behind the scenes or in the trenches that often make or break someone's stay and experience. So what should people know about working for you in some of those other positions?

Ivy Singley: Yeah, so, so many times people think that, working in the hospital or the healthcare setting, it just requires being a doctor or a nurse. But there are so many positions. Like myself, if you've got human resources, you have accounting, you have marketing, then you've got radiology and pharmacy. And so many times those are the other departments that make the hospital work as well, alongside with nursing. And so I think here at Infirmary Health, we foster a great environment of showing each person, whether they be what we call nonclinical or clinical their roles and how important they are in patient care at the end of the day.

Joey Wahler: Working just about anywhere it seems comes with its share of stresses, but needless to say healthcare comes with its own set, its own level of stress, because oftentimes you're talking about. Life changing, life threatening situations. It could be life or death. And so with mental healthcare, Ivy nowadays getting so much more attention and rightfully so, what's offered by Infirmary Healthcare for their employees when it comes to of a right mind and dealing with those stress levels when they pop up?

Ivy Singley: Well, we have a number of different outlets. We do have something we call our EAP program. It's our employee assistance program. So, for the stressors, whether they be on the job stressors or just life in general, we have the ability for our employees to call our EAP program to go talk to a mental health professional about whatever it is that they have going on in their. One of the things that we also brought on during Covid time, it brought it on, was what we call lavender rooms.

And they're at all of our facilities. And the Lavender Room is just a place for the healthcare professional or the non-clinical person to just kind of retreat to. It's got, lazy boy chairs in there. It's got nice atmosphere. It's got books that they can look at and things that they can just kind of reflect on, and it's just a time for them to take a time out and just get away from the situation. Go into that room and kind of calm down and just, get all their rathers back about and Right. And so, we offer both of those processes to be able to help employees from a mental health standpoint.

Joey Wahler: That sounds great. I think I'd be a huge lavender guy if I were working for you all. Anyone can use a little bit of lavender room these days at work I think, how about this, in this pandemic age, it seems never have employee health benefits been more important to people. So can you summarize for us please, infirmary Health Systems benefits package.

Ivy Singley: Yeah, absolutely. We offer the Blue Cross Blue Shield, our Viva Healthcare. So we have two healthcare options health insurance options, and we have a 401K plan for their retirement. We also offer short term and long term disability benefits. We have an all inclusive ETO plan for them. We offer tuition reimbursement which is a big deal these days. We also have an employee pharmacy and we also have an employee health clinic where we have a nurse practitioner.

So if our employees get sick and they don't really have time to go to the doctor or don't need to take off, they can go to the clinic and be seen by a nurse practitioner and then they can have all their prescriptions filled here on the campus or their respective campus where they work. Altogether our benefit package is very good. It's one of the best in our area.

Joey Wahler: A couple of other things. I want to circle back to something you mentioned earlier, which was giving surveys to employees for important feedback from them. Anything in particular, be it positive or perhaps negative that came up on those surveys that resulted in change or resulted in something happening on the management end that led to a better place to work for everybody?

Ivy Singley: Yeah, I would tell you that, in those surveys all the times when we run them as employers you might not ever know what you could get back in those surveys, but. Our employees tend to be very transparent, which is great. We get a lot of positive feedback and we do get some of the negative feedback. One of the examples may be of a negative feedback. It might be that, we need more blood pressure cuffs or we might nee d one of the things that they said was that instead of handing out turkeys at Christmas, can we hand them out now at Thanksgiving?

It's not that it's negative necessarily, it's just a thought by an employee and that gives them a platform to be able to share with us as management that, hey, we like those opportunities, but could we do it better this way? Or could we do it better that way? So, in it all, we've gotten, a lot of positive stuff, which just reinforced what we thought was we were doing correctly for them. But then there's also the negative feedbacks, and sometimes that's where we enhance our benefit package.

Sometimes it's equipment related situations. Sometimes it's just the environment like, Hey, can we add better lighting or can we buy more beds that do different things? So I would tell you those employee engagement surveys have been great for infirmary help.

Joey Wahler: It sounds like just having that line of communication open between employer and employee is important to people to know that they're being heard and they have that option. Right?

Ivy Singley: Oh, absolutely. They love that platform and we love being able to provide that for.

Joey Wahler: Of course the internet and social media are now major tools for employer recruitment. How does Infirmary Health System use that to connect with potential employees in this modern age of technology?

Ivy Singley: Yeah, you are so right. That social media platform is very important these days. I would tell you that our marketing department does a great job in managing all of our social media platforms for us. But that is the way of technology now. That is the way of communicating, especially with these newer generations. So I would tell you, Infirmary Health we make sure that we're on all social media platforms. We make sure that. we monitor those and we advertise our jobs out there and try to, hit all the different generations and all the different platforms that people may be looking for a job these days. So, you're liable to look on Twitter or Instagram or any of those and you'll find Infirmary Health for sure.

Joey Wahler: And then finally, let me ask you about your own experience working there. How long have you been with the company?

Ivy Singley: I have almost been with Infirmary Health around 15 years.

Joey Wahler: Okay. And what would you say is your favorite part about your position or working for Infirmary Health in general?

Ivy Singley: I would tell you that my favorite part is being able, especially in the line of work that I do, is being able to assist our current employees with finding new opportunities and jobs and career paths. But then at the same time, it's also for that new hire that may have never been able to get a job yet, and now we're giving them a job for the very first time. So it sets them on their career path, and one of my favorite things at Infirmary Health is the way that they are so transparent, our leadership goes to bat for our employees at all times.

And they make it a great place to work. It's very transparent. They're open to new ideas, and I think that's what makes infirmary health work so well. And I think that's what provides all the longevity that we have and our employees. And then it just creates our culture.

Joey Wahler: And obviously something that, as we said at the outset, was recognized by Forbes Magazine, so you're obviously doing a great job at doing a great job, if you will, right?

Ivy Singley: Yes. Thank you so much.

Joey Wahler: Sure, and for more information or to apply for a position, please call 251-435-4920. Again, 251-435-4920 or visit infirmaryhealth.org/careers. Again, that's infirmaryhealth.org/careers. Folks, we trust you now more familiar with working for Infirmary Health System. Sounds like a great place to work. Ivy Singley, thanks so much again.

Ivy Singley: Yes. Thank you.

Joey Wahler: Now if you found this podcast helpful, please do share it on your social media, and thanks again for listening to Life Cast a podcast from Infirmary Health System. Hoping your health is good health. I'm Joey Wahler.