People

High performance leadership

Our leadership pathway helps leaders to push the boundaries of their leadership knowledge and practice through integrated learning, coaching, and one-to-one mentorship.

By increasing the pipeline of leaders ready for advanced opportunities and extending our leadership curricula beyond its current boundaries, Leading at Providence provides opportunities for leaders to grow their practice of leadership and develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to realize the Providence vision.

2017 Forbes “Employer of the Year” award

For 2017, Providence Health Care was acknowledged as a standout employer on a national level.

We couldn’t be more delighted about how Forbes establishes their “Best Employer” lists each year: rather than being selected via a self-submitted application, Forbes asks 8,000 Canadian employees, working for large firms or institutions, to rate their willingness to recommend their own companies. Additionally, respondents were also asked to name good or bad employers in sectors or industries besides their own. To be recognized on account of our own staff’s recommendation and the endorsement of fellow health care organizations lets us know we’re doing something right.

Random Coffee

Simply adding fun to our work life feels like reason enough but the purpose for the initiative goes even further

Launched just over 18 months ago, Random Coffee was created to connect people from different areas of Providence to meet over coffee and chat. Research on business networking makes a distinction between a closed network (our connection to those we work with directly) and an open network (our random connections). A strong closed network is vital to our everyday functioning on the job but it’s our open networks that inspire innovation, new energy and can be game-changing.

And as an organization with its eyes set on big things, game changing is a must. Boasting nearly 120 participants to date, Random Coffee is definitely “brewing” up something significant at PHC.

PHC Check-in Survey

Our Check-in Survey seeks to evaluate the quality of staff’s work life by capturing all of those intangibles that can’t be calculated.

Specifically, the Check-in Survey asks about factors that research has established as having the biggest impact on staff’s comfort and effectiveness in the workplace, like if our staff feel like they’re part of a team, or being able to count on a supervisor for support.

Re-launched with fewer, more intuitive questions in fall of 2016, the Check-in Survey gave everyone in the organization the chance to reflect on their work environment. Results came back showing respect, recognition and feedback had all improved significantly since the last staff survey three years ago, with nods towards a strong team environment and leadership being seen as fair. In addition to wanting to continue the good work with respect and recognition, staff desire more linkage to senior leaders, greater development opportunities and a better understanding of change at PHC.  This provides our focus for the next couple of years.  

Staff Mental Health and Mental Wellness: next steps

For 2017, the focus of our Mental Health and Mental Wellness working group has landed squarely on workload management and the protection of personal safety.

Starting with workload management, leaders were asked about their actions, beliefs and experiences via a variety of channels, as they relate to certain work events and circumstances. The outcome of this work has presented main themes that distinguish “workload managed” versus “workload overwhelmed,” which is precisely where we have opted to dive in: rolling out supports, training and resources to better support leaders who are feeling overwhelmed with unmanageable workloads, too many priorities and too little time spent on creating balance..