Working long hours, coordinating availability of many employees and working within budgets, the role of the people responsible for scheduling in senior care is far from simple. I should know, since starting OnShift I have visited hundreds of facilities and communities across the U.S. I have been on the front lines next to these dedicated men and women who consistently go to great lengths to keep their buildings running smoothly.
Yes, schedulers are the unsung heroes who make sure that every shift has enough of the right employees to care for the residents, that everyone knows when and where they are needed, that the director of nursing is always aware of staffing issues that impact care, and that the administrator is equipped with the right labor data to manage operations to budget.
Every year OnShift takes tremendous pride in recognizing those individuals who exemplify leadership qualities, with proven achievements, in managing employee scheduling in long-term care and senior living organizations.
After reviewing countless inspiring, dedication- and passion-filled submissions, OnShift is proud to announce the winners of the 2012 Scheduler of the Year Awards. To show the great respect OnShift has for these individuals, I personally called each and every single one to break the good news. Each call I had was filled with appreciation and compelling stories of how using OnShift has transformed their organizations. I heard incredible comments like:
- “OnShift made the impossible, possible” in allowing the facility to cut overtime from hundreds of hours to less than 25 hours per pay period and freeing up time.
- “OnShift listened to my needs and delivered. That makes all the difference.”
- “OnShift is a godsend. It really helped with staff satisfaction and we saw a clear improvement in quality and consistency of care. Our residents even noticed”.
- “Our entire staff is engaged. Satisfaction has gone way up and we are quickly rolling OnShift to our other departments so they can experience the same”.
And finally, I was humbled to receive praise and thanks from several people for creating a product that not only helped their organization and their jobs, but also gave them back valuable time that they were spending outside of work hours on nurse scheduling needs. The nominations highlight these benefits and others quite prominently:
- “Our facility is top 10% in the Nation for Workforce excellence for the past few years.”
- “Her dedication takes a tremendous load off of the DON and myself since we have to answer for our budgets -- good or bad.”
- “We have experienced better staffing which in turn allows more quality time spent with the residents, in turn improving their quality of life.”
- “She received a promotion as a result of her outstanding performance and capabilities; most notably, in her work in successfully implementing OnShift.”
- “She has been able to reduce our overtime by approximately 80%. She has been able to reduce the amount of time she spends on scheduling by 50%, which enables her to devote her time to her other nursing duties.”
Every individual I had the pleasure of congratulating exemplifies “staffing best practices” for every level of their organization, exceeding the needs of management and nursing staff alike, and positively impacting the quality of care their residents receive. Additionally, these individuals effectively employ OnShift nurse and staff scheduling software to consistently maintain adherence to their Hours Per Patient Day (HPPD) targets and control overtime to well below their company standards.
Please join me in congratulating the winners of this prestigious award, or as I like to call it, the scheduling Oscars in senior care. And the winners are (drumroll please…):
- Tina Winchester, Lynwood Healthcare and Rehab Center, Diversicare Management Services
- Christine Hogenkamp, MorseLife
- Starla Floyd, The Manor at Perrysburg, HCF Management, Inc.
- Annalee Munson, East Village Place, Watermark Retirement Communities
- Rachel Primus, Ecumen Bethany Community, Ecumen
- Francisco Rivera, Jr., Willow Valley Retirement Communities
Special recognition as OnShift Champion for organization-wide transformation:
- Lora McCloskey, Catholic Health Care Services
Special thanks to everyone who graciously nominated their schedulers for this award. So many wonderful submissions were received and we would like to commend everyone on the great work you are doing day after day. Here at OnShift we are always committed to your success and look forward to helping you with all your staffing and scheduling efforts. And now stay tuned: the 2013 Scheduler of the Year Awards are just around the corner.
