A couple years back we positioned senior care schedulers as superheroes in our annual awards announcement. So, when I sat down to write this year’s blog post, I had trouble coming up with a theme that could top that, elevating this group of hardworking individuals to the next level. While schedulers were already accomplishing incredible things on a daily basis, the pandemic has without a doubt added another layer of complexity to their work. And for that, they are worthy of super-superhero status. They make the likes of Superman, Captain America and all our other comic book favorites look like ordinary citizens.
The nominations we received prior to the crisis left us inspired. And when we contacted our winners and learned a little bit more about how they are meeting new challenges head on, it became even more apparent that senior care schedulers can do just about anything they set their minds to.
We heard stories of how schedulers are using OnShift’s messaging capabilities to send instant communications to entire teams to quickly fill understaffed shifts. And the ability for employees to pick up partial shifts has been helpful in providing more flexibility for those who need it, while still ensuring the community is properly staffed.
This year’s winners were touted for eliminating expensive agency usage, improving staffing star ratings, boosting employee engagement and work-life balance, and facilitating continuity of care. Many are even winning organizational awards for their achievements. One scheduler had the largest overtime reduction across the company, and another was named employee of the year. One community even credits their scheduler for helping them receive a “Great Place to Work” certificate for the first time ever.
And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for, here are your 2020 OnShift Schedulers of The Year…
- Carleen Chu, Poway Healthcare Center
- Vicki Dean, Vista Springs Riverside Garden
- Tonanisha Hughes, Bay Breeze Senior Living
- Carla Simon, MorningStar at Arrowhead
- Brittney Belanger, Sippican Healthcare Center
- Laurie Berkland, New Perspective Senior Living Silvis
- Eve Holztrager, Sunrise at Parma
- Debra Russell, The Cedars
- Deandra Rich, Commonwealth Senior Living at Farnham
- Danny Gross, Fountain Circle Care & Rehabilitation Center
And a special congratulations to this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award Winner…
- Annette Rosario, Good Samaritan Society - Fort Collins Village
Here are some highlights from the winning nominations:
- “Our scheduler has been instrumental in reducing overtime cost throughout 2019 by effectively utilizing various OnShift reporting methods. Our scheduler also promotes consistent engagement through utilization of the OnShift Engage program, coupled with a community specific reward system for associates.”
- “Our scheduler led the team in the implementation of OnShift and fully embraced it even though it meant changing the way our scheduler had been doing things for more than 20 years. In having such a successful implementation, we have helped to spread OnShift to other facilities in the surrounding communities.”
- “Our community was running $38,000 over budget and our scheduler has reduced it to under budget for the upcoming months’ projections. Our scheduler has also reduced turnover and at the same time we have been able to keep specialty trained staff on each one of our specialty units.”
- “Our scheduler has been the light at the end of the tunnel in finding and getting CNA staff on the schedule. Our scheduler is instrumental in assuring our residents receive the quality of care that they deserve.”
- “Using OnShift’s daily emails to notify us of projected overtime and our scheduler’s daily monitoring, we were able to reduce overtime by 92% - amazing results!”
- “Our scheduler’s team works together well to provide the best resident care and have reduced call-offs since the OnShift Engage points system went live. OnShift has assisted in keeping the team engaged and interested in managing their time properly.”
- “The simple act of ensuring that team members take their scheduled lunch breaks saves the community thousands of dollars annually. Plus, we’re always under budget on overtime hours and our employee retention for team members 5 years or more is increasing every year.”
- “We have a large number of our aides that are in school. Our scheduler is able to accommodate each of them to not only staff the facility but to make their lives a priority and give them work/life balance. She is the reason many of them continue to work here.”
- “With our scheduler’s help, the continuity of care is now awesome! In addition, I was able to meet my acuity-based staffing requirement every month on the year for 2019 even when we had 6 full-time nurse openings and 14 full-time STNA openings.”
- “Our scheduler has been successful in reducing overtime, maintains staff satisfaction and keeps to the budgeted nursing hours. OnShift has helped with our agency use to bring it to almost 0%. Being able to get a message out for staffing needs has worked well for us by getting quick responses to fill an open shift.”
- “Our scheduler is very approachable, flexible, reliable, and clearly puts in the initiative to make our community a better place for both residents and staff. We are also projecting a 15% reduction in agency use and improving our 3-star to a 5-star staffing rating.”
- “Our organization has reduced agency use by 100%, successfully staffed the organization while reducing overtime by 85% and saved over $8,000 per month in labor costs.”
- “Our community for the first time achieved "Great Place to Work" certification in 2019, in no small part due to the contributions that the OnShift Engage program has brought to our organization. Our scheduler’s expert use of OnShift's labor management resources allows us to consistently keep overtime under 2%.”
As you can see, these schedulers’ super-superhero status is without a doubt warranted. Congratulations to all of our winners! We appreciate all you do for our communities more than you could ever know. And thank you to all of the schedulers and frontline workers out there going above and beyond to keep residents safe and happy during this time.
