RUSH University Medical Center

Improving employee retention and engagement through mentorship and career pathway awareness

The Opportunity

RUSH University Medical Center is a Chicago-based academic medical center with over 13,000 employees spread across five primary campuses and other outpatient centers. The Rush team joined the Talent Rewire Employer Action Lab knowing they wanted to focus on building awareness of internal career advancement opportunities for its frontline employees to increase retention and employee engagement. Informed by existing data, they chose to start their pilot with their housekeeping team, known as Environmental Service Technicians (EVS), where they saw high levels of turnover and low employee engagement.

From the very beginning the team wanted to make sure the solutions or programs they proposed were informed by engaging frontline employee voice. Drawing on input and data from the Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative survey on frontline employees, its own annual employee engagement survey, and some of the first-ever employee focus groups at Rush, they discovered that the EVS team wanted:

• Advancement support including career advice and mentorship, affordable education opportunities to grow their skills, and awareness of how to advance both with the department and laterally into other departments
• To feel that they were given the same opportunities as their clinical peers

They also learned that employees wanted to see people move through the organization in a way that was inspiring for them. This led to the idea and development of a 90-day self-paced training and mentoring program.

The Approach

Level UP Mentor & Development Program

In this pilot period, the 90-day self-paced training and mentoring program targets participation by EVS employees who have worked at Rush six months to two years. They chose this tenure timeframe because their data shows this is when employees start looking for opportunities outside of the Rush system.

In its initial phase, the program will include:

• 1:1 mentoring and coaching
• Monthly in-person group meetings to create opportunities for program participants and mentors to learn with and from each other
• Online training modules developed and offered in collaboration with Rush’s education partners

To successfully complete the program, all participants need to actively engage with their mentors, attend all the monthly in-person meetings, and complete the online assignments.

To build approval, buy-in, and support for the program the team engaged leadership, including the Vice President of Support Services, the organization’s Workforce Development Council, and union representatives.

Next Steps

The development and implementation of the LEVEL UP pilot is one way that Rush is building HR policies, practices, and programs that support workforce development and its frontline. The team is also working with leadership to:

• Ensure current HR policies and practices support workforce development planning
• Foster an environment where employees feel empowered and safe to seek information about their career development and advancement opportunities
• Build training and coaching for managers to support the organization’s workforce development and career pathing
• Allocate resources for workforce development programs including approving compensation for mentors and allowing time on shift for employees to complete training requirements

The goal is for LEVEL UP to be a bridge to a full career pathing platform that will help employees and managers identify opportunities for training, skill building, and meaningful career pathways that provide opportunities for economic mobility and stability. Rush believes that talent comes from within and is committed to increasing employee retention and supporting internal growth so that all employees see a future for themselves in the Rush system.

This innovation story was made possible through funding from Walmart.