The West Palm Beach VA Medical Center Workforce Development Committee was initiated at the end of FY11 in order to recruit and retain the best workforce possible, develop talented staff into progressive positions, and to ensure that our supervisors have the skills necessary to lead effectively. The committee includes representatives from Senior Leadership and representatives from key departments such as Human Resources, Employee Education, Social Work, Nursing, Environmental Management, Nutrition and Food, and Facilities Management. The committee is organized into four subcommittees that focus on Recruitment, Retention/Satisfaction, Staff Development, and Supervisory Development. The Recruitment subcommittee focuses primarily on developing strong recruiting strategies in order to bring talented individuals on board. The Retention/Satisfaction subcommittee centers on promoting employee wellness and other retention techniques. The Staff and Supervisory subcommittees analyze succession planning needs and provide tools for professional growth. Each of these four subcommittees meets bi-weekly and reports monthly to the Workforce Development Committee.After its inaugural year, the committee assessed its accomplishments against its goals for the future and merged the four subcommittees into two. We realized that it is impossible to recruit the strongest workforce if you are not keeping them engaged and satisfied so we pooled resources across retention and satisfaction. We also learned that many of our talented staff members have aspirations to become supervisors in their career and that the needs of supervisors often overlap with the needs of employees, so it made sense to merge the staff and supervisory development efforts.
2012 Accomplishments:
* The Recruitment Workgroup hosted a Veterans Job Fair in May 2012 with seven other federal agencies and three private sector firms, with more than 350 Veterans in attendance.
* The Retention/Satisfaction Subcommittee formed the100 miles in 100 days walking challenge, which began on December 13, 2011 and ended March 23, 2012. Thirty-one participants completed the program.
* An athletic workgroup was formed in partnership with the VA Employee Association. This workgroup conducts athletic events and intramural games outside of traditional work schedules.
* The Employee Health Program was expanded to include annual physicals, vaccines, and lab testing for all staff. Greater marketing efforts were launched to educate staff about existing programs such as mammograms, smoking cessation, and weight loss programs.
*A developmental program was launched specifically for employees in lower level grade positions that had previously not been competitive for other programs. The first class will graduate this year.
*Lunch and Learns were created to provide valuable information for supervisor development.
*A mentoring program was created in order to identify a professional network of support across various positions.
2013 Goals:
In 2013, the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center Workforce Development Committee will focus its attention on succession planning. More than 25% of our nurses and 54% of our tradesman are eligible to retire. In addition, within the next five years, approximately 50% of our supervisors are eligible for retirement. We have already invested in a student program that offers entry level, developmental positions to students with job placement after graduation. In FY13, we will continue to match our student, nursing, and trades positions with the critical needs across the medical center. In addition, we will continue our efforts in employee wellness by considering group fitness classes and further expanding our intramural sports program.
