Children's Health System (CHS)

Need:

Based in Birmingham, Alabama, Children's Health System (CHS) is a total pediatric health care network with more than 2,500 employees. In 1999, CHS had a 23 percent turnover rate. Nearly 670 of the then-2,900 employees needed to be replaced every year as a result of heavy recruitment from nearby hospitals, a lack of camaraderie between incumbent staff and new employees, the need to maintain 24-hour shifts, and apparent resistance to a service-oriented culture. In short, it was CHS's inability to hire the right people for the right jobs that led to its retention problem.

Solution:

In response, DDI worked with CHS to implement a customized version of Targeted Selection®. The first step was creating competency profiles for each position, which revealed to CHS that company values, such as the ability to work with others in a shift team, were as important as job skills. Then hiring managers were trained in Targeted Selection® interviewing techniques.

Results:

A little more than a year after the human resource department and hospital managers were trained in Targeted Selection®, the turnover rate started to improve. Within two years, turnover dropped from 23 percent to 9 percent, even lower than the CHS goal of 15 percent. CHS also has reaped bottom-line savings because time and money are no longer spent on hiring large numbers of temporary workers. As well, employee morale has increased, adding to the retention rates.