We’re excited to highlight PRHC’s Human Resources (HR) department as we celebrate HR Professionals Day! Here at PRHC, we have a team of dedicated HR professionals who work to support an organization with more than 2,800 employees.
HR in healthcare is more than just hiring, onboarding and scheduling. In this article, we highlight the work of four staff members from our HR department, pulling back the curtain on what their teams are doing to support PRHC.
Meet Ian Couper.
“I’m responsible for making sure the information that ends up in the internal HR system is accurate. I propose and implement improvements, and work with the other departments to ensure everything is running as smoothly as possible,” says Ian, an HR Analyst with the Total Rewards, People Analytics, and HR Systems team.
When asked to describe his typical workday, Ian says, “We generally start our day with a quick meeting to check in and discuss any issues that anyone might need support on. Depending on the day, I might be focusing more on addressing questions, issues, and requests through our askHR system. Other days, I will spend most of my day completing data integrity reviews and processes that need to be finished before payroll starts for the pay period. Some days, I will get to spend more of my time working on process and system improvement projects, which are the days that I find most enjoyable because I get to hopefully make a meaningful impact on someone else’s work.”
A good example of this is PRHC’s AskHR ticketing system, which Ian is currently helping to optimize. This work will help staff to be able to find information more quickly and efficiently; combined with more automation, “it will also give the systems team more time focus on enhancing the services we provide to the organization,” says Ian.
Meet Emily Champagne.
Emily is a Disability Case Manager (DCM) in Occupational Health, Safety & Wellness. Her role is in place to support employees with health-related concerns, ranging from sick leaves, workplace injuries, modified work arrangements, requests for accommodations and more.
“All of these types of requests come with their own specific processes, which we as DCMs help the employee to navigate in a way that meets the criteria set out for us, but also makes the most sense for their specific medical situation,” says Emily.
A typical day for a DCM includes responding to email and phone inquiries, receiving and reviewing medical information for new and ongoing absences, responding to incident reports and managing WSIB processes, connecting with managers to discuss modified work options to meet their employees’ needs, and attending meetings with employees, unions and managers.
What Emily loves about her job is supporting employees to remain in the workplace and stay engaged in meaningful work as much as possible.
Meet Sue Haydon.
“In my role, I provide guidance and support to my peers and hospital leaders around labour relations matters. Part of my job involves managing grievance files, mediation and arbitration, bargaining local collective agreements, and chairing labour management meetings. I work closely with hospital and union leaders to help resolve labour issues,” says Sue about her role as a Strategic Labour Relations Lead.
Having been with PRHC for 16 years, Sue has seen a lot of change in her role since the COVID-19 pandemic. Moving all meetings to a virtual environment, for example, has been challenging. “The health human resource shortage has certainly had an impact on labour relations. There are firm rules within collective agreements, and we have had to work collaboratively with our union partners to find solutions to help with the staffing challenges we’re facing,” says Sue.
Meet Meghan Sterpin.
Meghan joined the Health Centre in May 2022, during a time of significant transition within the healthcare sector. “I was thrilled to take on the challenge of enriching the workplace culture at PRHC,” she says about her role as HR manager. “I really enjoy the variety of expertise and perspectives that make up the HR division, and my favourite part is when we come together to move an initiative forward.”
“Our current focus is improving the capabilities of the AskHR system to increase employee access to information,” she says. “Having information available instantly at your fingertips is critical for a busy workforce. Automation and optimizing our systems are fantastic ways to increase our efficiency as an organization.”
Meghan currently leads a team of dedicated professionals, including HR generalists, HR business partners and HR leads in specialty areas, all of whom are knowledgeable about collective agreements, employment legislation, and PRHC workflows and processes. Together, they focus on supporting the employee experience, labour relations, organizational development and talent acquisition.
“Each HR team member puts their heart into everything they do to ensure the employee experience remains at the centre of their work,” says Meghan. “My role is to make sure this dedicated team can accomplish all that is expected of them and still have energy left at the end of their day. They are focused on supporting and empowering the hospital’s units and teams, so a part of my focus is doing the same for them.”
PRHC has been doing a great deal of work to set itself apart as an employer of choice, says Meghan. “Looking after the people who make up this organization is a strong starting point, and I believe we are beginning to see the results of our focus in this area.”
