Gillette Children's Hospital Leverages Workforce Intelligence from UKG to Boost Employee, Patient Experiences

How thriving health systems optimize their workforce to achieve success | UKG

Gillette Children’s Hospital, located in Minnesota, cares for children with disabilities and life-threatening medical conditions ranging from cerebral palsy to epilepsy to spina bifida through a specialty hospital and network of clinics.

Challenges

Gillette Children’s complex, on-demand workforce includes salaried and hourly employees such as doctors, nurses, and clinical staff. With UKG, the health system is creating a great workplace that keeps employees informed and engaged while they work with patients and families who are at their most vulnerable.

Solutions

“Reporting in our UKG Pro suite is second to none, and has been a game changer for us,” said Michelle Lemahieu, director of HR strategic services at Gillette Children’s. “With real-time access to information such as retention and turnover, we’re able to make smarter decisions about our staff and staffing levels as well as our finances and payroll, and where we can deploy HR resources that will deliver the greatest returns. UKG is remarkably agile and makes everything easier for us, including saving us 40 hours a week in data entry alone, so we can focus on making strategic decisions in support of our people.”

According to recent research from UKG, more than three-quarters (77%) of people in the healthcare field report feeling burned out — more than any other industry — with an even higher percentage stating their job negatively affects their wellbeing. Yet Gillette Children’s says the UKG Pro suite has played a significant role in helping surface insights related to employee turnover, allowing the healthcare provider to take proactive action to retain staff and prevent potential issues before they happen.

“We weren't able to report on turnover before UKG. Now, we can create detailed reports on department-level turnover that includes employees’ reasons for leaving, tenure, and demographic data, which has helped us uncover and address underlying issues and adjust our retention strategies,” said Lemahieu.
Results

In addition to turnover, recruiting is a persistent challenge impacting not only Gillette Children’s, but the entire healthcare industry. UKG research shows healthcare workers consider pay and work-life balance to be more important when choosing an employer compared to all other industries. Insights in the UKG Pro suite have helped Gillette Children’s understand how to better attract and retain qualified candidates, earning the health system a UKG Innovation Award in 2024.

“We’re able to pinpoint positions with an unexpectedly long time-to-fill rate and reevaluate how we are bringing in talent,” said Lemahieu. “The data in UKG also helps us understand trends in how we recruit different demographics, so we can alter our strategies.”

To improve scheduling, Gillette Children’s plans to capitalize on UKG’s open API framework by integrating UKG workforce management with its Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system. This will create an enhanced, real-time approach to meeting patient ratios while letting employees opt into their preferred shifts. This flexibility will increase morale, as employees can make changes to their schedules in UKG at any time of the day or night.

Hear directly from Michelle Lemahieu, Director, HR Strategic Services as she shares in her own words how Gillette Children's Hospital leverages advanced technology to optimize their workforce: click here
BENEFITS:

• Data-driven decision making powered by the UKG Pro suite helps Gillette Children’s Hospital improve recruiting, retention, and employee engagement in support of patient outcomes

• Reporting provides deep insight into workforce trends, performance metrics, and operational efficiency, allowing the healthcare system to achieve a new level of strategic planning

• UKG saves Gillette Children’s 40 hours per week in data entry, and an integration with its EMR system will help meet patient ratios while allowing staff to opt in to their preferred shifts