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By JULIE MINDA

When ministry facilities hire new employees, they are not just bringing them into a job — they are inviting them to take part in mission-based work.

Ritchey

Catholic health systems and facilities are open about the centrality of their Catholic identity and intentional about how they recruit, hire, welcome and enculturate people into their new roles in the ministry, according to a sampling of mission and human resources executives.

"Associates must understand how our mission, vision and values relate to their role," says Jim Ritchey, system vice president for human resources operations for SCL Health. "We must ensure there's alignment. And we want to create a joyful work environment."

Simmen

Deborah Simmen, SCL Health system vice president of ministry formation, adds that the onboarding process presents an opportunity to bring new employees on as "ambassadors, influencers and advocates" for the organization's mission.

Common understanding
Many ministry systems that span regions and states have standardized their onboarding programming to have clear and consistent messaging about their organization's legacy, mission, vision and values.

Till

Doing this right "is important because we really do believe the first thing we are is a ministry — we exist to continue the compassionate ministry of Jesus Christ," says Thomas Morris, Bon Secours Mercy Health chief sponsorship and theology officer. "We want to create a space, where everyone (in our organization) can grapple with how they connect their day-to-day work with their call" in the ministry.

Greg Till, Providence St. Joseph Health chief people officer, says in onboarding, "We want people to be inspired, to connect to our mission and heritage. We want to build a sense of connection between their work and their personal calling. This is part of our 'secret sauce.'"

Onboarding sets the stage for formation work in the health ministry. Here, leaders connect at a Providence St. Joseph Health's Ministry Leadership Formation program in October 2019 at Palisades Retreat Center in Federal Way, Washington.

Secular society
Diarmuid Rooney, CHA senior director of ministry formation, says recruits and new employees "have their sniffers up," with many concerned that a Catholic health facility will try to convert them. "We have to show them the truth — we are not proselytizing; we are not trying to convert you. But we are extending an open invitation for you to join us" in the ministry's healing mission.

Simmen acknowledges that SCL Health has had to be very purposeful in how it invites people into its ministry. In many of the communities where the system provides health care, prospective hires may be put off by overtly religious language.

Providence's Till says some potential employees may have misperceptions about what it's like to work in a faith-based organization; they might guess the environment is only comfortable for those with certain beliefs. "We want everyone to know they're included in our mission no matter what their background or faith tradition is."

Ministry systems and facilities provide ongoing opportunities to connect staff with the organization's mission. Here, an SSM Health choir sings at an annual Mission Days event in June 2018.

Simmen says regardless of employees' background, "the focus of our onboarding process and continued formation strategy is not so much to change our associates, leaders or care providers' way of thinking, but to strengthen their personal understanding of community, connection and loving kindness to others."

For instance, Simmen says, at SCL Health's weekly new associate welcome sessions, leaders of the sessions tell the parable of the Good Samaritan, emphasizing the universally shared concept of the "neighbor" as it relates to human kindness, compassion and service to others. Presenters challenge the new employees to think about what their role has to do with serving others and how that relates to SCL Health's mission.

First impressions
All who spoke to Catholic Health World agree — onboarding begins well before a new hire walks in the door. Rooney says even third-party recruiters as well as internal hiring managers and interviewers must be "missioned" and present a comprehensive picture of what the organization is and stands for.

McCrudden

Patrick McCruden, SSM Health's chief mission integration officer, emphasizes that the hiring process is a time when candidates and hirers assess one another, and SSM aims to make an impactful impression from the start.

SSM makes its mission and values clear during the interviewing process, McCruden says, and hiring managers use standardized guides to assess how well candidates fit with SSM's culture.

Before a new hire's first day on the job, SSM provides links to videos on its legacy and mission. Providence provides many of its legal forms electronically so that new hires can complete paperwork before their arrival and be freed up on their first official day to concentrate on orientation content focused on Providence's mission.

Welcome
All the systems aim to make new employees' first day a welcoming, even inspiring one. At Providence, a mission leader escorts new hires from the lobby to their orientation session.

It's common to have group orientations for new hires. Mission leaders and/or top executives extend personal greetings and engage the audience in presentations that expose the organization's heart, purpose and culture.

Rooney notes that orientations are becoming less didactic now and flow more like a two-way conversation with the new hires.

During SSM Health's Mission Days in June 2018, corporate employees assembled 450 personal hygiene kit for Great Circle, a nonprofit agency that provides behavioral health services and programs for more than 35,000 children and their families in Missouri each year.

Orientation presentations are heavy on storytelling since stories facilitate learning, impute meaning and engage emotions. There are usually videos about the work, vision and legacy of the organizations' founding congregations, and testimonials from staff and patients about what the organization means to them.

Simmen says also during employees' very early days at SCL Health and its facilities, leadership encourages them to connect with others. There are buddy matchups, lunches and mentoring programs available to help people quickly build a support system. Till says Providence takes a similar approach, with the goal of promoting a sense of belonging to a community.

And all the systems are intentional about checking in with new employees at set intervals — at 30 days, 60 days, 90 days and at a year, commonly — to assess how newcomers are doing with their assimilation into the organization and to provide additional mission-related information.

Sturdy foundation
According to the mission and human resources executives, onboarding sets the foundation for formation and ongoing mission programming. While each system has its own approach to formation and "missioning" of staff, all have some type of formal formation curriculum that varies by what type of role cohorts have in the organization be it clinical, nonclinical, executive, sponsor, or board member.

All of the systems provide opportunities throughout the year for staff to take part in mission-related activities such as service projects or brown bag lunches where a speaker presents a talk on a mission-related topic. Systems email reflections and prayers to all employees that illuminate the mission to them, to keep mission and spirituality top of mind.

SCL Health's Simmen says, "Onboarding is a continual process. We're partnering with our colleagues in developing our enterprise. This includes ministry formation and online learning throughout people's careers.

"All of this is so we can grow our talent and keep people engaged and loyal," she says.