How do you inspire a candidate to join a hospital’s Environmental Services department in the midst of a global pandemic?
Grow with Xanitos
How do you inspire a candidate to join a hospital’s Environmental Services department in the midst of a global pandemic?
For most employers, navigating the current job market is uncharted territory where traditional recruitment strategies have proven less effective at attracting new talent. At Xanitos, we have found candidates are more likely to select us as an employer when we can articulate and deliver education programs that both ensure they have the knowledge and skills to be successful in their role, and provide the necessary development tools to advance their careers.
Frontline Education
The strength of a healthcare environmental services program starts with the skill level and commitment of frontline team members. Our new team members spend a full 30 days in initial development including an interactive orientation, tactical job training and direct observation of competencies completed prior to working independently. This process ensures new team members have the necessary skill set and confidence to work alongside clinical partners as part of the patient care team.
Daily training topics with a highlighted safety focus and an annual Skills Fair that incorporates regulatory required education, plus additional medical center and department specific training topics, have proven to increase retention and comprehension. All Xanitos education programs are updated annually to ensure our employees receive fresh, attention-grabbing content centered around our shared commitment to help save lives. Evaluations and career development plans provide valuable feedback for frontline team members to develop the prerequisites to further their careers. At Xanitos, we find that internally growing our employees creates leaders that truly understand our culture and systems, and provides validation to peers that promotional opportunities do exist!
In 2021, nearly 100 internal promotions were celebrated by Xanitos team members and 15% of all promotions were hourly frontline team members to salaried management positions. Ensuring these newly promoted managers are developed to their fullest potential is a priority for the Xanitos Education team.
Leader Development
We apply the same strategy of continual education with our management teams. Upon hire, new leaders attend XanU, a 3-week program that embraces the fundamentals that set Xanitos apart, including:
- Xanitos’ exclusive XRO technology and team cleaning process;
- XanApps, Xanitos’ proprietary cloud-based quality assurance and reporting application suite;
- Xanitos’ culture of care: XanUnited.
“XanUnited” culture represents and captures the unity and integrity of our systems, standards, practices, people and communities across the nearly 100 partnered hospitals and 25 states in which we serve. The concept of XanUnited harnesses the diversity of our teams and communities and the unity of our team members in their dedication to service excellence. We achieve excellence in fulfilling our core mission of helping save lives through reducing the risk of hospital infections and making the healthcare environments safer and cleaner spaces for visitors, patients, healthcare providers, and ourselves.
Learning policies and procedures, employee engagement, managerial courage, problem solving, and conflict resolution are also covered during new hire XanU training. This program strives to develop leaders who are independent thinkers and confident in their ability to lead their team.
We encourage further development through online education and regional in-person development workshops that cultivate a collaborative and interactive workforce while fostering an environment of learning and engagement. Managers put new skills to use by analyzing data generated by our quality assurance software to identify and improve service and quality metrics. Education can then be prescriptively conducted to support department metrics and goals. Xanitos Regional Training Directors also support onsite management teams with targeted education that can include certifications like AHE’s Certified Surgical Cleaning Technician (CSCT).
BUILDING A WORLD CLASS SAFETY PROGRAM
Xanitos promotes to safely help save lives. We believe in safety first whether it is physical safety or mental safety, we have culture of caring that is the key element to the overall success of the organization.
Results
Training and education in healthcare environmental services is not a one and done deal, but a foundational principle in our everyday operations. In fact, growing our people is one of the four core values Xanitos was built on. Education, advancement opportunities and engagement are key drivers in reduced turnover and are supported by Xanitos’ results. Amidst the pandemic in 2021, when many employers struggled with retention, Xanitos’ management turnover actually improved upon retention during the COVID pandemic.
Education + advancement + engagement = low turnover
Check out a day in the Life of a Xanitos EVS Manager!
We want to make success accessible to everyone. If you are a committed, service-minded, team-oriented leader ready to start a stimulating and fun career in healthcare, consider joining Xanitos as an EVS Manager!
New positions are posted daily on our website careers page . We invite you to visit our Career section regularly to find jobs that match your qualifications and interest.
