Workforce Development Series: Part 1

One of the top concerns facing health care organizations is workforce shortages. The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis projects a worsening shortage of health care workers in the future, with only 86% of needed workers available by 2037. One way Southcentral Foundation addresses this is by investing in workforce development opportunities. Training can help ensure that the workforce performs efficiently, is supported in improvement and innovation, and is able to provide the highest possible quality of care to customer-owners. To support employee learning and development, Southcentral Foundation invests in a robust training infrastructure which supports all types of employees.

One way SCF supports training throughout the organization is through the Development Center. The Development Center is a department that is dedicated to workforce training, allowing SCF to design courses in-house and deliver them to SCF employees. Not only does the Development Center handle training for new employees, such as SCF’s New Hire Orientation and Administrative Support Training Program, it also offers a wide variety of courses for all employees.

One of the most significant courses offered for all employees is SCF’s Core Concepts training, where participants learn communication tools to build relationships with customer-owners and each other. However, many other internal trainings are offered through the Development Center, covering a variety of topics including customer-owner care, conflict resolution, managerial skills, trainings with specific software, and much more.

SCF’s learning and development hours per employee and investment dollars per employee both greatly exceed the national average for the health care industry. In 2023, SCF spent an average of $2,904 per employee on workforce training. SCF considers this a worthwhile investment that improves overall quality of care, as well as customer and employee satisfaction.

For more information on SCF’s internal workforce trainings, or any other aspect of learning and development at SCF, feel free to contact the SCF Learning Institute.