After nearly 20 years of contracting out to private companies, Providence Health Care is celebrating the successful repatriation of 227 Food Services staff as part of the Bill 47 Repatriation project. Food Services staff across five sites (Holy Family, Mount Saint Joseph and St. Paul’s hospitals, and Langara and Youville residences), many of whom have worked within our hospitals and care homes for years, officially became Providence employees on June 24.
This single day represented the onboarding of more than double the number of new staff Providence typically hires over the course of an entire month. Despite the enormity, complexity and scale of this undertaking, the transition happened without interruption to service continuity and with minimal impact to staff. This is in part due to months of hard work carried out by a dedicated cross-organizational Project Team.
A people-first approach to onboarding
The Project Team took a “people-first” approach to onboarding that focused on prioritizing the needs of Food Services staff. Paying close attention to the potential impacts of this change on people, helped to ensure staff had a positive onboarding experience.
In the months leading up to June 24, the Project Team held onsite and in-person Welcome and Orientation Fairs across all sites with more than 90 per cent of staff in attendance. This approach provided staff with an opportunity to engage in the transition process, remain informed of upcoming onboarding requirements, and access in-person support from the Project Team.
As Project Manager Abby Ferris explains: “Project Management and Change Management support provided through the Office of Strategy & Results (OSR) was flexible in continuously adapting to address staff needs while leveraging lessons learned from previous repatriations in the health authorities.”
We are now building on these successes to focus on the next phase of the repatriation project, which includes bringing more than 325 Environmental Services (EVS) workers in-house on Oct. 14, 2022.
“The excitement and enthusiasm surrounding the return of Food Services to PHC is an important reminder of the privilege and responsibility we all share to serve the patients, residents, and families who require our care and attention each and every day,” said Project Manager, Amanda Monteiro.
Thank you to everyone involved in this important project working together with the OSR, including Labour Relations, Staffing, Recruitment, Workforce Strategy, Systems and Analytics, OH&S, Disability Management, Compensation and Classification, Food Services Operations, Environmental Services Operations, Finance, Communications and Mission Services.
For more information about the Food Services transition visit the Food Services Onboarding web page or email our Onboarding Team at WelcomeFoodServices@providencehealth.bc.ca. To learn about EVS Repatriation, visit the EVS Onboarding web page or email WelcomePHC@providencehealth.bc.ca.
Click here to read more about the work of the Office of Strategy & Results.
