Baton Rouge General has more than 600 licensed beds between its three campuses and provides a full spectrum of healthcare services to people in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. With clinics throughout the region, the organization’s physician group provides comprehensive and specialty care to a wide range of patients. From the delivery of newborns to award-winning cancer and heart programs, an acclaimed regional burn center, and end-of-life care, Baton Rouge General and its 4,000 employees are focused on delivering the highest-quality patient care.
Challenges
With an HRIS system that was sunsetting, Baton Rouge General sought a single, comprehensive people management solution that could efficiently manage its workforce. To operate its daily business, the organization had been using 14 plugins, and not all communicated with each other, so significant workforce data needed to be captured manually, consuming considerable staff time.
Solutions
Acquiring a solution with advanced scheduling that is integrated with a human capital management (HCM) system ― as well as mobile-first technology ― was key in the selection process. After reviewing multiple solutions, Baton Rouge General selected UKG to more effectively manage its workforce.
“As we went through the process and saw UKG’s cloud capability, and the ability to expand the technology as we partnered through this journey, that was really intriguing to us,” said Anne Segura Manint, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Sr. Director of Human Resources at Baton Rouge General.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit during the implementation process, but the organization pushed ahead to take full advantage of the solution as quickly as possible.
“Employees appreciate the ability to quickly make decisions about taking another person’s shift, swapping shifts, adding a shift, and putting in their vacation time,” said Segura Manint. “It saves time and aggravation for everyone, so they love it.”
Senior Human Resources Director
Results
Baton Rouge General’s recruiting strategy is focused on attracting recent graduates to its nursing ranks, and UKG’s mobile-first technology is a critical piece of this focus.
“New hires come in expecting to do almost everything at the touch of a finger, so you’ve got to be prepared for that,” said Segura Manint. “Our HR mantra is that we want to take the stress and hassle that comes with the day-to-day transactional nature of being an employee away from our people.”
During orientation, new hires are given a QR code to download the UKG® mobile app, and about 80% of employees have already adopted the app to clock in and out of shifts, check their schedules, pick up open shifts, and swap shifts, as well as request time off and leave, and make timecard edits with manager approval.
Baton Rouge General encourages use of the UKG app, and its benefits were highlighted during a disruptive event that brought down all of the organization’s systems except for UKG.
“We drive everything through the app, including certifications and personal changes,” said Segura Manint. “How you’re going to get paid is literally in your hands with the mobile app.”
Geofencing built into the UKG app shows the exact location of an employee when punching in and out, and a punch location data report illustrates this information.
“The fact that you can go to your phone, pull up an employee’s timecard, hit ‘map,’ and it shows on a Google map where that person clocked in and out is phenomenal,” said Segura Manint. “Good managers know where their people are, and they can empower their supervisors, team leads, charge nurses, and staff to instill a culture of personal accountability, of being on site and in your unit on time.”
Many clinical departments use UKG advanced scheduling, with nursing units also leveraging self-scheduling within UKG. The core schedule is created in each unit or through employee self-scheduling, and the Nursing Staffing Services office fills open shifts as needed.
“Employees appreciate the ability to quickly make decisions about taking another person’s shift, swapping shifts, adding a shift, and putting in their vacation time,” said Segura Manint. “It saves time and aggravation for everyone, so they love it.”
With advanced scheduling, Baton Rouge General is starting to roll out a call tree for open shifts. Parameters can be set, such as sending a message via the UKG mobile app only to nurses who aren’t already into overtime or only to those with a specific skillset or certifications. Segura Manint can see who opened the message as well as their response, and use this information to encourage adoption of the mobile app.
An overtime dashboard tile built into UKG lets managers quickly see the overtime status of their employees. Managers receive warnings when someone has incurred or is approaching overtime, when more shifts are added, and when people haven’t yet worked their full shifts. These warnings help managers optimize use of staff and better manage their budgets, by limiting their overtime and premium pay spend, which the healthcare provider expects will lead to a reduction in overtime expenditures.
A termination tile also shows directors whether any of their managers have a higher-than-average percentage of terminations, empowering directors to quickly take steps to determine the cause. Another tile indicates employees who are approaching license or certification expiration and those whose licenses have expired.
Baton Rouge General is a Six Sigma organization, and most of its leaders have green belts in Lean Six Sigma or have completed Lean and change management courses. “Having the data they need right at their fingertips to make good decisions is important,” said Segura Manint. Leaders can access data in UKG whenever they need it and not wait for HR or another team to produce it.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed about working with UKG is that UKG has partnered with us,” said Segura Manint. “If there’s something I need support on, I feel like we have a good enough relationship that not only will I get a phone call back or an explanation, but we can work together through whatever it is. This means we can truly grow together, and grow the product together.”
