TOOLS
Career Pathway Template
Format:
PDF, PPT
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
All employees and managers
Best used:
Use this tool to chart your career pathway.
This short animated video explains how to find and use our powerful how-to guides
Does your team want to improve service? Or clinical quality? If you don't know where to start, check out the team-tested practices on the LMP website. This short video shows you how.
Having trouble using the search function? Check out this short video to help you search like a pro!
Need to find a checklist, template or puzzle? Don't know where to start? Check out this short video to find the tools you need on the LMP website with just a few clicks.
Format:
PDF, PPT
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
All employees and managers
Best used:
Use this tool to chart your career pathway.
The 2023 National Agreement between the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and Kaiser Permanente sets out a timeline for implementing our long-standing joint staffing language. The joint staffing process is an important component in our shared commitment to making Kaiser Permanente the best place to receive care. Our new agreement requires that all departments, through their unit-based teams, have structured joint staffing and budget discussions by end of August 2025, and annually thereafter. Achieving this outcome will require the full power of partnership.
Time heals all wounds. But sometimes those wounds need help from specially trained nurses.
Nurses who are certified to care for wounds and ostomies are in short supply, at Kaiser Permanente and all over the country. And many are set to retire soon. There are only a few training programs, and they’re expensive and hard to get into.
The shortage of wound care nurses is an example of a much larger staffing crisis not only at KP but throughout the health care industry. KP, however, has a strategic advantage over its competitors: the Labor Management Partnership, which provides leaders and unions with the tools, structure and long-term relationships to respond to challenges creatively.
“We decided to look at what KP does best: We work with our labor partners to come up with a solution,” says Hazel Torres, RN, director of Regional Professional Development and Research Ambulatory Services for the Southern California Permanente Medical Group.
KP, several Alliance unions and other organizations came together to tackle this staffing shortage. Now more patients are healing faster, and union members are advancing in their careers at KP.
“I always wanted to do this but couldn’t,” says nurse Indra Winarso, a UNAC/UHCP member who had worked at KP for 22 years before entering the training program. “The schools were far away, my husband traveled a lot for work, and I had a young son to take care of.”
She’s now a certified wound ostomy nurse providing home health in Orange County for KP patients.
Fortified with her new certification, Winarso says, “I have more knowledge and can do more. Colleagues ask me for consults, and they believe in me.” The benefits go beyond professional growth and a higher wage: “They see that I am different from before.”
KP regional leaders from Southern California, Colorado and Hawaii joined with representatives from 3 Alliance unions and the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust – a union-negotiated benefit – to customize a training program with San Jose State University. Participating unions include UNAC/UHCP, UFCW Local 7, and Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals.
“It was star-studded,” says UNAC/UHCP member Ianessa Ramirez, a newly certified wound ostomy nurse, marveling at the hard-won coordination. Before taking the training program, Ramirez was a home health nurse and intake coordinator at KP for 11 years.
The students augmented online training with 4 days of hands-on training at KP’s Irvine Medical Center in summer 2021 for 22 students. After that, they spent time with trained preceptors — experienced wound care nurses and union members working at KP — and then were hired into trainee positions at KP.
This innovation shows one way to overcome the barrier of experience requirements. It also illustrates the value of skilling up our current workforce.
“We showed how true the Labor Management Partnership is,” says Torres. “It’s not just a logo on a T-shirt. We believe in it because it gets our patients the best care possible.”
The entire program was at no cost to participants. Most are now working full time in their new careers at KP after years of working here in other capacities.
As a home health nurse, “I am a detective and a problem-solver,” says Winarso. “It’s like a box of chocolates — you never know what you are going to get.”
Format:
PDF
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
Frontline employees and frontline managers
Best used:
Use this flier to inform your team about Kaiser Permanente's new Career Resource Center.
Format:
PDF
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
Frontline employees, managers and unit-based teams
Best used:
Use this to help understand the impact of education trusts and how they benefit frontline employees, managers and the organization.
Format:
PDF
Size:
8.5" x 11"
Intended audience:
Frontline employees and managers interested in advancing their careers at Kaiser Permanente and those coaching them.
These 5 tips are from Michael Brown, KP's senior vice president of Human Resources Consulting for national functions, distilled from his presentation during Workforce Development Week.
Best used:
Post on bulletin boards and hand out at meetings
Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important to make time to learn.
Priscilla Gill and Dawn Nelson of Mayo Clinic emphasized the importance of learning while working during Kaiser Permanente's Future Ready webcast February 25.
"The future of work is about learning," said Gill, director of Workforce Learning. "We all should strive for continuous learning and to be lifelong learners."
"Everyone is some form of a leader," said Nelson, nurse administrator for Education and Professional Development. "Think about how you can grow your personal leadership skills."
Because of the increasing importance of lifelong learning, Labor Management Partnership unions and Kaiser Permanente have negotiated industry-leading resources to assist union members in adapting to change, including tuition reimbursement and education trusts — which had record usage in 2020. Future Ready, hosted by National Workforce Planning and Development, is part of the Workforce of the Future initiative to prepare employees for tomorrow's jobs.
"This is something we've been doing for years and has become even more important with the global pandemic," said Monica Morris, senior director for National Workforce Planning and Development.
Gill and Nelson agreed, noting the shift this past year to virtual education.
"COVID truly accelerated a lot of our plans," Gill told moderator Peggi Winter, Kaiser Permanente's nurse educaiton leader. "It has indeed moved us at least 5 years into the future."
The webcast, which detailed examples specific to nursing, highlighted learnings that can be applied to many job classifications across Kaiser Permanente.
Mayo Clinic, an integrated health system, emphasizes learning from day one through each career step. This includes learning:
"As leaders, we should get to know our staff and understand what their dreams and aspirations are," Gill said. "In doing so, we can help them craft a career plan."
For nurses, learning starts with onboarding, then continues with professional development, a nurse leadership program and nurse leader growth opportunities.
"It is important for staff to be encouraged and guided to find their areas of interest in leadership," Nelson said.
To learn more, view a webcast recording for internal Kaiser Permanente use only.
(1:20)
Watch this short video to hear what LMP team members in KP Washington have to say about the benefits of Partnership for frontline workers, managers, and physicians.