Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1529631
44 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP 4 keys to recruiting women, people of color, per 1 CHRO By Kelly Gooch T hroughout her career, Elizabeth Veliz, the first chief human resources officer of Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cayuga Health System, has seen a range of strategies to recruit more women or people of color and retain them. She has also gained insights on successful leave policies for mothers. Ms. Veliz has served in her current role since August 2023. Prior to joining Cayuga Health, Ms. Veliz held various roles, including assistant vice president of talent management/organizational development at VCU Health in Richmond, Va., and vice president of human resources at Faneuil, a business services company in Hampton, Va. She also served as vice president of human resources at Virginia Premier Health Plan, which is now part of Hampton Roads, Va.-based Sentara Health. Ms. Veliz connected with Becker's to discuss how successful strategies have evolved and how they have been implemented. Here are four takeaways: 1. Commit to specific strategies. Ms. Veliz said successful strategies she has seen implemented to recruit women and people of color have centered around intentionality. "ese have to be actual strategies that organizations are committed to. We commit to those strategies by offering environments where working parents can thrive," she said. "I say 'working parents' because I think that's probably the single hardest thing to do: create an environment where you can have synergies between work and life. I don't believe in the concept of 'work-life balance' because that is a fallacy. It's unrealistic to expect that both sides are going to actually balance." 2. Focus on flexible work arrangements. Ms. Veliz suggested that healthcare organizations should learn from those that have successfully implemented flexible work arrangements. "Creating an environment where we stop looking at the clock and start focusing on results is going to be very attractive to working parents trying to balance being successful at both home and work," she said. 3. Create "out-of-the-box strategies." Ms. Veliz specifically noted a successful Infant at Work program at Virginia Premier Health Plan. e program allowed new parents to bring their infants to work until they were 8 months old or began crawling, whichever came first. "It was extraordinary. ere was an application process, and you had to name two support people in the organization for when it wasn't appropriate to bring your infant to a meeting. We had amazing pumping rooms, and everyone in the organization bought into it. I remember our [then-]CEO, Linda Hines, was giving a town hall speech, and a baby in the back started crying. Without missing a beat, she walked to the back, picked up the baby, and kept speaking while soothing the baby. It was amazing." She added that "out-of-the-box strategies" such as this and considering flexible work arrangements for bedside roles can lead to increased retention and engagement. "Staffing models like rotating shis, which don't cater to working families, need to evolve," Ms. Veliz said. "When organizations take human needs into account, that's when we see Employer of Choice environments develop, word spread, and people knocking down your door to work for you." 4. Champion the work. When it comes to recruiting more women or people of color and retaining them, or successful leave policies for mothers, she recommended that hospital executives champion the work. The most powerful women in business: Fortune By Kelly Gooch Fortune has released its ranking of female business leaders, and seven healthcare leaders made the list. The "Most Powerful Women" list, in its 27th year, ranks 100 women globally and features women from 19 countries and territories, and 14 industries. To make the list, Fortune considers the following criteria: the size of an executive's business; the health of an executive's business; the executive's career trajectory; the executive's influence outside her organization; and how the executive wields her power. More than half of the women on this year's list are CEOs, and 26 are newcomers. Here are the seven healthcare leaders on the list, alongside their rank: 2. Karen Lynch, president and CEO of CVS Health 5. Emma Walmsley, CEO of GSK 24. Heather Cianfrocco, CEO of Optum 33. Belén Garijo, MD, PhD, chair of the executive board and CEO of Merck 60. Sarah London, CEO of Centene 70. Jennifer Taubert, executive vice president and worldwide chairman of innovative medicine at Johnson & Johnson 72. Reshma Kewalramani, MD, president and CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals n