How to Accelerate Onboarding for New Hires

Hospitals are relieved of barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic, effective immediately.

How to Accelerate Onboarding for New Hires

At TiER1, reframing is a part of our fabric. We look at constraints as opportunities to innovate and ask, “How might we…?” But to be honest, the first week that COVID-19 hit my community in New York, it was tough to see opportunities. Practically overnight, state unemployment websites around the nation were crashing due to an overwhelming influx of the newly unemployed. In that moment, I thought, “Who is even thinking about onboarding?” But, as has become common these days, within hours, something changed. Essential work was defined and industries critical to our supply chain and health systems were in demand. These industries needed additional workers who were competent and capable as quickly as they could find them.
For many organizations, the concept of onboarding was reframed. The luxury of extended onboarding was replaced by an immediate need for accelerated onboarding. New hires need to be equipped to leverage their transferable skills within hours, not days. Industry-skilled new hires need to get plugged into complex work at healthcare and IT organizations within days, not weeks. Many existing employees need to engage in accelerated “internal” onboarding activities – quickly join new work teams, adapt to new ways of working, or even make decisions about which balls they can carry and which ones must be dropped. And in the near future, organizations that furloughed employees during the health crisis will need a way to quickly bring them back into the organization when things stabilize.

All of this must be done in a way that does not stress a system, supply chain, and culture that is already incredibly stressed with onboarding. And therein lies, “How might we accelerate onboarding to increase capacity in the system, realize new possibility within the system, and reduce friction in the system?”
While there are many factors to consider, here are five strategies to get started with accelerated onboarding:
1. Prioritize Urgent HR Tasks: Clearly divide the “have to do it right now” vs. “have to do this eventually” HR-related activities. Consider what can be done before a new hire begins.
2. Identify Critical Activities: Consider the immediate activities the new hire will engage in that are required for business continuity. Then, reframe the onboarding content to focus on those activities instead of overall job function. Identify who has the specific skills and experience to support training on those activities and get them involved.
3. Optimize Skillsets and Experience: Avoid a steep learning curve altogether by leveraging the skillsets employees are showing up with. Rather than asking a new hire to complete an inordinate amount of “new” processes, break down the processes into smaller chunks. Reframe the conversation from “Let me teach you this…” to “Let me show you the nuances of how we do this here.”
4. Keep It Simple: We have an incredibly stressed workforce right now. New hires are showing up Day 1 carrying much larger burdens than ever before (these might include concerns about their health, their families, their job security, and more). Current team members are likely feeling overworked and overwhelmed. It’s science – when we are under stress, our brains are just not at peak function. Reduce cognitive load through crisp communication, rough-and-ready visual job aides made with screenshots, short videos recorded via a mobile phone, and other simple supports to get the job done. Likely everyone, including managers and existing team members, are already over capacity. By keeping it simple, we’re supporting the new employee, but we’re also alleviating the load on those tasked with providing support.
5. Support Rapid Decision-Making: No one wants to end up on the wrong side of the news feed and right now, but we might not have the luxury of teaching exceptions. How can you ensure your on-ramp employees deliver on the promises you’ve held to be true? It’s in your culture (and dynamically distributed authority). Don’t make it complicated. Give your new employees ONE guiding principle to operate under that no matter what the situation, if they make a decision based on that one principle, they are best representing what your organization stands for. A great example of this is Kroger’s purpose statement, “Feed the human spirit.” This means empowering all employees to make decisions that are grounded in taking care of customers’ whole health as well as each other’s. And when presented with an exception to the rule? If the decision is based on “Feed the human spirit,” employees can’t go wrong.
At TiER1, we believe that the potential of any organization lies within its people. And whether those people have joined your organization years ago or hours ago, the potential of each individual contribution is amplified, particularly now more than ever. Accelerate onboarding to provide the support employees need to contribute faster and ease the stress on your organization.
Are you faced with a need to accelerate onboarding? Let’s talk it through. Complete the form below or give us a call at 859-415-1000 and we’ll connect you with a TiER1er who can help tease apart how to ease the stress on your organization and still meet the needs of today’s environment.
Updated 04/02/2020
CMS has made regulatory changes, effective immediately, to relieve hospitals of barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have provided a brief summary that highlights the details of these temporary CMS changes.

“Front-line healthcare providers need to be able to focus on patient care in the most flexible and innovative ways possible” – Seema Verma

Increase Hospital Capacity

CMS “Hospitals Without Walls” is an approach to temporary expansion sites that will allow hospitals to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and prevent a delay in care for patients requiring treatment.

  • Ambulatory Surgery Centers can be used to provide hospital services.
  • Leverage these sites to decant services such as cancer procedures, trauma surgeries, and other essential surgeries.
  • CMS will temporarily permit non-hospital buildings and spaces to be used for patient care and quarantine sites, if allowed by state law.
  • CMS will allow hospitals, laboratories, and other entities to perform tests for COVID-19 at home and in other community-based settings outside of the hospital.
  • CMS will allow hospital emergency departments to test and screen patients for COVID-19 at drive-through and off campus test sites.
  • During this public health emergency, ambulances can transport patients to a wider range of locations when other transportation is not medically appropriate.
  • Physician owned hospitals can temporarily increase the number of their licensed beds, operating rooms, and procedure rooms.
  • Hospitals can bill for services provided outside their four walls.
  • Hospitals can use telehealth to assess patients to determine the most appropriate site of care, freeing emergency space for those that need it most.
  • New rules ensure that patients can be screened at alternate treatment and testing sites which are not subject to EMTALA as long as the national emergency remains in effect.

Rapidly Expand the Health Care Workforce

CMS’ temporary requirements allow hospitals and healthcare systems to increase their workforce capacity by removing barriers for physicians, nurses, and other clinicians to be readily hired from the local community as well as those licensed from other states without violating Medicare rules.

  • Local private practice clinicians and their trained staff may be available for temporary employment.
  • CMS is issuing waivers so that hospitals can use other practitioners, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners to the fullest extent possible.
  • CMS is waiving the requirements that a certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is under the supervision of a physician.
  • CMS has issued a blanket waiver to allow hospitals to provide benefits and support to their medical providers and suppliers to temporarily enroll in Medicare.

Put Patients Over Paperwork

By extending reporting deadlines and suspending documentation requests that would take time away from patient care, CMS is emphasizing prioritizing patients over paperwork.

  • CMS is temporarily eliminating paperwork requirements and allowing clinicians to spend more time with patients.
  • During the public health emergency, hospitals will not be required to have written policies on processes and visitation of patients who are in isolation due to COVID-19.
  • CMS is providing temporary relief from many audit and reporting requirements so that providers, healthcare facilities, Medicare Advantage health plans, Medicare Part D prescription drug plans, and states can focus on providing care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries affected by COVID-19.

Further Promote Telehealth in Medicare

These temporary changes will ensure patients have access to physicians and other providers while remaining safely at home.

  • CMS will now allow for more than 80 additional services to be furnished via telehealth. During the public health emergencies, individuals can use interactive apps with audio and video capabilities to visit with their clinician for an even broader range of services. Providers also can evaluate beneficiaries who have audio phones only.
  • Providers can bill for telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits.
  • CMS is allowing telehealth to fulfill many face-to-face visit requirements for clinicians to see their patients in inpatient rehabilitation facilities, hospice and home health.
  • CMS is making it clear that clinicians can provide remote patient monitoring services to patients with acute and chronic conditions and can be provided for patients with only one disease. For example, remote patient monitoring can be used to monitor a patient’s oxygen saturation levels using pulse oximetry.
  • In addition, CMS is allowing physicians to supervise their clinical staff using virtual technologies when appropriate, instead of requiring in-person presence.

After reading the brief summary of the most recent regulatory changes from CMS, please review the full details and how these changes apply to your organization according to your state laws. Here, you can read the full, official letter from CMS and the FAQ with more detail. It is also wise to follow CMS.gov/newsroom for updates.
We have so much gratitude for the healthcare providers and front-line heroes during this time. TiER1 Healthcare’s clinical experts are on duty for guidance and support during this COVID-19 pandemic. We can be reached at 513-241-0142 or healthcare@tier1performance-staging.qrvschg3-liquidwebsites.com. To receive updates from our team, use the form below to sign up for our newsletter.

Need Immediate Assistance?

Where possible, TiER1 Healthcare is still providing on-site services for clients with urgent needs. We are equipped to serve you remotely and are ready to help. Our team can also help you close any leadership gaps during this high-pressure time by placing quality interim leaders within your organization. Contact us at 513-241-0142, or healthcare@tier1performance-staging.qrvschg3-liquidwebsites.com.

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Our Answers to Healthcare’s Commonly Asked COVID-19 Questions
Preparing Your Hospital for Coronavirus

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<strong><a href="https://tier1performance.com/author/h-huber/" target="_self">Heather Huber</a></strong>

Heather Huber

Heather Huber is an Instructional Designer at TiER1 based in the Rochester, NY, area. She is passionate about combining the science of human behavior with the art of creative thinking to design meaningful performance solutions. Since 2003, Heather is a board-certified behavior analyst. She is also a coach for Girls on the Run.

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