Scavenger hunts & company swag? At HSS, employee training focuses on engagement, confidence building

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – As Health System Services has grown, the company’s informal, “ad hoc” approach to employee training needed a more organized structure, said Josh Bach, senior manager of process improvement. The result: HSS Training Camp, the company’s people development initiative.

“We’re at a place where we’re trying to move out of tribal or legacy knowledge and to a more scalable approach that can have resources and answers and build more confidence in our team,” said Bach. “We were finding topics ad hoc and saying, ‘Hey, we should probably do a training.’ So, we began to view it as more of a project that we needed to manage, with real training schedules. It’s a (natural) evolution.”

HSS Training Camp currently offers two sessions a month – the first on processes, the second on equipment.

Industry-specific training expands to professional development

The sessions cover a wide range of topics – anything from understanding how to use negative pressure wound therapy pumps to how to talk to referral sources, says Kellyn Torres, human resources manager.

“The process training so far is focused mostly on DME industry-specific training, but we are also in the process of adding professional development, like how to use Excel and how to navigate difficult conversations in the workplace,” she said.

Bringing the energy to the usual Power Point slog

In developing HHS Training Camp, Bach and Torres were sure about one thing: They wanted it to be interactive and engaging, not a slog through Power Point slides. At the end of the year, employees win prizes like gift cards and HSS swag like water bottles, branded sweaters and sunglasses.

“Most people don’t thrive in that environment, so our goal is to bring some energy and let people have skin in the game and gamify it,” said Bach. “We offer points for attendance, points if they lead a training, random quizzes or scavenger hunts throughout the month. We’ll do all these things to make it a friendly competition.”

Build confidence, build a better business

As an 11-year veteran of the company, Bach remembers how overwhelming it was when he first came onboard in the retail showroom. That’s why building employee confidence through training is so important for a company to be successful.

“If employees are not confident, that’s going to be noticed by patients, referral sources and anybody we try to service,” he said. “Even if you are not delivering equipment to patients, it’s valuable to understand what you are billing for or talking to the doctor about. Ultimately, it builds a better company.”