“Back to Work: Empowering Alabama’s Aging Workforce”
Doug Dean, Children’s Vice President, Human Resources, is pictured here with U.S. Senator Doug Jones.
Dean provided testimony on Nov. 30, before the US Senate Special Committee on Aging Field Committee held at Jefferson State Community College, Shelby Campus. The panel was entitled “Back to Work: Empowering Alabama’s Aging Workforce.”
Dean reported that the Children’s of Alabama workforce is comprised of 25 percent Boomers (53-70 age band); 29 percent Gen X (36-52 age band); and 46 percent Millennials (20-35 age band). He said Children’s has compelling evidence that what allows the state’s only fully pediatric medical center to ensure quality, safety, and reliable performance in its service delivery is the fact that it has a highly experienced foundation of workers over 40. He said these long-tenured employees deliver critically important mentoring and education for incoming new graduate talent.
“As Alabama’s premier, comprehensive provider of pediatric healthcare services for the children of Alabama and surrounding states, the fulfillment of our vital mission rises and falls in large part as a result of attracting, developing, and retaining highly skilled talent to deliver safe, quality care with excellent outcomes,” he said. “In recent decades, a key focus of our strategy has been to work very hard to understand our workforce demographics, and then customize our workplace practices to recruiting and retention of defined segments.”
