18 Building a strong and safe workplace using community values

<h3>Description</h3> Health care workers routinely deal with many difficult issues and ensuring that they have the safety and support needed to process them is critical for maintaining a healthy and effective workforce. To create such an environment for its workforce, Southcentral Foundation (SCF), an Alaska Native customer-owned health care system, has incorporated the culture of the Native community it serves into the workforce itself. Trainings like Core Concepts, which is focused on the Alaska Native value of sharing story and listening to others share theirs, give employees the communication and relationship-building tools to allow them to support each other during potentially difficult times. Employees at SCF are encouraged to share when they may need support, and supervisors and managers are trained in how to provide it. In part due to its training and workplace culture, SCF has a 91% employee satisfaction rate, and exceeds the national average on employee survey questions such as “I am proud to tell people I work for SCF” and “I would recommend SCF as a good place to work.” SCF’s experience shows that with proper training and support from the community, a safe and effective health care workforce can be maintained.