WorkforceRx

“How do we leverage what we have more intentionally to have greater impact in our communities?” That purposeful question is posed and answered in this thought-provoking episode of WorkforceRx by David Zuckerman, president and CEO of the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN), whose seventy health systems and 1,000 hospitals are committed to improving economic equity, vitality and community health through their hiring, purchasing and investment decisions. The approach is built on the acknowledgement that healthcare organizations, as well as institutions of higher education, are “anchors” of local economies due to the scale of their economic activity, and it is fueled by the appealin...

Even though use of artificial intelligence in the workplace has nearly doubled for US employees in the past two years, a recent Gallup poll found that only 22 % of companies have a clear, communicated strategy for integrating AI. On today's episode of WorkforceRx, we’re going to explore how organizations can help their employees adjust to AI disruptions and redefine their value in an AI context with Teresa Chapman, Chief People Officer with Santa Clara Family Health Plan, which serves over 300,000 members across California’s Santa Clara County. “We want to make sure to equip our employees to be expert users of a m...

“There are persistent and critical gaps between education and industry that hinder economic advancement and we share a belief that those gaps need to be bridged,” says Julian Alssid, summing up why he and his business partner, Kaitlin Lemoine, created Work Forces, a consulting company that serves stakeholders in those sectors and beyond. On this episode of WorkforceRx, they join Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan for an informative dialogue on how to create and sustain effective workforce development partnerships based on insights gained during their decades of work in the space. They also discuss trends they’re learning about in their...

We start the new year by bringing you a fresh perspective on key sources of concern for American society at large and the workforce development sector in particular: AI disruption in the workplace and education, and the many challenges presented by our rapidly aging population. For Professor Mitchell Stevens of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, a shift from anxiety to optimism about these changes is urgently needed. “I’m not trying to say that the future will be all good, but that the future can only be good if everyday people, politicians and corporate leaders sort of ambi...

According to recent studies, micro-credentials are experiencing a surge in interest and acceptance by learners and employers, which is creating both a challenge and an opportunity for educators trying to meet the demand for them. One of the major players helping educators in this task is the Education Design Lab, which is working with more than 100 community colleges and state community college systems to implement “micro-pathways” that map to 100 different job roles. “What colleges need to be concerned about is the relevancy of these programs to high demand jobs and careers, and that people need short-term options to move towards their...

“There are so many myths that we’re left brain, we’re right brain, we’re creative, we’re analytical, but none of that’s true. We’re all whole-brain humans and we all have the ability to be creative,” says cognitive scientist Dr. Tessa Forshaw, co-author, with design strategist and CEO Richard Braden, of the new book, Innovation-ish, which aims to demystify creativity and make it accessible to everyone in the workforce. But while we may all have creative potential, studies show that less than 50% of people see themselves as being creative, largely due to socialization that discourages embarrassment and risk-taking...

Hospice care in the US has undergone major shifts in recent years, with a significant jump in usage and a 400% increase in private equity ownership as major factors driving it to become the most profitable subsector in healthcare, according to a 2023 RAND Corporation study. To understand these trends what they mean for healthcare workers, patients and families, we turn to Fran Smith, co-author of Changing the Way We Die: Compassionate End of Life Care and the Hospice Movement, an Amazon bestseller. As she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, what started as a non-profit, mission-driven movement has evolved into...

“If we can’t get the private sector to lean in and play the right roles, we’re going to miss the mark,” says Francie Genz, CEO of Formation, a national organization helping communities build resilient, industry-led workforce systems. In an episode packed with practical advice, Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan explores how Genz and her team are working to turn decades of fragmented employer engagement into a disciplined model for collaboration through the NextGen Sector Partnership framework, now active in 100 communities across 20 states. Rather than viewing businesses as passive beneficiaries of training programs, the model positions them as co-owners and co-i...

Among the knotty issues that dementia forces on family caregivers is when to know if their loved one with the disorder is in need of in-home supports and ultimately, when moving to a skilled facility is warranted. Often making those decisions more difficult is a loss of self-awareness caused by the disease, which can lead to rejection of needed services. As geriatrician and dementia researcher Dr. Thomas Tannou puts it, “If you forget that you forget, you will not be aware that you need to go on a path to be supported.” The impact of self-perception disorders on aging in plac...

Could earning a traditional undergraduate degree actually hurt your chances of getting hired? A 2024 survey from Hult International Business School suggests as much, reporting that 89% of companies avoid hiring recent graduates due to their lack of real-world work experiences. On today’s episode of WorkforceRx, we’re going to focus on closing the gap between what employers are seeking and what colleges are teaching with Dana Stephenson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Riipen, a platform that partners with academic institutions and employers to offer experiential learning opportunities. "Employers are looking for durable skills like collaboration, leadership, initiative, and the ability to l...