Health Care Homes Sustainability Roadmap 
Workforce

Hands-On Pathways and Employee Engagement in Action

As a Federally Qualified Health Center, our mission goes far beyond providing healthcare. We are committed to strengthening the healthcare workforce and providing access to integrated, patient-centered care for the communities we serve. Our organization has made significant strides in workforce development by investing in internship and shadowing programs, promoting role clarity and working at the top of licensure, and deepening employee engagement across all levels of the organization.

Cultivating the Future Workforce Through Hands-On Experience

One of our core beliefs is that individuals interested in healthcare careers deserve meaningful, hands-on opportunities to understand the work before they enter the field. Since stepping into my role as HR Director in May 2024, I’ve worked to rebuild and expand relationships with schools and local workforce development agencies, ensuring that students and emerging professionals know who we are, what we do, and how they can be part of our mission.

A particularly exciting partnership we’ve re-established is with Minnesota State University, Mankato, specifically their Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy programs. This collaboration has not only created a talent pipeline into our dental department but also allowed us to mentor students and have a seat at the table when it comes to educating the next generation of providers about the value of dental care, especially in rural communities. We’re proud to champion the role of Dental Therapists and Advanced Dental Therapists, emphasizing their importance in expanding access to high-quality, team-based dental care in underserved populations.

Importantly, these opportunities aren’t just clinical, we also offer internships and shadowing experiences across administrative, operations, and outreach roles. Because we are a nonprofit and FQHC, our mission-driven approach deeply resonates with students who want to make an impact. It also helps us identify individuals who align with our values and can potentially become long-term team members.

We’ve already seen the payoff. One of our most impactful success stories involves a Community Health Worker intern who joined us for her practicum, moved on to explore other options after graduation, but returned within months. We were thrilled to welcome her back, this time as a full-time Community Health Worker. Because she had prior experience with our team and workflows, her transition was smooth, and we are so thrilled to see this program take off.

Reinvigorating Employee Engagement and Creating a Great Place to Work

A thriving workforce is an engaged workforce. We re-established our Employee Engagement Committee, which has since become a central part of our workplace culture. But this committee isn’t just about planning events it’s about creating connection: to our mission, to each other, and to the communities we serve.

In 2024, we also launched our first Great Place to Work® survey, initially just to establish a baseline. To our surprise and great pride we were officially certified as a Great Place to Work® in April 2025.

This recognition wasn’t just a win it was a learning opportunity. The survey provided rich data that we used to build a practical, focused work plan aimed at improving areas where staff were feeling uncertain or disengaged. Instead of overreaching, we honed in on places where we had the most leverage and opportunity to make real change.

We’ve continued to listen, adjust, and evolve because we know that engagement isn’t a box to check. 

Moving Forward

Our work is far from done, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made. By investing in early talent, supporting staff to do their best work, and creating a culture where people want to stay and grow, we’re not only building a stronger organization we’re helping build a healthier future for the communities we serve.

In 2023, Southside conducted its first employee wellness survey, laying the groundwork for a deeper understanding of how to support staff across physical, emotional, social, and occupational wellbeing. The effort reinforced a key lesson that mirrors Southside’s work with patients: when people feel safe to share their experiences, the organization gains a clearer picture of how to meet their needs. Strong participation elevates every voice. Opting out, particularly among those who feel dissatisfied or unheard, can unintentionally keep important challenges hidden and perpetuates disengagement.

In the third quarter of 2025, Southside again turned to its integrated workforce for insight through a comprehensive, third-party–facilitated wellness survey designed to strengthen anonymity and psychological safety. Employees were invited to reflect honestly on their personal and workplace wellbeing and were provided direct access to resources such as smoking cessation support, Narcan, and food shelf information. Participation remained strong at roughly 80%, with flexible options for in-person, virtual, or electronic completion in 15 minutes or less.

This year brought a new question—particularly from newer employees: Is the survey mandatory? For some, it felt like “one more task.” In response, leadership reaffirmed that participation is always encouraged but never required. Instead, the focus was placed on why the survey matters. Staff feedback directly informs organizational decisions, workplace culture improvements, and advocacy for funding or partnerships that advance employee wellbeing. In essence, the survey provides an accessible way for every staff member to shape future wellness efforts in meaningful and equitable ways.

Southside’s multidisciplinary Staff Wellness Committee, established in 2023, continues to cultivate a culture of whole-person care for employees—just as Southside has always done for its patients. Guided by continuous improvement, the committee has implemented system-wide supports including:

• Healthy food policies and access to nutritious snacks
• Integration of mental health awareness into meetings, including mindful moments and open, stigma-reducing conversations
• Food access support for employees experiencing food insecurity, including offering leftover meeting food for staff to take home
• An expanded Employee Assistance Program providing free therapy, financial counseling, legal guidance, and crisis support
• Lifestyle and nutrition programming that mirrors patient offerings: cooking and nutrition classes, grocery store tours, education on reading nutrition labels, group physical activities, and opportunities for supportive peer connection

With fresh insights from the 2025 wellness survey, Southside’s Staff Wellness Committee and leadership will continue working together to explore new ways to meet employees where they are. In doing so, they advance a workplace where staff—and the patients they serve—can live healthier, happier lives grounded in trust, compassion, and a strong foundation of wellbeing.

Southside’s approach to building an employee wellness program

Southside Community Health Services is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) that provides high-quality primary care through integrated medical, dental, vision, and behavioral health services.  

Southside’s Quality Program addresses the management of chronic conditions through support and education around behavior modification and lifestyle changes. Chronic conditions can be difficult for anyone to manage. However, 93% of Southside’s patient population are at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, which adds food and housing insecurity and a lack of transportation to the list of patient challenges.  

The Quality Program is built on a continuous improvement model based on a foundation of psychological safety, trust, and compassion. The patients in the Chronic Condition Program have developed relationships with their care team who believe in meeting people where they are at. This approach allows Southside to provide individualized care and guidance to patients to support them in living healthier, happier lives.

As part of an industry where compassion fatigue and burnout can be very high, Southside also recognizes the need for care teams to better manage to care for themselves while they care for the people around them. Through regular staff surveys, Southside leadership gathers feedback on how employees feel about communication, organizational culture, and engagement activities. These surveys show how the organization is doing. But how does Southside learn how its employees are doing?  

In February 2023, Southside developed and conducted its first Staff Wellness Survey. The survey was presented as an opt-out model, meaning that all employees had the option to decline, but this option was not publicized, nor was it noted that participation was mandatory. Methods for survey completion included: online, in person or via Zoom with an individual unaffiliated with the organization. This approach allowed employees to answer sensitive questions in an anonymous and safe way.

The 31-question survey included topics such as physical and mental health; drug, tobacco and alcohol use and exposure; stress levels and coping mechanisms; and other sociopolitical risk factors. An additional survey asked employees to describe what “staff wellness” meant to them and solicited ideas for wellness in the workplace.

Through this feedback Southside learned its own team members were managing their own chronic conditions, mental illnesses, living with food insecurity, and having difficulty coping with stress. How did Southside address this? They did exactly what they do for their patients: they met them where they were at.  

Southside formed a multi-disciplinary Staff Wellness Committee which then developed employee resources to address food insecurity; implemented policies around only purchasing nutritious foods; keeping healthy snacks on-site; implementing standardized mindful moments during meetings; and partnering with an Employee Assistance Program that offers free and anonymous therapy, financial and legal advice.

More recently, Southside has begun offering the same activities to their employees that they offer to their patients: nutrition and cooking classes, grocery store tours, lessons on nutrition label reading, group physical activity, and support through safe and trusting relationships.  

Aligned with its ongoing continuous improvement philosophy, Southside plans to continue monitoring staff wellness through regular surveying efforts. While the physical wellness activities are all voluntary, participants are asked to share their individual successes. Employees are not asked to share the specific details of their health, but only whether or not they have experienced an improvement in various aspects of their lives like nutrition, physical and emotional health, lifestyle behaviors, and more.  Participants are also asked to recommend areas of improvement as they engage in various programs.

Southside honors and values the lived experiences of all individuals and takes recommendations from staff to enhance its overall programs for all people – patients and employees alike.