To support equitable advancement, one healthcare system continues to champion its education benefits program, which provides up to 100% tuition coverage for associates looking to pursue careers in priority clinical pathways. These supported pathways include nursing, nursing support, medical assisting, surgical technology, imaging, sterile processing, laboratory, and respiratory services.

To further expand opportunity, the health system is building partnerships with innovative national and local schools to provide access to quality programs that support various learning styles and needs.

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) convened a workgroup in 2021 to evaluate its processes for conducting background checks, which then led to proposed internal process changes that could remove barriers for people with records. With support from leadership, UCSF began to adjust policies and procedures such as: eliminating a requirement to include conviction disclosures as part of candidates’ background checks, increasing transparency about the background check process to make clear to applicants when they would be asked about their records, removing marijuana from the drug screening process (which is consistent with state law), and introducing a process to refer candidates to community partners for support if their job offer is rescinded due to a background check. To build support for this novel approach and to help mitigate bias against individuals involved in the justice system, UCSF provides cultural and belonging training to hiring managers, recruiters, and other staff. 99b 

One health system reviewed job descriptions to evaluate the need for including a degree requirement versus certain skills and experience (while excluding licensure requirements), as part of an overall strategy to recruit residents from local lower-income communities and provide opportunities for career advancement. Many job descriptions were rewritten with more inclusive, skills–based language, and connections to career pathways were also incorporated in the process.

Advocate Health, which serves patients in six states, partners with several community-based organizations to support the recruitment and retention of justice-involved individuals. These organizations include the Center for Self-Sufficiency, Goodwill Workforce Connection, City Startup Labs in North Carolina, SEMBDC in Georgia, Employ Milwaukee in Wisconsin, and Cara and Safer Foundation in Illinois. As organizations that work directly with justice-involved individuals, they are equipped to guide people to overcome structural and societal barriers, such as finding employment and succeeding in their jobs. This support may include providing soft skills training, helping to set up reliable transportation, navigating complex hiring processes and state laws, addressing healthcare needs, or identifying childcare solutions.

One partner organization provides a job coach to justice-involved hires during their first year of employment at the health system. This job coach works with the new employee’s manager to identify potential solutions to job performance issues before corrective actions or termination may occur. For example, when one teammate had issues showing up to work on time, the job coach helped by troubleshooting transportation challenges and ensuring the teammate had access to a reliable bus line.100

At Kaiser Permanente, the talent acquisition team developed a process to provide priority consideration for U.S. veteran candidates in their applicant tracking system as part of the health system’s High Impact Hiring model. Job applicants are asked whether they served in the U.S. military. By answering affirmatively, they are given priority status in the candidate flow to place them in a position to be considered by the hiring managers. This provides a mechanism to ensure that consideration is given through a process and resources. This process has helped to increase the number of veteran candidates being considered by 15% and provides an internal investment in this group that has been historically disadvantaged.100b