Answers About Culture Change

Data Analyst: Hello my name is Bob Hess. I am the clinical data analyst for Esse Health.

Contrast between Esse and old company: In going through the modules, right off the bat, I noticed just a total difference and almost revelations in kind of in the way that things are happening here and the way that they happened at my old job. So I’ve noticed how I was seeing all of the different control methods, and then the responsibility based one here, and all of the pretty bad methods of trying to control and do what you do in the workplace, we’re being used at my old work. It truly is amazing to see the difference between the atmosphere here and the atmosphere there. When I first started my job there, I had gone into a meeting myself. I was there maybe two three weeks; brand-new, fresh out of college, and I was in there with the senior person over the whole division and a fellow coworker who had been there a year longer than me. They were going into conversations about everything, and I was only there for two weeks, and you know, I did feel that I could you know, put a little input in, and I tried speaking up, and when I did, they – it was like, “You ever walk into a bar and the record stops? and it feels like RRRR, and everybody just looks over at you like what!?” That’s exactly what it was like. They both stopped talking, just looked at me, didn’t acknowledge anything, didn’t say yes, no, didn’t say anything, and then just looked right back at each other and started on with the conversation again, and totally ignored everything I had to say. They didn’t say – didn’t even give me constructive criticism, saying, “that it wasn’t you know, that, well that really doesn’t apply to what we’re talking about.” I mean nothing. Just flat-out left it alone. And I mean you can walk up to anyone, really anyone here in the department, and ask them any questions you want, at any time, even someone who’s new. Seeing the responsibility based, where you end up doing things you know, I come in and work on the weekend because I want to, not because anybody’s asking me to, because you know I know things have to be done, and I do it because I want to, not because somebody is forcing me, and grinding me, telling me I have to go in and do that. At my old job, they used to at times try to dangle a carrot front you, but what made it even worse was they would dangle the carrot in front of you, and then take the carrot away. After seeing all those different roles and those different types of my management styles, or you know, it and then coming here, it’s just, “You you go you do your work. Everybody’s responsible to do their work. And we really just go and do what we’re doing.”

Everyone participates: I truly don’t think it can work if if not everybody’s not on board, from top to bottom, has to be, because if there’s someone who’s holding out, once again in my old job that I was at, we always had infighting between upper management. This doesn’t get done. That doesn’t get done. They’re doing things out of spite to each other, and it just it’s not a healthy workplace, it’s just not.

Motivation to change: People leave, you know you can sense it. You can feel it and they openly talk about it, you know? I don’t like this person and we have to work with each other every day, all day.

LifeWork Systems Culture Difference: We’re here at work more than we are with our families. That’s one of the reasons I came here. Because I – at my old job I was contracted here for six months straight, and I had gotten to know everybody here because I worked in this office for six months. I was physically in the office every day like I worked here. You can tell it’s a really cohesive group, you know?

Benefits of mentoring and training: We ask them and we try and help them, and it gets everybody to interact. Everybody ends up trusting each other because you do talk about things that you’re uncomfortable with a little bit, you know? In general a lot of people don’t want to get up in front everybody and talk, so when you are in there you know it is good to go around and kind of have everybody talk a little bit because that brings them out, not in a bad way, not to – you’re not you’re not there to judge, you’re not there to do anything. We’re all there to try and help each other and get through it, you know. If somebody’s having a problem.

Old vs. New: Like I said in my old job, we had infighting. Things didn’t get done or purposely were pushed off, or made to take longer times. I mean it’s just, I mean that’s just that’s just how it was and it was kind of accepted, and probably the most challenging piece was getting used to doing LifeWorks during like regular business time, and not feeling the pressure of the other jobs that we had to do, like seven projects, or stuff like that. It was worth overcoming that because it’s almost like a weight lifted.

Greatest challenge: You know going through that, you you realize that, well you know everybody they really – we really want everyone to come together. We really want to be successful, and we all want to do it together, and we all want to help each other along the way.

Overall improvements: I mean since I’ve been here, I don’t think there’s one person that I can’t talk to. I can talk to anybody, including the CIO Erin Stamm or (CEO) Mike Castellano, anybody. I don’t feel – there’s no like intimidation, or you don’t feel like you can’t go up to somebody and talk to them.

Advice for companies considering LifeWork Systems: I would tell them if if you’re having a lot of the infighting, and the you know power struggles between certain people, and they don’t like each other, and they’re in management positions, that it is definitely worth it. That vibe can be felt throughout the company and the business and it trickles down. It does take a village. It takes everybody to be on board, and LifeWorks is a learning. It’s a totally different way to think, but it is a learning and amazing experience to go through, and just as you go through it, you just are through each session, you’re kind of amazed at the different ways things work, and you’re like, “Oh really? That’s what that was?”

Advice to other Esse Departments: I honestly think they’re seeing the the change and working on things together, the IT section working with the programmers and you know, the database guys working with, you know everybody just working together for a common goal. I think they’re seeing that, and I would say, “Get on board. Try it. It’s pretty amazing stuff. Because it’s for little things.I mean when we’re with each other every day, all day.”