Fostering Belonging Measure

Investing in Staff Professional Development

Project Goals

Develop, expand, and raise awareness about dedicated professional development supports across the Agency. Pilot the employee mentorship program, including lessons learned, to inform future professional development activities.

Most Recent Project Update

OHA is committed to developing its workforce and ensuring that staff have the right training and tools to best deliver services to the people of Oregon. The project team is focusing on creating a leadership development program and providing mentorship opportunities for staff to help the agency develop its workforce and prepare the leaders of tomorrow. For the leadership development program, the project team developed an approach and framework for development of the program trainings. The project team also conducted interviews and researched best practices to improve the next round of the mentorship program.

Improving Employee Satisfaction and Engagement​

Project Goals

Annually measure employee engagement and satisfaction through assessments like Gallup and develop and sustain metrics to assess improvement over time. Create action plans at the agency and manager levels to improve employee engagement and satisfaction via targeted activities and to foster a happy, supported workforce that feels proud, empowered, and appreciated to work at OHA.

Most Recent Project Update

OHA partnered with Gallup to deliver an annual staff survey to gather staff sentiments towards OHA regarding employee engagement and satisfaction. This year’s survey concluded in December 2024 and saw 12% higher response rate than previous year and an average of 2% higher scores on employee engagement when compared to the 2023 survey. Overall, the survey showed engaged employees are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and the agency. Increasing the number of engaged employees is key for OHA to fulfill its commitments as engaged teams are more productive and present, helping the agency deliver better services to the people of Oregon.

Implementing the OHA Equitable Hiring Policy

Project Goals

Advance equitable hiring strategies and professional development pathways to ensure OHA staff composition reflects the communities served and enhances staff competencies and career trajectories.

Most Recent Project Update

OHA values equitable hiring and wants to ensure that OHA staff composition reflects the communities it serves. OHA is developing an Equitable Hiring policy (EHP) to advance hiring strategies and career trajectories for OHA employees in support of this goal. The project team completed research on equitable hiring best practices to inform the policy and established a framework for the advisory committee that will draft the equitable hiring policy. The project team is actively recruiting volunteers with knowledge of division hiring processes and will begin meeting in April to draft the EHP. The policy and implementation plan will be finalized by December 2025 and implemented across the agency in 2026.

Launching an Agency-wide Staff Recognition Program

Project Goals

Empower our workforce and foster a clear sense of belonging and appreciation from leadership for their contributions to the Agency through a formal process to reward and recognize teams and staff that embody each of OHA’s seven Agency values (Equity, Service Excellence, Integrity, Leadership, Partnership, Innovation, and Transparency).

Most Recent Project Update

OHA is developing an agency-wide staff recognition program to recognize staff who embody OHA’s mission and values in their work. This program will recognize the hard work of its employees and highlight how the agency is advancing towards its mission. Over the past quarter, the project team identified best practices for staff recognition to inform the development of OHA’s recognition program. Once the program details are finalized the nomination process will begin within the next quarter, with the first agency-wide award ceremony targeted for August.

Lowering Vacancy Rates

Project Goals

Set clear vacancy and attrition targets. Implement strategic, targeted recruitment strategies to decrease vacancy rates by 5% annually for the next two years. Streamline hiring processes to support quicker hiring and onboarding.

Most Recent Project Update

The project team completed a detailed assessment of divisional vacancy rates and drivers and is now defining the approach for evaluating the efficacy of current hiring and onboarding processes. The findings from this assessment will help inform the process improvement recommendations to be implemented in Spring 2025.

Promoting Workplace Wellness

Project Goals

Analyze and implement priority recommendations from the staff-developed Strategic Wellness Plan and Organizational Resilience and Healing Policy to support workplace healing and resiliency.

​Most Recent Project Update

OHA is dedicated to creating an environment that promotes learning, safety, and wellbeing to better enable its staff to deliver the best possible services to the people of Oregon. Recently, the project team delivered educational webinars for employee benefit programs, trainings for psychological safety in the workplace, published of wellness articles, and implemented new well-being workplace policies. The team also completed the Organizational Resilience and Healing Approach Policy (ORHA) which seeks to increase morale, a sense of belonging, general wellness, and an overall quality of workplace interactions for OHA. The project team is developing implementation plans for the recommendations listed in this policy.