Meadowview Behavioral Hospital

Erin Greer

Employee Relations Advocate

Throughout my career, I’ve learned that effective human resources leadership requires more than understanding policies, procedures and workforce metrics. It requires understanding the people behind them.

My HR journey began in 2016, when I was hired as an assistant manager for a large retail company. Store operations were an important part of my responsibilities, and I enjoyed managing inventory, placing orders, building seasonal displays and meeting with vendors to discuss floor layouts. I had always been drawn to processes and the ability to see tangible results from my hard work through data and metrics.

However, after making numerous daily rounds of the store, interacting with and teaching employees, I quickly became drawn to the people side of the operation. More than 150 employees brought unique talents, strengths and potential to the workplace. It became clear to me that I had a transformational leadership style. I wanted to optimize operations while inspiring meaningful change and helping employees achieve their professional goals. Whether it meant helping someone get promoted to management, improve their inventory counts or even improve their attendance, I wanted to work with them to achieve those goals. After my time in retail management, I continued to develop my skill set in other operations roles.

During my time as a manager at a plasma center, one of my daily responsibilities was ensuring that the right employees were in the right positions within the center. From an operational perspective, I reviewed the day’s forecasts. But as I considered the numbers, I also thought about the HR responsibilities I had taken on. For example, if an employee had expressed interest in a supervisory role, I would look for opportunities to see how they performed during a busy week. I would give them a chance to demonstrate their abilities, evaluate their performance and provide positive and constructive feedback. Wearing both the operations and HR hats is something I grew to love and still love today.

As my career progressed into higher education and healthcare, I carried these foundational lessons with me. Although each environment presented unique challenges, my approach remained consistent: understand the organization’s needs, recognize the strengths of its people and create opportunities for both to succeed.

In higher education, I found myself increasingly drawn to employee relations and workforce planning. I often encountered tenured employees looking for new, invigorating opportunities. I found it exciting to help them explore roles that better aligned with their strengths and offered opportunities for growth, while also meeting the needs of the departments they joined.

Today, healthcare HR moves at a hypersonic pace, and conversations must be impactful, particularly when navigating the complexities of a newly opened hospital. It is a critical time to establish and maintain a positive culture and work environment while ensuring consistency with regulations and policies.

I believe HR leaders can strengthen employee relations and retention in a demanding healthcare setting by being fair and consistent while remaining human. I have learned not to waver when it comes to clear-cut policies and procedures. They serve as a guiding light, and it is imperative to hold every employee to the same standards. However, most situations also require a genuine conversation. I find that honest discussions and clear expectations build respect and rapport between employees and leadership. Even when the outcome is difficult, employees deserve transparency, consistency and a clear understanding of what is expected of them. Fairness does not always mean delivering the answer someone wants to hear.

One lesson I have carried through every stage of my career is that numbers tell a story, but it is the people behind those numbers who bring that story to life. In healthcare, workforce planning and HR analytics allow us to look ahead instead of simply reacting to staffing challenges as they arise. By reviewing trends in turnover, overtime, staffing levels and patient volumes, we can begin to identify where additional support or resources may be needed.

I believe the most meaningful decisions happen when we combine that data with genuine conversations. Is a department experiencing increased overtime because of staffing shortages, or are there opportunities to better utilize the talents of existing employees? Are we seeing turnover because employees are overwhelmed, or because they are not finding opportunities to grow? Data helps us recognize where to look, but listening to employees helps us understand why. By bringing these two perspectives together, we can make decisions that support our workforce, strengthen operations and ultimately contribute to better patient care.

When I began my career in operations, I was fascinated by processes, numbers and results. Nearly a decade later, those things still excite me, but I have learned that the most meaningful results come from investing in people. That belief continues to shape the HR leader I am today.