Sodexo Health Care Housekeeping Employees are...
“Making Every Day a Better Day!"
by guest blogger, Amy Brooks, Recruitment Manager, Environmental Services
I’ve worked for Sodexo for 13 years. After seven years of working in food operations in our School Services (K-12) division, I made the move to our Health Care services division and also moved from food operations to a Human Resources Manager role in Environmental Services. Proving cross departmental growth is not only possible but also encouraged at Sodexo.
On my first day as the HR Manager at one of Sodexo’s larger health care units I got lost…several times. Two “lost” episodes in particular have stuck with me as I’ve continued my careers at Sodexo.
The first “lost” episode was at the very beginning of my first day. After successfully making it from the parking garage to the main entrance of the hospital, I realized I had no clue how to get to the “Housekeeping Department.” I must have looked as confused as I felt because suddenly a blue-smocked employee pushing a housekeeping cart came up to me and with the friendliest smile I have ever seen said, “You look a bit lost; can I help you get to where you need to be?” I thanked her and told her I needed to find the Housekeeping Department. “I’ll show you which elevator to take, just follow me,” she said.
As we walked she proudly told me that the main corridor has been her work area for almost fifteen years and she loved it because she got to help so many people. “When I’m cleaning up at the main entrance sometimes I’m the very first person the visitors see!” she said. Many hospital employees greeted her warmly and she gave each of them eye contact, a warm greeting where she called each by name and a smile.
Several hours later, I was touring various units and floors in the patient towers with a Sodexo Housekeeping Manager. As she stepped away for a few moments to speak with a group of nurses I walked down the hall, out the doors, into another unit and yes…got myself lost AGAIN.
Standing in front of a patient’s room trying to determine in what direction I should proceed, I saw a tan-smocked woman holding a clean trash liner, sitting at the bedside of a crying elderly woman and holding her hand. The teary-eyed housekeeping employee came out of the room with a full trash bag and asked me if I was lost. “Sure am!” I said. As the employee walked me to the end of the unit and explained where I needed to go, I chatted with her and introduced myself as her new HR Manager. The Housekeeping Employee told me that she went into the patient’s room to pull her trash and found her crying. “Poor Mrs. Johnson,” she said. “I’ve been in her room all week but I’ve never seen her so upset. When I walked in to pull her trash she was crying so hard that I thought I would just sit and hold her hand for a few minutes. I think she felt a little better. I don’t know anything about medicine but I know that sometimes just showing you care makes people feel better and sometimes that’s all we can do to help the patients.”
I’ve never forgotten those words.
Although I no longer work out of a hospital, each year as Environmental Services/Housekeeping week approaches I think about the three years I spent with this amazing group of front-line employees and managers. It took only a few short hours on my very first day to realize that our employees do so much more than just mop hallways and pull trash; they are, in many ways, the heart and soul of the hospital.
They are one of the first people with whom hospital visitors come in contact. They see people at their worst, family members who have lost loved ones, nurses who are being pulled in many directions at once, doctors who are working on very little sleep and patients who may have just received devastating and life altering news. They work tirelessly in burn units, recovery rooms, pediatric wings and cancer centers. In our long-term care facilities they become part of a resident’s family.
Our Sodexo housekeeping employees “make every day a better day” by simply being there and being present in the lives of our customers and clients. They proudly represent the Sodexo CARES philosophy of Compassion, Accountability, Respect, Enthusiasm and Service around the clock, each and every day including weekends and holidays. They are present to provide not only cleaning needs but also emotional needs in the form of a helping hand, a nudge in the right direction, a smile or just simply to spend a few minutes holding the hand of a patient in need.
So during the week of September 13-19 I ask that you take a few minutes out of your day to think about a time when one of these caring employees made a difference in your life or the life of a loved one!
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Amy is the Environmental Services Recruitment Manager for Sodexo's Talent Acquisition Group. She began her Sodexo career 13 years ago as an Area Food Service Manager in the School Services Division and eventually moved into the Health Care Services division. Over the years, Amy moved through various operational and support positions including, Safety and Training Manager, Human Resources Manager and Senior Recruiter. Feel free to connect with Amy on Twitter or directly at amy.brooks@sodexo.com
For more information about a career as an Housekeeping/ Environmental Services Manager visit our microsite here.
2 comments:
We need a "like" button on our blog page. This was great Amy - very touching! - Darla
What a great idea... and you know what? We can add one!
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