Director Workforce Management and HR Optimization

The Director of Workforce Management & HR Optimization is a strategic leader responsible for advancing enterprise-wide workforce planning, scheduling, analytics, and human capital optimization across a complex, heavily unionized, multi-site healthcare environment. The key accountabilities for his role in its initial stages will be to develop and lead the enterprise-wide project to implement workforce management, which includes building the organizational operating model, support schedule optimization and implementation of a digital scheduling and time and attendance platform. The Director will assemble and lead the project implementation team and ensure that key milestones are met while maintaining strong change management practices. The Director will support the organization to take a broad strategic view of digital enhancements for human capital management to help facilitate decision-making about implementation of complimentary functionality of the human capital management system with a view to system efficiency and value generation for the entity.

Once established, the Director, Workforce Optimization will lead Central Staffing Services ensuring high quality support to departments that prioritizes service quality, safe staffing and efficient operations. The Director will lead the organization’s approach to strategic workforce planning and work in partnership with other leaders in the People and Culture portfolio to develop a Workforce Plan to deliver on the organizations current and future talent needs. The Director will support the continuous transformation of scheduling and human capital/workforce processes into technology-enabled, streamlined, and future-ready systems. This position collaborates closely with clinical operations, HR, finance, digital/IT, and labour relations to support organizational priorities, mitigate staffing risks, and strengthen overall workforce performance.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Overall leadership for the workforce management project to implement the organization’s target operating model, scheduling policies and workflows, optimization of schedules and implementation of a digital scheduling platform including time and attendance.
• Chair the Workforce Management Steering Committee to ensure key collaboration and engagement across the organization as an oversight and advisory body contributing to quality project stewardship and implementation and change management.
• Provide leadership to an interdisciplinary project implementation team and oversee the development and execution of the enterprise-wide project plan and change management and education strategies.
• Oversee supports that will aid leaders with the review, redevelopment and implementation of quality schedules that align better to patient care needs and/or service demands.
• Through past experience, monitoring of current and past peer experiences and expertise gleaned from research and other contacts, act as the organizational expert on workforce management and scheduling providing strategic guidance and leading decision-making related to workforce management.
• Support the organization to implement improved scheduling models, including acuity-based staffing, workload measurement, and benchmarking across similar healthcare units or departments. Incorporate skill mix and models of care into these scheduling models.
• Lead the development of a suite of performance measures that will support Unity Health to monitor the performance of the scheduling function, support data-informed decision making about the utilization and deployment of human capital from a quality, safety and efficiency lens.
• Adopt and model a continuous improvement approach to provide strategic and operational leadership to identify, validate and drive scheduling transformation initiatives and support workforce optimization across the organization.
• Partner directly with leadership to develop and oversee short-, medium-, and long-term workforce plans that align staffing supply with patient demand, service volumes, and organizational strategy (e.g., growth, new models of care, academic mandates)
• Support the organization to apply a labour cost/value lens to its workforce management by ensuring that schedules manage and reduce controllable labour costs (overtime, agency, sick time backfill, premium pay) while being nimble and closely aligned to patient care demands while supporting quality, safety, and employee well-being.
• Lead the development and use of predictive analytics to forecast workload and staffing requirements based on drivers such as census, acuity, case mix, length of stay, seasonality, and service redesign.
• Provide strategic recommendations to senior leadership on staffing trends, workforce risks, and optimization opportunities.
• Develop and execute change management plans, communicate effectively with stakeholders, and provide guidance to ensure successful adoption of new processes and technologies.
• Provide enterprise leadership for central scheduling services across a multi-union, 24/7 hospital network environment, ensuring consistent, equitable, and safe staffing coverage in alignment with patient care needs and organizational priorities.
• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary team of workforce analysts, planners, and scheduling specialists in the provision of value-add services to clinical and support departments.
• Partner with Labour Relations, Human Resources, Nursing/Clinical Operations, Finance, and Medical Affairs to interpret agreements, resolve scheduling issues, and support grievance avoidance and resolution.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate staffing-related risks impacting patient safety, workforce sustainability, and labour relations, escalating issues appropriately within governance structures.
• Lead HR’s digital transformation strategy by leveraging technology to streamline processes, enhance the employee experience, and support data-driven decision-making. Identify, assess, and implement best-in-class HR technology solutions (e.g., HRIS, WFM, ATS) to strengthen operational efficiency and effectiveness throughout the employee lifecycle.
• Lead specific projects for the implementation of human capital digital modules/programs approved for implementation, including team leadership, project plan development/monitoring, change management, education and reporting of milestones.
• Streamline manual or legacy processes, ensuring system integration, automation, and user-friendly workflows that enhance manager and employee experience where these legacy processes need to interface or support new digital innovations in human capital management
• Provides leadership, focus and direction, identifying and recruiting resources, assigning clear accountabilities, overseeing staff and department evaluation, and ensuring continuous performance/quality improvement;

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business administration, Health Administration, Industrial Engineering, Operations Management, or related field, required.
• HR Analytics and Project Management certification, preferred.
• Certified Human Resources Leader designation, preferred.
• 2-5+ years’ experience in HR Analytics, Project Management, Change Management.
• 5-7+ years’ leadership experience.
• 8–10+ years of progressive experience in workforce planning, scheduling, HR operations, or workforce analytics, ideally within a healthcare environment.
• Demonstrated experience implementing HR technologies, scheduling systems, and digital workforce tools.
• Understanding of system integrations, automation, and change management within HR operations.
• Proven experience with scheduling, which may include acuity-based staffing, workload measurement tools, and healthcare staffing standards (an asset).
• Experience working in unionized healthcare environments with complex scheduling rules.
• Deep knowledge of healthcare staffing models, scheduling methodologies, and workforce optimization principles.
• Strong analytical and strategic planning skills.
• Ability to translate complex data into clear insights and actionable recommendations.
• Strong leadership, relationship-building, and change management capabilities.

Unity Health Toronto is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive organization. We strive to provide a recruitment process that is barrier-free and in compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and the Ontario Human Rights Code. We understand that you may require an accommodation at any stage of the recruitment process. When you are contacted, please inform the Talent Acquisition Specialist and we will work with you to meet your accommodation needs. We want to emphasize that all accommodation requests are handled with the utmost confidentiality, respecting your privacy and dignity.