When I think of where we started ten years ago, the first word that comes to mind is persistence.
We started out with seven people––six consultants, and one person in credentialing––in one very run-down office space. Sometimes when it rained, water came down on our walls or the ceilings would leak. I think people used to come for interviews and then see our office and drive away.
But our persistence paid off.
Now, ten years later, that seven-person office has grown into a 200-person company (with, thankfully, a beautiful new office space). I could never have imagined then that this is where we would end up. But looking back, I can see that all the ingredients were there, even in that scrappy old office.
From the very beginning, we had a winning formula, because we knew what we believed in. We had a vision to form a company guided by our values, not the bottom line. We wanted the freedom to do things the way we believed they should be done––to do the right thing, every time––and to work with people that aligned with the same values.
It’s that vision, more than anything else, that has helped us grow into one of the largest staffing firms in the country. Perhaps our Senior VP of Customer Experience, David Richardson, said it best as he reflected on our last decade in business.
“There is so much to be proud of: we’ve created thousands of quality matches between physicians and healthcare facilities. We’ve played a crucial support role in the lives of providers as they navigate the pandemic. And in the midst of a critical shortage of healthcare workers, we have ensured that patients still have access to quality care, even in the most underserved environments. But while we reflect with pride on all that we’ve accomplished, we can also take this opportunity to reconnect with the heart of what we do so that we can continue to meet the challenges and opportunities of the decades to come.”
David Richardson, Senior VP of Customer Experience
Over the past ten weeks, we’ve been doing just that. Each week, a member of the Hayes Locums leadership team has reflected on the values that got us here, and which we hope to take with us into the next decade. Here’s what they had to say:
Honesty
“We pride ourselves on telling our clients the whole story…this dedication to telling the truth is why our physicians trust us with their careers, and it’s why the hospitals we work with trust us with their patients.”
-Bobby Moses, Founder
Service
“We are the best in the industry at creating quality matches between physicians and healthcare facilities for one reason: because we prioritize what is right, not what is easy…We do the work to find the right match, because we want to make sure that patients aren’t just in good hands, but the best hands.”
-Karen Hayes, Chief Risk Officer
Selflessness
“Developing a trusting relationship with our providers and the facilities they work within and ensuring they have their needs met is always our priority, and it shows in the work we do. Simply put: we care. For our physicians, our facility partners, and for each other.”
-Tad Wildrick, Chief People Officer
Compassion
“We felt a calling to create a company that centered compassion instead of the bottom line…I am proud of so many things we have accomplished, but nothing makes me prouder than seeing how we have served our community: from accompanying veterans to the memorials that honor their service, to helping children cope with grief, to supporting foster children and families.”
-Ryan Scharer, Founder
Innovation
“Hayes Locums is a place that welcomes new perspectives and prioritizes fresh, dynamic ideas over conventional habits and traditions. Simply put: we follow best practices, not the most familiar practices, whether that means investing in new technologies or implementing new, immersive training methods.”
-Corey Self, Vice President of Operations
Focus
“We provide a great experience from our first “touch” through the placement process to even beyond the assignment. We do this by focusing not on the bottom line, but on relationships. And the results of that have shown through not just in terms of our growth as a company, but in the quality of the relationships we’ve developed with our physicians.”
-Kelly Workman, Senior Vice President of Sales
Growth
“More important than our own growth, is the way that growth has enabled us to provide quality care. In expanding locums opportunities, we have also expanded patient care during a time when the need for physicians has never been more dire. Our work has helped fill the gap as more and more doctors have left healthcare, and ensured that tens of thousands of patients continue to have access to quality medical care.”
-Josh Ruf, Vice President of Accounting & Finance
Perspective
“We’ve never lost perspective on what matters most: providing quality matches for our physicians, and quality care to our facilities. We do this by keeping our vision constantly trained on the needs of our providers and clients, whether that means moving heaven and earth to get a provider credentialed within 72 hours to make sure a rural emergency room can stay open, or being upfront with a facility if they have a need we can’t meet without sacrificing quality.”
-Amy Perry, Chief Financial Officer
When I look back over the past decade, I couldn’t be prouder of how we’ve embodied these values in our work. There have been struggles and sleepless nights, but we got through each of those challenges together. And we did it by taking baby steps: every day, doing the right thing.
As we embark on our second decade, we are committed to taking these values with us into the future, and staying true to our vision. We are unwavering. We’re not going to change who we are. And we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing.
