Franciscan Health’s Human Resources Director, Steven Kile, feels he was made for social work. Since many businesses have a social work component to them, Kile was not sure what kind of field he would end up in - just that wherever he was at, he would be helping people.
When he started his MBA not knowing what field to go into, he noticed that a number of his classmates did HR, so he started talking to HR staff at hospitals and found that hospital HR was just the thing for him.
“I thought it would be a good field I could transition to utilize my social work skills and my human resource skills,” Kile said. “It’s truly been a blessing because those social work skills are very important in how we deal with people and groups - it has helped me immensely.”
While Kile was initially unsure of what environment he would end up working in, working for a hospital did not come out of left field. He is a third-generation medical worker with both his mother and grandmother having worked as nurses.
Kile has only worked at Franciscan for 10 months, but he built up his career in HR for many years leading up to his current position.
“In the last 15-18 years, I’ve strictly worked in human resources, working my way up from recruiter to employee relations to HR manager to HR director,” Kile said. “My role today is more strategic in how we develop our leaders and how we’re making sure our policies are aligned with our mission and core values. It’s about how I can develop and problem solve with those leaders to deal with employee issues and department issues so they’re providing quality healthcare to the patients we serve.”
Having been hired during the COVID-19 pandemic himself, Kile knows how challenging the past year has been for those looking for work. As Human Resources Director, he now deals with the employer side of the hiring process. While healthcare is a competitive market, Kile witnessed the applicant pool decrease. Because of the pandemic, many people wanted to stay where they were at.
Kile’s main challenge, then, has been making sure the existing staff and leaders are able to get the rest and resources they need to continue functioning at a high level and providing Franciscan’s high standard of healthcare.
Healthcare remains a vital part of Michigan City, and Kile is always looking to see how he can meet the needs of the community. Kile’s favorite part of his job is getting to know leaders at Franciscan and in the community, seeing their passions, and helping them move forward with their missions.
“One of my favorite memories is working with the leaders and knowing they are hungry to learn about things such as diversity and implicit bias and educating them so they are better prepared to work with their teams,” Kile said. “With the George Floyd incident, a lot of people have been looking for direction and understanding. I think our leader here, Dean Mazzoni, has challenged us with his plan to make sure that we’re all looking at the bigger picture and seeing what the impacts are. We’re making sure that we’re taking care of our community no matter what their race, social-economic background, or creed is. We take care of everyone in the community.”
When he is not helping leaders make positive change in Michigan City, Kile enjoys spending time with his family, golfing at Michigan City Municipal Golf Course, cycling, and rooting for the Cleveland Browns. He also describes himself as a YouTube carpenter as he has been teaching himself about carpentry through YouTube videos to work on finishing his basement.
For more information about Franciscan Health, visit https://www.franciscanhealth.org/
