International Women’s Day is officially recognized on March 8, but leading the charge to gender equality is a movement that lasts throughout the year. As this year’s theme is Balance for Better, we take this time to reflect on the impact we have on elevating a gender-balanced workforce.
Gender disparities are pervasive throughout every industry, healthcare included. Across the board, women earn just 80.5 cents for every dollar earned by men. Pay disparity is not the only manner in which women are unbalanced in the workforce. As of May 2018, there were just 24 female CEOs in the Fortune 500, just under five percent. Of those 24 only two are women of color. Even though women make up 65% of the healthcare workforce, they make up only 30% of healthcare senior leadership positions and 13% of CEOs. As an industry and as a nation we have to do better.
As an organization that values diversity in our workforce, Nordic strives to balance for better every day by creating a supportive and growth-oriented environment that has helped us achieve a workforce balance that we’re proud of:
- 53% of our total workforce is female
- 51% of our professional consultants are female
- 62% of our management team is female
- 44% of our senior leadership team is female
The women of Nordic are extraordinary and have accomplished some amazing things in the last year. Below are just a few examples of how the women of Nordic #BalanceforBetter.
Mandy Albertie
Mandy was a champion of Nordic’s partnership with the United Way of Dane County, helping to raise over $24,000 and spearheading a volunteer opportunity of 60 Nordic employees packing 2,000 snack packs for local elementary schools, community centers, and food banks. In remembrance of her sister, who suffered from congenital heart failure her entire life, Mandy, along with fellow Nordic teammates Jessica Schmidt and Melissa Flores, worked to gather a team of Nordic employees to raise money and walk in the American Heart Association’s annual Heart Walk. Coordinating weekly walks and a morning tailgate, a small but mighty team tripled donations from last year, raising over $3,000.
Leah Anderson
Senior Director of Candidate Relations Leah Anderson recently passed a rigorous exam to receive her PHR (Professional in Human Resources) certification. The exam covers topics such as employee and labor relations, business management, talent planning and acquisition, total rewards, and learning and development.
Eliza Corrigan
After training for just two short months, Eliza Corrigan completed the Chicago Marathon in October 2018 alongside 43,000 other competitors, including her husband. Together they raised thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society.
Cara Friedlan
Along with just 800 other runners, Cara recently competed in the inaugural Cheyenne Half Marathon, which is at an elevation of 6000+ feet. She placed second in her age group and 38th overall.
Treena Hoffman
In addition to helping to integrate the Revenue Cycle Transformation and ERP practices into Nordic and taking on recruiting and consultant placement duties for these practices, Treena was named the director of education for the Wisconsin chapter of HIMSS, organizing all of their regional networking events as well as their spring leadership conference, which had a record number of attendees. She also spearheaded Nordic’s partnership with the Tri 4 Schools organization to launch in-school programs and participated in two of its committees. Treena also works with the athletes in the Madison West high school football program with community building and sponsorship fundraising, all while single-parenting three rambunctious boys ages 15, 13, and five.
Michelle Lichte
In August 2018 Nordic Executive Vice President of Client Partnerships Michelle Lichte was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as being a “Female health IT leader to know.” This list includes experts in various technology areas, including EHRs, analytics, and telemedicine. Joining Nordic in July 2017, she is a veteran health IT leader with nearly 30 years of healthcare IT experience. In addition to her leadership at Nordic, Lichte serves on the HIMSS Wisconsin Dairyland Chapter Board of Directors as director of advocacy.
Amy Sipsma
In July 2018 Amy completed 200 hours of yoga teacher training to become a certified yoga instructor. Almost two years in the making, Amy’s training included classes on transformational language, pose breakdown and modifications, principles of anatomy, prenatal and senior yoga, Sanskrit education, and breath awareness exercises. Namaste Amy.
Cathy Smith
In June 2018 Nordic Managing Director of Revenue Cycle Transformation Cathy Smith was recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review as being a “Female revenue cycle leader to know.” With over 25 years of healthcare experience, Smith joined the Nordic team in January 2018 when Nordic acquired The Claro Group’s revenue cycle transformation practice.
Linda Stace, CPP
Senior Director of Payroll Linda Stace was elected President of the Greater Madison Area Chapter of the American Payroll Association. A professional networking and educational resource for area payroll professionals, the GMAC sponsors preparatory classes for professional certification and contributes to regional, statewide, and national conferences to further the goals of the American Payroll Association.
Thank you to all of the amazing women that work at Nordic. Your diverse accomplishments, no matter how big or small, help to balance us all for the better.