Medical Solutions’ 2021 Intern Program and corresponding training program involved seven different departments (out of nine) and 402 total employees—and was the company’s first-ever completely virtual intern program. The company notes that this program is just as pivotal for intern development as it is for internal employee engagement and retention efforts.
Program Details
Medical Solutions’ Intern Program has been in existence since 2014. It runs for 12 weeks each summer, with preparation and follow-up spans three months before and after the program each year.
The Intern Coordinators (members of the L&D team) are responsible for all pre-program preparation, including sourcing potential intern placements, “bootcamps” for new intern managers to prepare them for their upcoming placement, identifying high-stakes projects on teams, and correspondence between talent acquisition and the hiring manager.
Once the 12-week program started, prior to COVID-19, the group of interns would integrated to their teams through the following:
- Assigned day-to-day tasks
- A high-stakes project that would affect policy, procedure, or efficiency within their respective divisions
- A weekly one-hour professional development course (topics included: time management, entering the work force in a virtual world, business etiquette, and developing influence) and a half-hour check-in with the coordinators
- Two guided project prep meetings
- One roundtable panel discussion with company leadership
Upon conclusion of the program, each intern would be expected to give a 10-minute presentation outlining the return on investment (ROI) of their projects and top takeaways of the program to Medical Solutions’ executive leadership and project stakeholders.
Because of Medical Solutions’ new remote work policy due to COVID-19, the L&D team revamped the program to be completely virtual. The team anticipated that creating meaningful relationships/networks would be the most challenging aspect to recreate in the remote environment. L&D proactively worked to dispel this notion by:
- Increasing the role of the Intern Coordinator throughout the process (going from two coordinators to three) through check-ins, project management assistance, and providing an L&D mentor to each intern
- Increasing the expectations and requirements for “high-stakes” project scope for the intern
- Incorporating classes for interns and leaders designed to maximize remote work
- Threading in a broader audience for the professional development programming
- Establishing an internal network of “buddies” (mentors) for each intern
Despite the class size decreasing to five interns (from 22 the year prior), nearly every corporate division participated—even those that didn’t have an intern of their own.
Medical Solutions offered monthly check-ins with each intern hired on within the company for the duration of their first year of employment. Reinforcement also came through the three-month recap sessions through surveys, and virtual check-in meetings with managers, team leads, buddies, and executives who were all participants in executing this program. Leaders are selected from these follow-ups to serve as liasions and testimonials for the following intern year.
Results
A survey sent to all individuals involved with the intern program reported an average of 100 percent in customer satisfaction scores, and all participants said they would recommend interaction with the program to others. Some 80 percent of leaders surveyed indicated that their teams also saw an increased level of team and individual engagement as a result of onboarding their intern. Such engagement contributed to 3.4 percent attrition rates across the enterprise.
All five total interns across three merged businesses were offered (and accepted) full-time positions within the organization for a 100 percent match/retention rate, up from 15 percent in years prior. The overall intern program accounts for a 2 percent increase in L&D opportunities presented to internal employees across the organization.
