Zaki Udin Hassan, MBBS, MBA, professor and chair of anesthesiology, launched an engagement and alignment program called FAIRE within his department.
Our interview with Dr. Hassan highlights the program’s details and how he is promoting wellness and well-being for his department's faculty, staff, and learners.
Q: What is the FAIRE program?
A: FAIRE is the acronym for Faculty Alignment Improving Retention and Engagement. The program addresses wellness issues within the department.
Q: What is the purpose of the FAIRE program?
A: The purpose of FAIRE was to make sure that our faculty members understood that we cared about their wellness and provide a means and mechanism for them to express concerns. This allowed us to not only identify and understand needs, but also provide solutions and support to improve engagement, alignment, and retention of our faculty members.
Q: What are the three main factors of wellness that you ask faculty members to consider?
A: Time, money, and lifestyle. All three of these factors contribute to the general wellness of our department members. For example, some prefer to work harder and earn more money, while others like more time off to get a nice work-life balance. Understanding this was one of the reasons the FAIRE program was developed.
Q: What are some of the small yet impactful changes made because of the FAIRE program?
A: Many solutions were easily identified. Some solutions were bigger, such as organized day care, and others were as simple as adding an ice machine and food cart in the department. The addition of more computer stations was another solution identified through the FAIRE program. We also have regular functions such as pizza and movie night and other social events, which are enormously successful.
Q: What advice would you offer leaders who are wanting to improve the culture of well-being within their department?
A: An important factor in improving culture is communication: listening and feedback. It's important for members of our department to show we care by listening and resolving what we can to the best of our abilities. Clearly, not all problems can be resolved, but they can be heard and empathized.