Fusion’s Chief People Officer Jackie Froendt is a natural servant leader with more than 25 years of human resources experience. She leads several teams while representing the voice of employees in executive and strategic operations. She explains her and her teams' focus on the employee experience in this interview.  

Can you describe what your position of Chief People Officer entails? 

As chief people officer, I get to work with the employee experience team. That includes our culture, engagement, learning and development, sales training and development, human resources and benefits teams.   

What are some of your big priorities when you are leading those teams? 

Culture is always the most important thing at Fusion. We are actively engaging our employees all the time and asking for input because we want to know what's important to them and what we can do better or differently. As we make all of our people decisions, it all comes down to the foundation of our core values, and we lean on humble, driven, and positive. 

Can you tell me about an initiative your team has worked on in the last year that you are particularly proud of? 

I'm really proud of the work the team has done. One of our big highlights externally has been our internship program which just finished its second year. We brought in eight different interns and placed them throughout Fusion in 2024. What's really great about the program is they come in and they get to do meaningful work. They attend meetings. It isn’t a program where they are restricted to data entry or small tasks. It's really about them getting to see the business and understand different roles. We have a lot of fun along the way too.  

How are your efforts and the efforts of your teams helping support the healthcare professionals and facilities Fusion works with? 

All of these teams work collaboratively; they're focused on ensuring that all Fusion employee journeys are positive ones. They're all aligned and working together to make sure that they have that similar experience. These teams collectively support our internal employees, which is really important because that's where it all starts. We want to make sure our internal folks have a great experience with us because they are, in turn, supporting our travelers and sending our travelers out into facilities. And those travelers and facilities are of course taking care of patients across the country.  

What does Refresh Healthcare mean to you? 

Refresh Healthcare means that we are always looking at how we can get better, continually pushing ourselves and asking the questions: “What do we need to do differently?” and “How can we improve?” 

Why did you choose this path in your career? 

I chose the people profession because I believe everyone deserves a great work experience. It's such an important part of your life. We spend so much time at work. Plus, from a business perspective, if you take great care of your employees and you treat them with respect, they'll choose to be engaged, and your business will thrive. 

What have you learned during your time serving Fusion? 

 I've learned that one of the most important things about leadership is that the world moves quickly, businesses move quickly, and we need to adapt. Along with that comes change for our employees, so a really important lesson has been that when we make those decisions, we have to explain the why and be really transparent about that. Then, we have to give people the time to process that change and work through it. 

 

You can hear more from Jackie on Fusion’s YouTube Channel.