Meet Kevin

Kevin Orr is a Human Resources (HR) Service Delivery Manager for Shared Services who is passionate about what he does. After working in retail management for more than 14 years, he knew he wanted to work in Human Resources. Once he started working as an Employee Service Center representative for Fresenius Medical Care North America, he knew he was right where he was supposed to be. Since joining the team he has proved himself to be an invaluable teammate who has grown not only professionally, but personally as well.  Read more about Kevin's story.

LET’S HEAR WHAT KEVIN HAD TO SAY:

Q: Why did you join the FMCNA team?

A:  I was working with an agency to help me get work in Human Resources and they informed me about an open position with Fresenius Medical Care North America as an Employee Service Center representative. I had never heard of this company before, but I was excited to work for a major health care company that was based out of Boston/Waltham. I knew I wanted to work in HR and this role felt like the perfect entry-level role I was looking for.

Q: How do you feel that your role is a “vital part” in supporting our patients and our company?

A: Being responsible for the processes and procedures, documentation, and being part owner of the strategy for our Tier 1 HR team, the Employee Service Center (ESC), I find that my role plays a vital part in supporting our patients and our company. The Employee Service Center fields incoming inquiries by phone and through our online inquiry platform from our 70,000+ employees, along with supporting HR initiatives and programs. In my role, I work to make sure that our employees are receiving excellent customer service by working with all Centers of Excellence in HR so that the ESC has the most up-to-date and accurate information needed to best assist our employees, along with reviewing our team’s processes and task ownerships to make us as efficient as possible. 

Q: Describe an experience or feeling that stands out when thinking of your career with FMCNA.

A: One memory I have of working with FMCNA comes from my time as an Employee Service Center representative. Before I worked for FMCNA, I had a 14+ year career in retail management but left due to lack of a career path and the decline of brick and mortar retail stores. I loved working with people, so I knew HR was the right fit for me.

One of the first calls I took was with an employee who was a new hire, like myself at that time, and she needed help with her benefits enrollment for her and her family. She was not technically savvy by her own admission and needed general assistance to ensure her and her family got the coverage they needed. She was extremely stressed as she was nearing her 30-day deadline to enroll, along with the pressures of being new in her role. I worked with her on the benefits education she needed and captured her enrollment over the phone. By the end of the call, she was so happy and grateful that she was in tears. It was a Friday afternoon and she told me that she could now relax and enjoy her weekend with her family knowing that they will have benefits.

I did nothing more than what I was supposed to do to assist her, however I was filled with the greatest sense of gratification I had ever felt in my job, which includes all 14+ years in retail. I knew right then that what I did as an ESC representative truly mattered and I was able to help in a big way that impacted one of our employees. That is when I knew I was right where I wanted to be and have never looked back.

Q: Do you feel that you have a powerful effect in your role?  If so, how?

A: I have the pleasure of being in a role that was newly created at the end of 2019. Not having any predecessors to train me or have any blueprint on what I was supposed to be doing exactly was a bit daunting at first, however I quickly found the benefits of me being able to shape what this role is and what I wanted it to be.

I have always valued my relationship with every member of the Employee Service Center, and I wanted to continue to lean on these to ensure I was doing my part to provide whatever was needed to our representatives. I may no longer take phone calls and speak to our employees directly, however what I do in my role still has a powerful effect on the overall employee experience as I work to ensure our representatives are as informed as possible, and I continually work to identify process and procedure opportunities.

Q: Have you experienced professional growth with personal meaning in your role?

A:  I have definitely experienced professional growth with personal meaning in my role as I had to transition from being a supervisor with direct reports and having a structured work day, to now having what some may consider a bit more freedom as I no longer have direct reports and have more time to devote to my role and me. This quickly forced me to develop my own individual structure vs. allowing the business to make that for me, which was a big and welcomed change.

In my role I have been given more responsibility to speak up on what our team needs, and I am now more in the driver’s seat. This forced me to step out of my comfort zone and find the appropriate voice to support our ESC representatives, which in turn supports a better customer service experience. This has given me a bit more confidence to do my job and I am learning how to ask for what I need, and more importantly how to say “NO” when it is appropriate. I have developed guiding principals for myself and I stick to these with all decisions I make in this role. This helps me not lose sight of protecting not only our employee’s experience but the ESC team.

Q: Do you feel you or your team/department leads, innovates, succeeds? If so, how?

A: Without a doubt, yes! I think so highly of the Employee Service Center team and I have seen just how hard the representatives work on a daily basis. They are all such skilled HR generalists who constantly flex in their roles to assist our employees through many platforms and by utilizing a wide breadth of skillsets. This team is not a siloed group and we have to be prepared to speak to all facets of HR, not just one area.

I am proud to say that I have seen such a great deal of innovation come from the Employee Service Center, such as the creation of support documents made available to our employees, process improvements that have benefited all HR Centers of Excellence, and finding a way to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic without missing a beat.

I truly believe the Employee Service Center succeeds as we work to ensure our employees have timely HR support when calling in or submitting our online inquiry platform, and by offering a new and improved HR Portal which offers easier navigation to find resources and a more friendly search feature. This team takes about 125,000 calls each year and has provided first call resolutions on about 77% of calls in the last 12 rolling months and closes about 85% of cases without having to escalate to another HR service group for support. The ESC has a 92.3% customer service satisfaction score, which speaks to the level of service and knowledge our team provides. These numbers speak to just how amazing the Employee Service Center team is and how hard they work every day. I am beyond proud.

Q: Do you feel that your role allows you to be a partner in caring? If so, how?

About Fresenius Medical Care

We have become a global leader in healthcare because of the unwavering dedication our people bring to work every day. Whether that means developing new-to-market dialysis technology or educating patients, our team touches the lives of more than 190,000 patients through innovative care and profound, personal connections.

With Fresenius Medical Care North America, you will “be the difference,” enabling patients to thrive, providing comfort to families, supporting coworkers so they can realize their goals, compelling our company to achieve through innovation and performance, and driving the development of your career.

Our team is made up of over 70,000 dedicated employees in North America. All of them focus on being the difference and delivering the highest-quality care to people with kidney disease – helping them to lead longer, better, and healthier lives.