New Oakland Family Centers, a cornerstone nonprofit mental health organization serving Michigan communities since 1991, has fundamentally transformed its talent acquisition strategy through the strategic implementation of Workable, an advanced applicant tracking system (ATS). This move has not only streamlined internal HR operations for the organization’s 16 offices and 319 employees but also provided a critical lifeline in the highly competitive and often understaffed mental health sector, significantly improving hiring reach, standardizing workflows, accelerating time to hire, and notably reducing employee turnover. The transition represents a pivotal moment in the organization’s growth, moving from fragmented, manual processes and inadequate previous systems to a cohesive, data-driven approach designed to attract and retain the specialized clinical talent essential for delivering high-acuity care.
The Pressing Challenge: A National Crisis in Mental Health Staffing
The mental health sector in the United States, and particularly in regions like Michigan, has long grappled with a severe shortage of qualified professionals. According to reports from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, millions of Americans reside in areas with mental health professional shortages. This scarcity is exacerbated for roles requiring advanced degrees and clinical licenses, such as therapists, psychiatrists, and nurse practitioners. These highly specialized positions demand master’s degrees and specific certifications, narrowing the candidate pool significantly. For organizations like New Oakland Family Centers, which provide a spectrum of care from outpatient therapy to crisis intervention, securing and retaining such talent is not merely an HR challenge but a direct determinant of their capacity to fulfill their mission and serve vulnerable populations.
Before the integration of Workable, New Oakland Family Centers faced the brunt of this industry-wide challenge with an outdated and inefficient hiring infrastructure. Kathleen Kubiak, HR Coordinator, who single-handedly manages talent acquisition for the entire organization, described the clinical roles as the most difficult to fill. The scarcity was particularly pronounced in certain Michigan regions, where the demand for mental health services often outstrips the local supply of qualified clinicians. This created a bottleneck in service delivery and placed immense pressure on existing staff, impacting overall organizational resilience and client access to critical care.
A Chronology of Evolution: From Spreadsheets to Strategic ATS
New Oakland Family Centers’ journey towards a robust talent acquisition system was an iterative one, marked by several attempts to find a suitable solution. Initially, the organization’s approach was rudimentary, relying heavily on manual methods. Job postings were individually placed on platforms like Indeed, candidate tracking was managed via spreadsheets, and outreach often involved cold calls to potential applicants. This fragmented process was highly labor-intensive, prone to errors, and offered limited visibility into the recruitment pipeline. It also failed to provide a consistent candidate experience, often leaving applicants in the dark about the status of their applications.
Recognizing the limitations of this manual system, the organization sought to modernize its HR operations. Their first foray into an Applicant Tracking System was an add-on module provided by their existing Human Resources Information System (HRIS) vendor. However, this integrated solution, still in its early development stages, proved to be cumbersome and presented numerous operational barriers. It lacked the specialized functionalities required for effective talent acquisition, prompting the HR team to seek an alternative.
A subsequent standalone platform was adopted, serving the team for approximately one to two years. While an improvement over spreadsheets, this system also eventually revealed significant operational issues that hindered efficient recruitment. These persistent challenges, coupled with the growing demands for clinical staff across 16 locations, made it clear that a more capable, specialized, and user-friendly platform was urgently needed. The search for a truly effective solution led them to Workable in mid-2024, marking a strategic shift in their approach to talent management.
Workable’s Strategic Implementation: A Paradigm Shift in HR Philosophy
The decision to adopt Workable was driven by a combination of critical factors designed to address the previous systems’ shortcomings. Key functionalities that attracted New Oakland Family Centers included Workable’s ability to facilitate broader candidate reach through multi-board distribution, its seamless integration with existing calendar systems for efficient scheduling, and the crucial feature of flagging candidates for future reconsideration. The platform promised a meaningful upgrade across nearly every dimension that had previously constrained their hiring efforts.
Beyond the specific feature set, the implementation of Workable represented a profound philosophical shift in how New Oakland Family Centers approached its hiring infrastructure. Earlier platforms had inadvertently fostered a dependency on HR, with administrative actions largely centralized within the HR department. This created bottlenecks and limited ownership among hiring managers. Workable’s design, conversely, actively encourages direct engagement from hiring managers. The system empowers them to leave comments, review candidates, and participate directly in decision-making processes within the platform itself.
This shift, while requiring an initial adjustment period during onboarding, has yielded significant dividends. It has decentralized elements of the hiring function, distributing responsibilities more naturally across the organization and fostering a greater sense of ownership among departmental leaders. This empowerment not only reduced the administrative burden on the sole HR Coordinator but also accelerated decision-making and ensured that hiring managers had direct input into the quality and fit of potential team members.
Transforming Talent Acquisition: Key Outcomes and Metrics
The integration of Workable has produced quantifiable improvements across several critical HR metrics, directly impacting New Oakland Family Centers’ operational efficiency and ability to deliver mental health services.
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Expanded Hiring Reach and Candidate Visibility: In a field where candidate pools are notoriously thin, Workable’s multi-board job distribution feature proved to be a game-changer. The same job posting now reaches candidates across a significantly wider array of platforms simultaneously. This broad dissemination is particularly impactful for clinical roles requiring advanced degrees and licenses. As Kathleen Kubiak articulated, "The amount of people who are getting to see our ads has definitely been impactful for us, especially in a field where there are not as many candidates. We want as many people getting eyes on our ads. Even if one job board hasn’t resulted in a mass amount of hires, we’re still getting our name out there." This increased visibility is crucial not just for direct hires but also for enhancing the organization’s employer brand in a competitive market. Application volume, especially in the Metro Detroit area, saw a notable increase, demonstrating the direct effect of expanded distribution.
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Standardized and Tailored Pipeline Workflows: The nature of mental health care requires distinct hiring processes for different roles. Hiring a therapist, for instance, involves different stages and considerations than hiring a nurse, and both differ from the process for nonclinical operational staff. Workable’s customizable pipeline structure allows each department and role type to have its own tailored interview stages and workflows. This flexibility ensures that candidates are evaluated appropriately based on the specific demands of the position, while maintaining consistency across locations. When new offices open, the predefined processes can be immediately applied, ensuring operational readiness. This standardization reduces administrative overhead and ensures fairness and objectivity in the hiring process. Relevant leaders can be added directly to a posting, reviewing candidates and participating in decisions without HR acting as a constant intermediary.
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Streamlined Document Management and Communication: Before Workable, critical administrative tasks like sending background check requests and offer letters were disjointed processes involving multiple tools, individual email compositions, and manual follow-ups. Workable has consolidated these functions. Today, background check templates, full-time offer letters, and distinct contractual agreement templates for contract staff are all housed within Workable and can be deployed in a single action. Email templates for every stage of communication are saved and readily available, eliminating the need for repetitive drafting. Kubiak highlighted this efficiency: "It’s kind of like a one-stop area, which is nice to have it all saved in there. The email templates, having those all saved, it’s definitely helpful to be able to just click and send and not have to spend time drafting an email." This consolidation significantly reduces administrative burden and accelerates the post-offer process.
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Accelerated Time to Hire and Enhanced Candidate Experience: The new system has demonstrably improved time to hire. The HR team has structured its function into distinct segments—recruiting, onboarding, and credentialing—each with clear deadlines and templated documents that move candidates forward without delay. A crucial element in this acceleration is Workable’s Outlook integration, which allows for direct scheduling of on-site visits within the platform. Given that New Oakland Family Centers requires in-person site visits before extending offers—a necessary step for candidates to fully understand the demanding environment of supporting clients in acute mental health situations—removing the manual coordination between phone screens and site interviews has been invaluable.
Furthermore, candidate communication, a previous pain point, has been entirely transformed. Historically, communication often "fell through the cracks." Now, every applicant receives an automated acknowledgment upon application, and crucially, disqualified candidates receive a notification when they are moved out of the pipeline. This closes a communication loop that had gone unaddressed through two previous systems. "Closing that loop is something we haven’t been able to do before, which has been really great," Kubiak observed. This enhanced communication not only improves the candidate experience but also safeguards the organization’s employer brand. -
Impact on Retention and Employee Engagement: Beyond the immediate hiring metrics, Workable has had a demonstrable impact on employee retention. Turnover is trending downward in 2025, the first full year of operation after Workable’s implementation in mid-2024. While multiple factors contribute to retention, an efficient, professional, and transparent hiring and onboarding process sets a positive tone for new employees. Moreover, Workable’s referrals portal actively engages existing staff in the hiring process, leveraging their networks and fostering a sense of collective responsibility for attracting talent. Employees who refer candidates often feel more invested in the organization’s success and in supporting the new hires, contributing to a more cohesive and stable workforce.
Empowering Hiring Managers and Decentralizing HR Functions
One of the most significant, albeit less tangible, impacts has been the shift in organizational culture regarding recruitment. Hiring managers, who once had limited involvement beyond reviewing a final shortlist, are now active participants. They are leaving comments, disqualifying candidates, and even communicating directly with applicants within the platform. This decentralization of certain HR functions has not only made the hiring process more efficient but also instilled a greater sense of ownership and accountability among departmental leaders for their team’s composition. For hiring managers reviewing candidates at volume, the AI candidate match score provides an immediate orientation to fit before the full resume is read, often serving as the first point of reference when opening a profile. Auto-disqualification questions further filter out candidates who do not meet basic licensing or qualification requirements, saving valuable time for manual review.
Broader Business Impact and Future Outlook
New Oakland Family Centers’ evolution from a spreadsheet-based operation to one managing 16 offices with a defined, multi-stage, and consistent hiring workflow across diverse roles and locations is a testament to the transformative power of strategic HR technology. Workable has been the enabling platform for this significant growth and operational maturity. The team that once relied on cold calls and manually composed emails now orchestrates a coordinated, multi-location hiring operation without increasing HR headcount, demonstrating a substantial gain in efficiency and productivity.
The improvements in time to hire and candidate communication are not just administrative victories; they have profound implications for patient care. Faster hiring means a quicker alleviation of staffing shortages, ensuring that more individuals have access to critical mental health services when they need them most. Reduced turnover leads to greater continuity of care, which is vital for effective mental health treatment. By strengthening its talent acquisition capabilities, New Oakland Family Centers is better positioned to fulfill its mission of serving Michigan communities and addressing the escalating demand for mental health support.
Industry Context and the Role of HR Technology
New Oakland Family Centers’ success story mirrors a broader trend in the healthcare and nonprofit sectors: the increasing reliance on sophisticated HR technology to navigate complex talent landscapes. In an era defined by critical workforce shortages, particularly in specialized fields like mental health, Applicant Tracking Systems are no longer a luxury but a strategic imperative. They provide the tools necessary to cast a wider net, streamline processes, enhance candidate experience, and ultimately build a more resilient and capable workforce. The ability to leverage AI-driven insights, automate routine tasks, and empower hiring managers are all crucial elements in attracting and retaining top talent in today’s competitive environment. As New Oakland Family Centers continues to expand its reach and services, its robust partnership with Workable will undoubtedly remain a cornerstone of its ongoing success in meeting the vital mental health needs of Michigan.
