Since 1975, Bayada Nurses has been delivering the finest home care services with compassion, excellence, and reliability. One of the largest home healthcare providers in the country, Bayada Nurses offers a full range of services, including skilled nursing, personal care, and rehabilitation and therapy for pediatric, adult, and geriatric clients.

Mark Baiada, President and Founder

“We want to be one of the leading providers in the industry,” said Mark Baiada, president and founder of the $350 million company. “We’re a mission-driven private company in this for the long-term—a far cry from the many financial and investor-owned companies that are in business for the short term and just looking for a return.”

On the road
In 2002, Baiada began a company-wide initiative to define and express the mission, vision, beliefs, and values that guide its work as home healthcare professionals. The founder enlisted the help of Dr. Al Freedman, a psychologist and parent of a Bayada Nurses client, to guide the project. Through a series of focus groups, overnight retreats, written surveys, and feedback sessions, The Bayada Way emerged.

“The Bayada Way expresses what is most critical to our work as home healthcare professionals,” Baiada explained. “It states our beliefs and the fundamental, foundational values that guide our work. Our goal is to become a lasting legacy rooted in the highest ideals and standards for the profession of home care.”

To support The Bayada Way, the founder decided to take a bus tour and visit all of his offices across the country. Since last September, Baiada has been driving around in a 38-foot motor home, communicating Bayada’s mission, which is something the organization has never done on a formal level. “I want to communicate what we stand for, and I felt it was important to meet everyone personally,” Baiada said. “This is what I dedicated my life to, and I want everyone to join me.”

At the time of the interview, the president had already visited 107 facilities. “There are 21 more facilities left,” said Baiada. The tour ends in April, and the president has so far received a positive response after meeting with the leadership at each office. Baiada expects the message he shares with managers to be passed through the rest of the employee chain.

The Bayada Way is in its communication phase, and when the bus tour finishes in April, the president will work on alignment strategies, including performance standards, job descriptions, compensation, and rewards. “We plan to make The Bayada Way a solid foundational document,” said the president.

Entrepreneurial spirit
Bayada Nurses fosters an entrepreneurial spirit in its employees. Nursing shortages have prompted the company to launch a unique initiative to recruit nurses from the Philippines. In the Greater New York metropolitan area, there’s a large Filipino nurse population, according to the president.

“Not many private employers are doing this directly,” said Baiada. “We had a manager who was interested in this recruiting method. Many of these nurses have family and friends n the US, so they enjoy coming here.”

In addition to recruitment, the company plans on opening an office in England, which will support its vision of becoming a worldwide organization. There will also be another international office opening in Beijing, China in a few years.

“I met a gentleman from China who has a deep passion to help others,” Baiada said. “We’re planning to go to China with him and assign someone to help him start up a Bayada office there. He doesn’t graduate until 2007, so we’ll slowly work on getting to know him and introduce him to our staff.”