Heather Helle, president and chief operating officer of Bayada Home Health Care, believes that home-based care could benefit from having more women in leadership roles.
Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Moorestown, New Jersey, Bayada provides in-home clinical care and support services for children and adults, including hospice, behavioral health, and rehabilitation in 21 states and five countries.
Before joining Bayada, Helle stepped away from her position as a CEO to prioritize her family. She said that the decision to leave the C-suite was an easy one, given her desire to put her family first.
“When you align your priorities with your values, what matters most becomes clear,” Helle told Home Health Care News. “The difficulty is navigating the change. It wasn’t a difficult decision in terms of the right thing to do. It was navigating with grace for all involved that I wanted to be thoughtful about.”
Helle said that her colleagues supported her decision, and when it was time for her to re-enter the workforce, she was excited to do so.
“I’ve been in health care for years,” she said. “I love helping people make a difference. My child was in a place where I could come back and put time and attention toward my passion, which is making a difference in communities and doing it through taking care of people.”
Helle re-entered the health care industry in a more functional role than she had previously held, knowing the time and travel required as a CEO. She said her mentors were of great help in navigating back to a C-suite position.
“I was being thoughtful about where I could create value for an organization and how that would intersect with my family’s needs at the time,” she said. “I’ve been fortunate to have amazing mentors. Being able to call on these great humans was helpful as I navigated my journey back and figured out what would be right for me and my family, while still making an impact on patients.”
A call for equity in health care
For women in health care, it’s not always easy to reach the top of the ladder, particularly after a sabbatical.
In 2022, women accounted for approximately 80% of workers in health care occupations, a figure higher than the percentage of women in all other employment sectors, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, women make up 70% of the global health workforce and 90% of frontline health workers.
However, women are underrepresented in leadership roles, comprising only 25% of health care leadership positions in 2022. Additionally, women of color are significantly underrepresented, making up merely 11% of senior manager positions.
Gender equity is crucial for developing resilient health systems and gender-transformative health and social care policies, according to The World Health Organization.
A common misconception is that the main obstacle to women’s progress is the glass ceiling. Yet, the biggest challenge in reaching top leadership positions is at the first step to becoming a manager, known as the ‘broken rung,’ according to Women in the Workplace, a report from McKinsey in partnership with LeanIn.org.
The report revealed that women encounter the most significant barrier when being promoted to manager from an entry-level position. In 2023, out of every 100 men promoted, only 87 women were promoted to this crucial first step. This imbalance leads to women falling behind and often struggling to catch up.
This disparity is especially important in the home-based care space, where there’s a need to attract staff and where women offer unique contributions, such as empathetic leadership, effective communication and a holistic approach to care.
“A 22% increase in global human capital wealth is estimated, should equal participation of women in health be realized,” a study conducted by researchers at the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University in Melbourne, Australia read. “Increasing the potential of women as leaders is a critical long-term investment for organizational success, improved health policy, and national prosperity and quality of life. More women in leadership increases organizational productivity and maximizes the value of the female workforce.”
Helle finds that being a woman in health care is a rewarding opportunity, and she feels it can only get better as the industry focuses on promoting women to higher positions.
“It’s a great time to be a woman leader in health care, in home health care in particular,” Helle said. “Women can lead differently than men. I think you find a level of compassion, a level of caring, a level of transparency and openness, and that can be a real advantage for a woman. It is getting comfortable with leaning into that and being okay that you don’t have to try to fit a particular mold. Lean into your superpowers and use that to pay it forward, to bring your best to make an organization or a team better and really make a difference.”
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