After Mary Scarola graduated from high school, she got a job as an administrator at an imaging clinic. That role led to a passion for working in health care and a 20-year career at Toronto-based LifeLabs. “What we do at LifeLabs impacts every single person who comes through our doors,” she says.
LifeLabs is a medical services provider for over 20 million Canadians and health-care professionals, with 6,700 employees nationally. As a client service manager, Scarola oversees 25 patient service centres (PSCs) in the Greater Toronto Area – where blood work and many other vital medical tests are conducted – as well as five PSC supervisors.
When Scarola first joined LifeLabs, she had a managerial background but not the education piece she felt she needed to fully perform her role. In 2018, she wrapped up a 10-credit leadership-development course at Humber College. It was intense – four-hour evening classes and eight hours on Saturdays, on top of her full-time job – and it took a decade to complete it.
“LifeLabs paid for the course because they knew it would benefit me,” says Scarola. “There were classes in communications, ethics, team building and performance and change management. I took one course a year, then implemented that learning into my daily roles.”
Over the years, Scarola has had solid working relationships with the senior leaders who have mentored her – including Shelly Andrews, director of client services. “Shelly is an expert in her field, and I admire and respect her,” she says. “She supports me personally and professionally, and that’s how I try to treat the people who report to me.”
As mom to a four-year-old son, Scarola appreciated her company’s support when she was sent home to Kleinburg to work remotely in March of 2020, where she remains. “Managing the work-life balance was tough in the beginning,” she says. “But we’ve received so much support, and while we miss seeing each other face-to-face, we also know it’s uncomfortable to sit in day-long meetings in masks.”
From the outset of the pandemic, president and CEO Charles Brown has been leading that support and keeping employees informed. His twice-monthly Catching Up with Charles video updates, where an employee interviews him on a topic of interest, have been popular. “You can’t over-communicate in a crisis,” he says simply.
Brown joined LifeLabs in his current role in 2018, following senior leadership roles in other sectors. “I look for opportunities that excite me, and LifeLabs plays a huge role in our customers’ health journeys, which is exciting,” he says. “Every day I learn something new – about myself, the people I work with or the business.”
The pandemic completely upended LifeLabs’ business model, meaning senior leaders had to pivot overnight from traditional practices and policies. That included investing in technology and ergonomic equipment for remote work, upgrading network security and ensuring lab workers had proper personal protective equipment and that customers coming through the doors could be physically distanced.
With office workers continuing to work remotely until a “distributed workforce model” is rolled out when it’s safe to do so, Brown is encouraging employees to pick up the phone to call co-workers to ask how they’re doing, something he does twice a week. “We’re all Zoomed out,” he says. “The phone calls are good for people, and for me, too.”
LifeLabs’ people have more than risen to the pandemic’s challenges. “You never know what kind of team you have until there’s a crisis, and we’ve got a great team,” says Brown. “When I took this role, I didn’t know the culture or the people, and I’ve been so impressed by their quality and resilience.”
