QUOTE TO REMEMBER
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
–Mahatma K. Gandhi
THE NEW AND IMPROVED BRIGHT IDEAS EMPLOYEE SUGGESTION CAMPAIGN
We have revamped and upgraded our Bright Ideas Campaign. Capture hundreds of cost-savings and performance improvement ideas from your workforce in three weeks or less!
Use our campaign as a stand-a-lone, high-energy suggestion campaign or to revitalize your current suggestion program.
Do you have an employee suggestion program? All businesses should be looking for ways to cut costs, improve motivation and drive performance.
This unique campaign captures ideas, drives involvement and identifies cost savings opportunities from the bottom of the organization to the top. The ideas and suggestions you will obtain will improve your bottom line as well as create a high level of motivation and enthusiasm. The Bright Ideas Campaign has been used by hundreds of organizations with proven results.
More information on the Bright Ideas Employee Suggestion Campaign
SETON HEALTH – A BEST PLACE TO WORK
Here is an impressive Case Study submitted by Kathleen Occhiogrosso, one of our Navigators.
Aside from the basics of ensuring we offer highly competitive wages and benefits, we have focused on enhanced communication and professional growth and development. We also try to have fun in our workplace. It’s a cumulative combination of initiatives that I think keep our associates happy.
Communication
We conduct leadership rounds on all units and departments in the organization. Senior Leaders pair up and visit departments on a rotating basis.
We ask our employees questions such as:
–What is working well?
–What is not working?
–What are your daily frustrations?
–Who or what other department would you like to recognize that has been especially helpful to you?
–Are their any safety issues we should know about?
We take notes and our Senior Leaders ensure all issues get logged and are followed up. We can’t always do everything requested due to capital restraints, but if we can’t do something we take the time to explain why. We also encourage and respond to all employee suggestions received through our suggestion program. Suggestions and responses and are put out on our internal email system and in our company employee newsletter.
We created an “Operations Council” which is a select group of our Directors and Managers who meet every other month to assist Senior Leaders with workplace issues. We hold our full manager group meetings on the opposite month so all managers stay informed and have a formal communication venue.
We hold quarterly Employee Roundtable discussions. About 10-15 employees from a cross-section of departments are invited on a rotating basis to an intimate meeting with our COO and me to discuss any thing that is on their minds.
We formally meet with our newly hired employees when they reach six months of employment to just check in with them and to make sure things are going well. Their own managers, though in contact on a daily basis, formally meet with them at 30 and 90 days from their start date.
Fun in the Workplace
We try to have fun in the workplace. When we had to cancel our annual employee theme party for financial reasons (which was going to be a Sock-Hop this year), we decided to hold a “Sock Hop Day” in lieu of the party. We had a costume contest for the best 50’s outfit, held a hula-hoop contest during the lunch period, and our workplace cafeteria created a special menu including sliders, fries and milkshakes with 50’s music playing in the back ground. Members of senior management handed out free milkshakes to employees and visitors. It was a low cost way to thank employees for understanding the need to cancel the more expensive annual party and to convey that despite our need to control expenses we are committed to having fun in the workplace.
Professional Development
We provide generous tuition reimbursement for all job-related degrees up to the doctorate level. We cover expenses for job-related certifications. We have a generous student loan forgiveness program for hard-to-fill positions such as nursing, medical imaging, physical therapy, etc.
We implemented a School-At-Work Program to allow our entry-level associates to train and build a career path in health care. They are given paid time off from their regular job to get on-site training and education in medical terminology, math and working with computers. We have had two groups of six students go through the program. All have successfully graduated and some have already been placed in higher level positions within our system.
We have financially supported managers to enroll in local leadership programs offered in the community and provide growth opportunities within our system for them to gain new skills in areas outside their normal responsibilities.
The above strategies are just a few examples of what we do on a regular basis to retain our employees and managers. Our 2008 Engagement Survey scores ranked among the top five nationally within our Catholic Ascension Health National Healthcare System and above other outside healthcare benchmarks. We were also designated as one the “Best Places to Work” by the local Capital District Business Review. As a result, our employee turnover has decreased and we have an 18% re-hire rate. (18% of our new hires are employees who left and decided to come back.) We focus on retention at all times, both in periods of financial downturn as well as during prosperous times.
Provided by:
Kathleen Occhiogrosso
Vice President of Human Resources/CHRO
Seton Health
