By Debra Wood, RN, contributor
Feb. 5, 2010 - More than a dozen hospitals or health systems have earned recognition on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list in 2010, thanks to a number of qualities and initiatives that keep nurses and other workers happy on the job.
Some providers, such as LifeBridge Health in Baltimore and Winchester Hospital serving suburban Boston, are new to the list, while others, including Methodist Hospital System in Texas and Scripps Health in California, are veterans.
Fortune magazine partners with the Great Place to Work Institute to survey companies and compile their annual Best Companies to Work For list. This year, 343 firms participated in the volunteer program. Eligible companies must have been in business for at least seven years and employ more than 1,000 people in the United States.
Results of an in-depth employee survey about job satisfaction, camaraderie and management's credibility account for two-thirds of the organization's final score, with the balance based on the employer's response to questions about pay, benefit programs, hiring, communication and diversity.
In addition to offering competitive wages and benefits, health care organizations contacted by NurseZone touted their caring culture, open-door policies, shared governance, and educational and career opportunities as helping them achieve the honor of ranking among the country's top 100.
A caring environment in which she could grow has kept Rosyln Klein, RN, at Northwest Hospital in Baltimore for 35 years.
Rosyln Klein, RN, an emergency department nurse at Northwest Hospital in Baltimore, a LifeBridge Health facility, joined the staff 35 years ago as a new graduate and never left.
"Northwest has always cared about its employees," Klein said. "They celebrate milestones, recognize cultural diversity, and are concerned about staff's happiness."
Klein added that Northwest offers opportunities to learn and grow and practice to her full potential. LifeBridge provides free parking, tuition reimbursement of up to $5,000 per year, adoption assistance, phased-in retirement, domestic partner benefits, and discounts to a fitness club and cafeteria. Although Klein has not availed herself of all of those programs, she is glad they exist and thinks they contribute to a caring environment.
Linda Matzigkeit reports that an emphasis on education helped Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta earn its Fortune 100 ranking.
Taking care of employees' personal and professional needs was the key to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's high ranking, says Linda Matzigkeit, senior vice president of strategic planning and human resources.
"We realize everyone has a life outside of Children's, and we try to attend to that," Matzigkeit said.
The three-hospital health system offers a "Strong for Life" wellness program, which offers group educational programs and free, personal sessions with dieticians and trainers.
"The whole notion of taking care of yourself is hard for nurses, and we've been focused on that for the last couple of years," Matzigkeit said. "It's a big investment, but we're willing to make it, because if our nurses are happier they will take better care of the patients."
Nurse retention stands at 94 percent at Children's Atlanta. Sixty-six percent of Children's of Atlanta's employees are working mothers, so the hospital provides back-up child care and other services for them, which Matzigkeit considers "a big differentiator" between Children's and other facilities.
"Nurses are our lifeblood, so we spend a lot of time on what our nurses say they want," Matzigkeit said. That includes career development and continuous learning opportunities. Children's Healthcare offers infant and pediatric simulator training, which allows nurses to learn without risk to patients and it builds confidence. Educators on each unit serve as resources for nurses.
Meridian Health in Neptune, N.J., also values education and career advancement. It offers tuition reimbursement, and the Meridian Health Foundation provides between $200,000 and $250,000 each year in scholarships, derived from private donors. It has established the Georgian Court - Meridian Health School of Nursing, a four-year, baccalaureate program.
Richard Hader, RN, PhD, FAAN, credits innovation with boosting nurse satisfaction at Meridian Health.
"We try to be as innovative and creative as possible," said Richard Hader, RN, PhD, FAAN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Meridian Health. This year, the health system instituted an Institute for Evidence-based Practice.
Hader credits a culture that supports three inter-related tenets: best workplace, which attracts the best team able to deliver the best, high-quality care. That Meridian Way culture incorporates behavioral standards for everyone from a dietary aide to the president of a hospital.
Sixty-seven percent of Meridian nurses are nationally certified in their area of clinical expertise, and 70 percent of the staff members participate in the organization's clinical ladder program. Nurses receive a pay differential for certification, college degrees, precepting and mentoring.
"Turnover is at a low 4 percent, with a 1 to 1.5 percent vacancy rate at Meridian. The health system receives more applications than it has openings. Three Meridian facilities, Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and Ocean Medical Center in Brick, have earned and maintained the American Nurses Credentialing Center Magnet designation for more than a decade - something Hader considers an important contributor to the high Fortune 100 ranking."
Trish O'Keefe, RN, MSN, NE-BC, calls Morristown Memorial Hospital a great place for nurses to work.
Trish O'Keefe, RN, MSN, NE-BC, chief nursing officer at Morristown Memorial Hospital in Morristown, N.J., also emphasized its Magnet status and its shared governance structure as important to nurse satisfaction and the organization's success.
"Nurses are encouraged and supported to participate in professional nursing organizations and to grow professionally through participation in educational opportunities as well as supported to pursue national certification in their specialty area," O'Keefe said. "Direct care nurses consistently initiate change to improve patient care, nursing practice and the work environment."
Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, in San Diego, Calif., also holds the Magnet designation. Scripps Health also emphasizes career development and lifelong opportunities throughout the health system.
The Scripps Health Center for Learning and Innovation helps people identify their talents and achieve their career goals. Scripps also offers scholarship programs and partnerships with universities to make it easier for nurses to continue their formal education.
Veronica Zaman reports Scripps Health is creating new graduate nursing programs, which will start this summer.
"There is a lot of collaboration around education, growth and development," said Veronica Zaman, executive director of workforce development for Scripps Health.
Scripps Health enjoys low turnover, at 7.1 percent, and a vacancy rate of 3.8 percent, far below the national RN vacancy rate of 8.1 percent reported by the American Hospital Association. The company grew its workforce by 5 percent last year and has at any given time about 375 openings.
Scripps Health also recently launched the Scripps Resource Services Program. It fills vacancies with highly skilled, experienced nurses to help stabilize units when someone leaves or an additional preceptor is needed. Those nurses help executives identify best practices across the health system.
Employees share in Scripps Health success, earning bonuses and time off when the organization meets its goals. Executives maintain an open-door policy, answer emails from employees and walk around to learn what is on nurses' minds. Scripps also values work-life balance.
"We place a lot of value on what employees tell us," Zaman said. "Nurses are opinionated about what they want when it comes to taking care of patients, and our [leadership] has done an outstanding job in allowing nurses to be heard. That's a high commodity in today's environment."
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