HR Pulse - Fall 2008 - (Page 24)

>> WORKING MOTHER’S 100 BEST terms of recruitment and retention. We don’t want that to a be a barrier to working here. We hope that the Homebuyer’s Pineapple Perk will keep good people from leaving the organization and the region,” explains Fisk. Convenience services—frequently called “concierge services” and mentioned by Working Mother’s Owens as a trend in the health care industry—have long been available to Baptist Health employees. Working parents can take advantage of a wide range of handy and cost-saving services, including free on-site parking and a discounted $5 co-pay on 22 highly used medications dispensed by the hospital pharmacies. Employees also can take advantage of shoe repair, hair and nail services; car wash services; to-go meals; massage therapy; and discounted movie and other entertainment tickets. Other innovative benefits and actions at Baptist Health include: • The commitment to a Baptist Health minimum wage of $8.75 an hour (compared to the $6.67 minimum imposed by the state of Florida) • A recent increase in the adoption benefit from $4,000 to $10,000 • The Sunshine Fund, which provides interest-free emergency loans of up to $5,000 to cover crises ranging from a car breaking down to the threat of a home foreclosure. Northern Michigan Regional Hospital At the other end of the 100 Best spectrum is newcomer Northern Michigan Regional Hospital (NMRH); the organization made the list for the first time in 2007. Located in Petoskey, Mich., 79 percent of its 1,667 employees—called “colleagues”— are women. “This isn’t just a health care award. It puts us in a group of premier organizations across the country who have made a commitment to being good employers,” says Gene Kaminski, VP of HR. “But it’s not about winning the award; it’s about creating the right environment. We listen to our colleagues and do our very best to respond to their needs. We want to retain our best people and continue to attract top talent.” When Kaminski joined NMRH in 2003 as part of a whole new executive team, the work environment needed a transformation. The organization was in the midst of what would become the longest nurses’ strike in the nation’s history. At the time, the nurses belonged to the Teamsters, and the strike lasted from November of 2002 until the union was decertified at NMRH in October 2006, according to Kaminski. “We had a lot of rebuilding to do. We wanted to create an environment where every colleague could do his or her best,” he says. Part of creating that kind of atmosphere was making sure that the organization was as family-friendly as possible. For starters, NMRH offers a variety of flexible work arrangements, including compressed work schedules, which are the most popular among employees; nearly a third of them take advantage of it. “The flexibility we have to self-schedule is a big plus,” says Kelly Johnson, RN. “I can make my own 12-hour shifts. It lets me be a full-time mom for four days a week and a full-time nurse for three days. It’s a good balance for me.” Balance is something that NMRH management promotes in a variety of ways, recognizing that working moms who take good care of themselves will be better able to care for patients. Weekend e-mails are discouraged, managers are responsible for making sure employees use all of their vacation time, and full-time employees get a paid day off on their birthday. Johnson started working at the hospital as a volunteer at age 17; she then pursued her nursing degree and has been an employee for 14 years. She has two children—a 6-year-old and 13-month-old— and is happy to have access to on-site child care, which is available from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. “The day care center is fabulous. My first child started going there at age 2, and my second child started there at 6 weeks. I love the ability to run down on a break just to see the kids or to take care of something. That I can go there to kiss a boo-boo and run right back to work is so reassuring. And the people who work there are more than babysitters; they really focus on child development,” she explains. Two other innovative programs at NMRH caught the attention of Working Mother—Bright Ideas and WOW! Under the Bright Ideas program, every employee is required to submit at least three suggestions a year in the spirit of process improvement, according to Kaminski. Suggestions are reviewed monthly either by an inner-department or cross-department team. Since it was introduced three years ago, more than 12,000 employee ideas have been implemented. WOW! is the acronym for “wildly outstanding and wonderful.” Employees caught carrying out random acts of kindness for a patient, visitor or coworker receive a WOW! card that is redeemable for cash prizes. Making the Cut If you think your organization is worthy of inclusion among Working Mother’s 100 Best and want to receive information about the survey, send your name, organization name and e-mail address to: kristen.willoughby@workingmother.com. You will receive periodic e-mail updates regarding registration, survey availability, deadlines, and more. The online application for the 2009 Working Mother 100 Best Companies list will be available in mid-December and is due by early March 2009. Anne Coulter is a freelance writer who lives in Evanston, Ill. Learn more about her at www.bigleap.com. 24 HR Pulse Fall 2008 http://www.bigleap.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Pulse - Fall 2008

HR Pulse - Fall 2008 Contents Pulse Points Executive Director’s Letter President’s Message HR Leader Profile: Irma Pye Sammy’s House: Making a Difference in Austin Working Mother Magazine’s 100 Best Companies Increasing CEO Engagement Pastoral Care Retaining Scarce, Critical Talent The Engagement Dilemma Diversity Considerations…More than AAP & EEO Quashing the Workplace Bullying Bug How to Become a Strong Human Resources Partner Citizen Lobbyists Descend Upon Capitol Hill Conference Highlights Schedule at a Glance Sponsors Exhibitors Advertisers’ Index

HR Pulse - Fall 2008

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