Out of 750 organizations nationwide, Community Medical Centers is among 20 organizations to receive the award and is the only one to receive the award four times from the organization that provides employee surveying services and acts as a clearinghouse, researcher and consultant on best practices in healthcare. “We’re the only healthcare organization who has won this recognition four times in a row. And, we generally outperform the Advisory Board’s base of organizations on high engagement and participation levels, but we always want to be improving on the year before,” said Carla Milton, Senior Human Resources Executive. “Engaging the workforce is arguably more important now than ever before, with all signs indicating that we are heading into a staffing shortage,” said Steven Berkow, Executive Director, Survey Solutions at The Advisory Board Company. “With a significant portion of the workforce retiring in the coming years and non-traditional employers encroaching on talent, hospitals and health systems must be laser-focused on engaging their staff. Our award winners have demonstrated an impressive ability to inspire the highest levels of engagement across the country while maintaining remarkably low levels of disengagement.”
Engaged employees, as defined by The Advisory Board Company, are those who exhibit both loyalty and commitment to the organization. These employees are willing to expend discretionary effort, often going above and beyond to help the organization succeed. The award recognizes Community Medical Centers’ commitment to creating a best-in-class work environment for its employees.
Milton said, “The key to our high engagement is that we involve our employees and show them that communication is important. It’s about two-way communication and communication through multiple channels and between peers and up to management. We take pulse surveys weekly on our intranet, encourage dialogue through our intranet’s workplace discussion board, and our leaders are always rounding at the facilities to stay connected.”
“To drive engagement and excellent patient care, our people must always feel the work they do is meaningful and appreciated,” said Craig Wagoner, CEO for Community Regional Medical Center and Clovis Community Medical Center. “We work hard at that – we want happy and satisfied employees and physicians. So, we’re very clear about our mission, we leverage what ignites our employees’ and physicians’ passion, put the right people in place, and invest in their growth and development. Their performance in our recent Joint Commission surveys and the CMS (Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services) visits, proved just that. We did an amazing job and the surveyors generously commented how wonderful our facilities and people are. That just doesn’t happen without a very engaged workforce.”
Community Medical Centers has a workforce of over 8,500 and partners with UCSF Fresno, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Central California Faculty Medial Group, and Santé Community Physicians Group with a network of over 1,200 affiliated physicians. “Our employees and partners work along-side us to strengthen our devotion to excellence in patient care, research, and education,” said Craig Castro, Corporate COO for Community Medical Centers. "They have put us on the map and helped us to become the employer people choose to work and grow with.” Reported by Shannon Merritt. Reach her at CMCnews@CommunityMedical.org