44
POPULATION HEALTH
44
CEO
/
STRATEGY
Hospitals vie for talent
with perks beyond pay
By Kelly Gooch and Marissa Plescia
A
mid the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and health systems
have been focused on retaining employees by ensuring their
staffing needs are met.
While competitive pay is a key part of retaining workers, employers
also offer other perks like on-site daycare, housing and tuition reim-
bursement/assistance programs.
Housing
Some hospitals are offering and building affordable housing for em-
ployees. is includes two St. Luke's hospitals in popular tourist towns
in Idaho, which have seen several job applicants turn down positions
because of high housing costs.
UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center and the city of Steamboat
Springs, Colo., plan to start building affordable housing for hospital
and city employees in July. e $4.5 million project consists of 12 units
in a multifamily building for the hospital and 10 for the city.
Homebuyer assistance
Beaufort (S.C.) has created a homebuyer assistance program that pro-
vides up to $10,000 in assistance for staff members who need help
purchasing a home or refinancing mortgages. e funds can be used
for down payments and closing costs.
Tuition coverage
Some hospitals are also offering tuition coverage for workers. is in-
cludes Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health, which offers work-
ers 100 percent tuition-free education for priority clinical programs.
In a statement shared with Becker's, the health system said it entered a
new partnership with Guild Education last year to create education ben-
efit offerings that include 100 percent tuition coverage for in-network
priority clinical pathways, including nursing, medical assisting, labora-
tory and respiratory; up to $5,250 annually toward in-network academ-
ic programs and undergraduate degrees; and up to $10,000 annually to-
ward in-network nursing and other graduate degrees. e health system
said it also expanded its Student Loan Repayment Program.
In another example, Seattle Children's Hospital tripled its investment
in its tuition assistance program for fiscal year 2022, from $225,000 to
$1 million, Wendy Price, the hospital's director of workforce develop-
ment and planning, told Becker's in November 2021.
Child care
Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth offered in-home child
care during the pandemic. Although the systemwide program is not
ongoing, there are current child care programs that are market/hospi-
tal specific, spokesperson Melanie Lawhorn told Becker's.
Take AdventHealth Shawnee Mission in Merriam, Kan., for example:
e hospital offers an employer-sponsored child care program for Ad-
ventHealth employees and medical staff.
Ms. Lawhorn said the Early Learning program, which has been oper-
ating for more than four decades at Shawnee Mission, is not free for
employees but it is a perk because it is on-site and offers flexible sched-
uling. A nurse would not have to pay for a whole week if the individual
only works two or three days a week.
e program is part of the B.E. Smith Family Center in Merriam and moved
into a new building in April 2019, the Shawnee Mission Post reported.
Boston-based Mass General Brigham also offers child care to its em-
ployees and partnered with Bright Horizons in July 2021, the organi-
zation told Becker's. Mass General operates six child care centers that
are managed by Bright Horizons, which offer child care at a lower cost.
rough the Bright Horizons partnership, employees can receive addi-
tional benefits like full-time, center-based child care, center-based and
in-home backup child care, nanny services, and tutoring. e hospital
recently increased how much home backup care employees can use
each year, now at 15 uses, compared to seven before the pandemic.
Mental health benefits
At Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Healthcare, hospital officials brought
in mental health experts and chaplains to help employees and hosted
town-hall-style meetings so workers could express concerns to lead-
ership, Reese Jackson, president and CEO of Chesapeake Regional
Healthcare, told e Virginian-Pilot. Mr. Jackson also pointed to perks
such as free lunches. n
9 health systems make
Ethisphere Institute's list of
most ethical companies
By Kelly Gooch
E
thisphere Institute, a for-profit company that de-
fines and measures corporate ethical standards,
has named nine health systems to its 2022 list of
"world's most ethical companies."
The 16th annual list recognizes companies "that have
demonstrated a commitment to ethical business practices
through programs that positively impact employees, com-
munities and broader stakeholders, and contribute to sus-
tainable and profitable long-term business performance."
This year's list recognizes 136 organizations in 22 coun-
tries and 45 industries.
The nine healthcare providers — which have consistently
made the list in years past — for 2022:
• Baptist Health South Florida (Miami)
• Cleveland Clinic
• Covenant Health (Alberta, Canada)
• HCA Healthcare (Nashville, Tenn.)
• Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.)
• Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y.)
• MetroHealth (Cleveland)
• University Hospitals (Cleveland)
• UPMC (Pittsburgh)
Ethisphere said its assessment process includes data
on culture; environmental and social practices; eth-
ics and compliance activities; governance; diversity,
equity and inclusion; and initiatives that support a
strong value chain. For the mos assessment, there were
questions about programmatic changes made because
of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a new area around
risk assessment. Companies must apply and pay a fee
to participate. n
