Great news - The employee engagement survey is back and as promised you gave us very important feedback that will help us improve our life at Children's Specialized.
Your Managers and Directors will discuss the data with you in early February for your specific area. There were some important themes that I would like to share with you ahead of time and also ask for your input to help me understand how we can improve our employee engagement.
Our overall scores showed us in the 86th percentile compared to the other Children's Hospitals surveyed.
We scored the highest on – “Would I recommend Children’s to my friends or family who need care.” To me, this speaks volumes and is the highest possible endorsement anyone can give to an organization or business.
This is the EXACT question our federal government will evaluate from our patient satisfaction surveys of Medicare patients. We should all feel very proud of this because it reflects our performance of our core business, the exceptional care we deliver to the children who we are privileged to treat.
We scored higher than our comparative group in the areas where we spent a great deal of attention on improving since our last survey. These were questions that dealt with communication by your Manager or Director, working cooperatively between work units and being respected by the person you report too. This has been a very important focus to us and the results of this survey showed you valued our improvements.
The survey identified two areas where we need to reestablish focus: recognition of the work you do and career development.
It would be really helpful to hear from you, besides more money, what would be recognition that would be most meaningful to you? In the same vein, understanding that in health care, frequent title changes or promotions are not the norm. We will be using the 100 day work out to begin to identify solutions to improve these areas for us.
In that same way, we will be doing the survey again in 2012. Just as we have moved on the speed to change and respond in our quality and efficiency, we need to do the same with employee engagement. We must measure where we are, create changes to improve, and then measure again.
Please share your thoughts on the blog about recognition and career development. Your suggestions are always so helpful and the blog could provide a forum to get different opinions out there.
Many thanks as always.
8 comments:
I know the first thing most people think is that it has to be something tangable as in money or a ceftificate or even a gold star. While they are all great, I think sometimes a simple saying like "Nice Job", "Great Save", or even "that's another was to look at it" can be just as effective and sometimes means more, it is also instant gratification for the indivual on the receiving end of the compliment.
There are lots of reasons why this might not work at CSH, but I will just throw it out there. I once worked in a clinical setting in which the director offered free time off when an employee was particularly deserving. Of course, there was the potential to for competition or resentment to develop among staff who had to pick up some extra work while their colleague was out. In this particular setting, however, it worked very well, as everyone eventually was rewarded in this way, and the opportunity to have time off without using a vacation bank was priceless. Also, the team worked really well together, and everyone was happy to pitch in when someone was recognized for a job well done.
Simple employee incentive ideas can be just as effective as high-priced alternatives.
People enjoy and remember the element of surprise.
Employee appreciation and recognition practices differ at CSH from director to director. Some directors will waive using top time for a doctor’s appointment, others will not. This small act of kindness goes a long way.
Flexibility…
Don’t offer praise and criticism at the same time. This is confusing and sometimes insulting to the employee.
This is not a suggestion for recognition of a job well done per se, but is more of a general recommendation to help staff feel valued. I'm sure most of us would appreciate having off on MLK Day as a CSH-approved holiday. Of course we can take TOP for days when our family has a holiday, but many of us want to save those days for sick days, children's sick days, snow days, and other emergencies. It seems that patients don't want to come in on a day when the kids are off from school for a long weekend, so productivity suffers for clinical staff. I realize that holidays cost money in terms of lost revenue, but would this date be a good compromise?
Steven Covey tells us: "Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers". Mother Teresa says: "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread". Appreciation and recognition is “key” in any organization. Let's face it; we work in a kick ass organization that does amazing work, day in day out. I don’t know of any other organization that would compare.
I see therapists, nurses, physicians, staff (clinical and non clinical), really LOVE what they do here. It really shows. I rarely see anyone slacking off. I don't believe that appreciation and recognition come with a price. I think it's how employees are treated. In speaking with therapists, the main theme seems to be "productivity/numbers". Some of these therapists barely get a break. It almost reminds me of a factory line. Thus comes "burn out" and low employee satisfaction. In speaking with non clinical staff, all you hear is: "well - since you are NON REVENUE producing, we have to scrutinize everything you do and maybe we can find a way for you to stay. Let's face it: without these "NON REVENUE producing folks, A LOT of things would be impossible to get done. I think that Directors, Managers, and Supervisors need training on how to treat their employees. Let's not focus on MICROMANAGING, but trusting the employee that you hired to do their job. If the employee doesn't work out, then get rid of the dead wood and move on. Focus on the positive and not the negative. Always thank your employees for things that they do. A smile and a sincere thank you go a long way. It's not what you give the employees, but rather, it's how you treat employees. Respect, admiration, flexibility, trust, understanding (of things out of your control), equality, and sensitivity are all key factors in Appreciation. If you are able to master this, then recognition is very easy to come up with from department to department. I know you can't make everyone happy all the time; however, you can strive for perfection. Happy employees will ultimately give you a pretty close to perfect organization.
For me, recognition would be as simple as " how do you guys think this would work?" and if not, what might be a better way to do this?" "what are the barriers to implementing this change?, and how can we get around them?" We all understand that health care is changing, but so are the patients that we see. They are more complex, and require more skilled care that needs to be adequately documented. The clinicians that have the skill to treat these kids and mentor younger therapists have finite energy reserves. The children on the waiting list requiring a 6 pm slot, require the same, if not more energy, attention and space as the children that come in at 9 am. The requirements that have been put in place to take children off the waiting list, while excellent in theory, may not be the safest for the children or the clinicians, and may not take into account the therapist that begins their day as early as 7:30 am and has a booked schedule. Burn out is not the only issue, physical stress resulting in injury is also very real. Each site is unique and comes with it's own specific patient population, space and staff. Appreciating these differences and truly understanding the demands of the work that we do, is one of the keys to recognizing the work we do.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share these very thoughtful responses. Regardless of where you sit or what your total is in the organization, it is the little things and the tone we use that is so very important in our encounters with each other and the children and families we care for.
I use this example in orientation all the time because it is so basic. If a Mom comes out from her inpatient room and says "my son's food is cold" - how we answer this sets the tone for the family’s entire experience. If the nurse or unit secretary says "oh that always happens" or "I am so sorry, that never happens, let me call…" Two completely different messages and tones. Either one, mom leaves each situation with a very different feeling.
The same holds true to how we treat each other. We need to be aware about what we say and how we say it. There are many different ways to approach this. Customer service training for all. Holding each other accountable and making sure we model the positive behavior. Sharing your feelings with a co-worker, during the conversation about how his or her tone made you feel, allows for positive change to happen. We will be working with our Managers and Directors to facilitate these dialogues and really focus how to have positive conversations and create a thriving work environment.
I love how you (Amy) writes the handwritten thank yous. I haven't received one in quite some time. How about a reminder to managers/directors to continue to nominate their employees for this very special recognition. OR they can start their own personal thank yous. Means a lot.
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