"Valuing employees and recognizing them for a job well done is a core value..."

Chris Loyd
Chris Loyd

By Chris Loyd
Human Resources Director
Methodist Richardson Medical Center

Valuing employees and recognizing them for a job well done is a core value at Methodist Richardson Medical Center and throughout Methodist Health System. But all recognition is not created equal. Just ask baby boomers about recognition and compare their responses to millennials’. Baby boomers want to be recognized for their knowledge, experience, loyalty, and years of service to the organization. Millennials want regular recognition to keep their work batteries charged. Understanding these differences and how they motivate our diverse employee base helps us keep all of them engaged and connected to our organization.

U.S. News and World Report recently issued its latest list of top occupations based on the Labor Department’s predictions on hiring demand. The job rankings also include employment rate, salary, job opportunity, and job satisfaction. Nearly 40 percent of their best jobs are in the health care category which includes:

  • Dental hygienist
  • Dentist
  • Nurse practitioner
  • Occupational therapist
  • Pharmacist
  • Phlebotomist
  • Physical therapist
  • Physician
  • Physician assistant
  • Registered nurse.

A recent CareerBuilder and Harris Interactive survey found 21 percent of full-time employees hope to change jobs in 2014, up from 17 percent of job-changers in 2013. That’s why organizations, including hospitals and health systems, are focusing on retaining employees. High turnover contributes to increased costs, lost productivity, and increased opportunity for errors.

Methodist has a comprehensive employee recognition program that is a key pillar of our overall retention strategy.

  • Methodist conducts periodic employee engagement surveys to identify opportunities for improvement. Action plans and follow-up surveys help us determine if improvement has occurred.
  • We celebrate success, whether it is a group or an individual. We honor employees for their service to Methodist at our annual service awards program.
  • Our G.R.E.A.T. Awards (Giving Recognition for Excellence, Achievement, and Teamwork), celebrated bimonthly at each Methodist campus, provides physicians, patients, families, and colleagues the opportunity to recognize an employee for his or her outstanding performance.
  • We provide many professional development opportunities for our employees as well as have quarterly leadership meetings and annual leadership conferences throughout the Methodist system.
  • At Methodist Richardson, we honor five or six employees each quarter who have received recognition into the President’s Club. These employees have been nominated because of their outstanding service to patient care and their willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty. They are invited to have lunch with Ken Hutchenrider, Methodist Richardson’s president, and thanked with a three-course catered meal served in the board room complete with linens and china. They also receive a President’s Club pin and certificate.

Employee engagement is a core value at Methodist. That’s why we’ve developed a targeted recognition and retention approach that includes:

  • Daily recognition
  • Ongoing appreciation
  • Routine communication including updates, developments, awards, changes, and more
  • Asking for employees’ ideas about how to improve processes, efficiencies, and work environment
  • Providing employees with the opportunity to develop plans to implement their improvement ideas, then celebrating their creative ideas and supporting their efforts as ideas continue to be fine-tuned
  • Engaging all employees to continually improve their work environment at the unit level.

At Methodist, we recognize that honoring employees for their contributions to our organization is hard work. But it’s worth it. Methodist’s size and scope offers many opportunities to collaborate within a facility and among system facilities to share best practices from campus to campus. You simply can’t find that in larger organizations.

Get recognized for your ideas and your willingness to go the extra mile by choosing Methodist Health System. Learn more by visiting Jobs.MethodistHealthSystem.org.

© Methodist Health System

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Posted Recognition, Organizational Effectiveness