Making a hospital an award-winning, employer of choice takes attention to detail and policies that embrace everyone from the doctors to the cleaners.
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Entrepreneur: Stephen Roberts, CEO
Company: St John of God Hospital, Geelong (a division of St John of God Healthcare)
Business type: Catholic not-for-profit private hospital
Employees: About 600, mainly part-time
Turnover: (2005 - 2006) $40M
Head office: Perth, WA
Contact details: +61 3 5226 8888
The St John Of God (Geelong) Story
Some parts of the not-for-profit service sector have largely undeserved reputations as second-raters: well-meaning do-gooders that cannot compete with private-sector providers. And some people see not-for-profits as being for charity cases and no-hopers - and that includes both the clients and the career prospects of staff.
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Key learning points:
- Employer of choice - Craft incentives that will be deeply attractive to your current - and target - workforce demographic.
- Staff engagement - Involve actively in designing policies that make your business safe, profitable, client-focused and desirable.
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For Stephen Roberts, the CEO of St John of God Hospital in Geelong, making his not-for-profit hospital a centre of community care and quality service and an employee place of choice have been key tasks. It is one of eleven hospitals in the St John of God health service in Victoria and Western Australia. The Geelong service provides community-based drug and alcohol counselling, Aboriginal health care, palliative care and post-natal depression. It also provides long-term accommodation for homeless youth.
The Challenge
To make St John of God Hospital financially successful in a competitive market so that it can provide excellent service and continue to allocate 2% of its top-line revenue to community services. To attract the best staff and a steady flow of patients by differentiating itself from the nearby Geelong Private Hospital (owned by Healthscope) and Geelong Hospital (public).
The Solution
Roberts says creating an environment that is a magnet for staff is crucial to the success of the hospital. “We’re not just talking about those staff that require registration or a qualification. We want to be able to attract the best cleaners, the best receptionists and catering staff who are really committed to delivering a good product.” He wants all staff to share the responsibility of caring. But that means providing benefits and recognition to those who do the caring.
The hospital has made itself attractive to its largely female workforce by implementing St John of God Health Care’s commitment to women-friendly workplaces. Its success is clear: in 2005, for the fourth consecutive year, the group was named employer of choice for women by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA). But how has it done it?
It offers flexible and part-time work options. Staff get eight weeks paid parental leave for primary care-givers. The hospital has policies and strategies to deal with discrimination, bullying and harassment and to support merit-based recruitment and promotion. Women love the place.
The hospital is known for investing in the training of senior and mid-level managers in leadership, goals, values, and accountability. It supports nurses in post-graduate training in chronically under-staffed specialist areas such as oncology, intensive care and obstetrics by paying university fees and allows for study leave. Staff are encouraged to create an environment where they feel valued and proud of their work.
Business unit modelling has been introduced into nursing units and support departments to help team members plan strategies for their units. Unit managers monitor financial indicators and conduct surveys on patient and doctor satisfaction, clinical aspects of nursing, and cultural issues such as absenteeism and lost time injuries. Unit managers meet senior managers regularly to discuss their results and to raise any concerns in their departments. Coaching and mentoring for unit managers is part of business unit modelling.
St John of God Hospital has a strong pastoral care department, which is mainly for patients but also supports staff. The pastoral care team manages an employee assistance program that engages external agencies if support is needed beyond what the hospital can offer.
The hospital also offers benefits that go in addition to paying staff well. It has cultivated relationships with local businesses such as restaurants and white goods shops, which offer discounts of 10-20% to St John of God staff.
The Result
St John of God (Geelong) increased its turnover by almost 9% to $40 million in 2005-2006. Even more significant, EBIDTA was up by 10% over the past 12 months, despite wage rises and big price increases of medical, surgical and pharmaceutical supplies. Absenteeism has decreased by 15% in the past fifteen months and lost time injuries have halved over the past twelve months.
St John of God Hospital, Geelong was named Business of the Year at the 2005 Geelong Advertiser Business Excellence Awards. It was also awarded the Snap Printing Not-for-Profit Award and the Harwood Andrews Medium-to-Large Business Award.